Siem Reap, Cambodia and Angkor Wat

At 2:00 am, after a long, long 18 hr. bus journey, we had finally reached Siem Reap. The trip included delayed buses, bus changes and the inevitable delays at the border crossing. Coming into Cambodia was comical to us. One foreign woman was irate about the extra charges in Laos and Cambodia for it being a Sunday and for being charged a health examination fee of $1. She demanded a receipt without a response at both places. The “health exam” was a temperature reading done by an official pointing a small gun-like machine at us, pulling the trigger and announcing the number it revealed. All became a blurry memory as we fell asleep grateful for a cold shower and a clean bed at our destination.

Siem Reap is the town where those wanting to experience Angkor Wat and surroundings find themselves. It is not a typical Cambodian city as it seems to completely revolve around the tourist industry. We didn’t mind this as we were here primarily to visit the historic temples. During our rest times, we walked the streets finding book stores and eateries, perusing the many outdoor gift shops and simply looking at life go by and taking pictures.

 One evening we did indulge ourselves with a foot massage done by fish nibbling on our feet.

The constant tickling sensation made us laugh until we became accustomed to it. Our smooth, clean feet thanked the fish. Late in the afternoon and all through the evening the sidewalk back to our hotel was filled with food vendors patronized by the locals. The amazing part for us were all the hanging cooked chickens, ducks, small pigs, fish and parts of animals (tongues, feet, liver, etc.). Meat is eaten more here it seems than in Thailand or Laos, however, we are always able to find dishes made without it.

One of the treasures we found in Siem Reap was Phors, a tuk tuk driver. We met him at the bus station and it was through him we found a hotel the first night and a better one the next morning for the remainder of our stay. He spoke enough English to be our guide as well as our source of transportation. Our first day together we realized what a resource he was and our friendship began. The itinerary that day included the oldest temples of Angkor, the ones we asked to see first. An unavoidable part of the stop at these temples was seeing workshops where orphans and poor children and young adults lived, were educated and also trained to carve stone, to pierce leather making silhouette puppets and pictures, to weave and to throw pottery. Phors introduced us to some of the people making the time meaningful. The temples were 11th Century, Hindu and not as ornate or as completely reconstructed as ones we would see later. It was a good place to start!

Then we were off on an unexpected adventure which actually began soon after Phors picked us up at the hotel. His tuk tuk broke down and had to be traded for one his friend had. His friend, whom we dubbed Wild Man, decided to drive himself and was with us throughout the day. After the temples, Phors original plan for us continued. We rode through country villages and vibrant green rice fields which stretched as far as the eye could see ending at a waterway. Here the 4 of us boarded a long boat with a very young driver. (He looked no more than 12 years old but he told us he was 16.) The Wild Man immediately took over driving the boat as a self-proclaimed Rambo. As we approached denser waterway traffic and the maneuvering became more critical, the boy took over.

Winding through the waterway we saw a world we had never seen before except in science fiction movies. It was a village partly floating on the water with pigs in cages and small gardens on bamboo rafts. Some of the houses were on boats and some were on 3 story high stilts on solid ground. We docked at the stilt village aware of all the drying fish and shrimp and the resultant smell, walked up the wooden planks on the bank to the wide dirt street.

We were inundated by women trying to sell us copy books and pencils for the school children. This village was obviously extremely poor and we found out many of the children had no school supplies. In order to pass out the books we purchased, we went to the school at the far end of the street. Each child smiled, put his hands together and bowed before taking a book from us. On the way back down the street, we tried to imagine this village with water only feet from flooding the houses and sometimes doing so. An agility with water comes from living here however, and is evident everywhere.

We were attracted to taking pictures of the few houses that had many flowering potted plants on the higher steps and balconies. Tiny pink shrimp drying on tarps provided a contrast to the bright blue paint used on many of the houses. Leaving the village we reflected on the varying and amazing spaces in which we find ourselves living. These people have been living here for over 400 years.

One of the “must dos” here is seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise. Phors recommended 5:00 am. The morning would have been easier if we had remembered a flashlight and more glorious if there had been a visible sunrise. We were thankful to be able to follow people with lights into the temple grounds. When the temple was illumined, we saw the dangers we had escaped as we began walking around. This day was spent at the two largest and most significant temples, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The temple, Ta Prohm, where the tree roots have been left entwined in and on the ruins had to be included, also we felt. We walked and walked, climbed up steps and around stones, admired statues and bas reliefs, took photograph after photograph never getting bored and resting when we got tired. However, being there, where centuries ago people actually built these temples and monuments and lived, eclipses any amount of photographs .

Our third and last day at the temples we chose to go to smaller, less visited ones more remote and in jungle settings as all of them were when they were discovered. A greater feeling of adventure and discovery was with us at these temples. Our thoughts went to what it might have been like for the first Westerners to actually step here. This day was a contrast to the more developed and tamed atmosphere of the two large temples on the first day

We were sorry to say goodbye to Phors whom we knew we wanted to maintain contact. Thanks to him we experienced places we never expected to and were told about Cambodian culture.

Sending loving and peaceful thoughts,


Rajiv and Marianne