Cambodia - Day 1 & 2

Even though I was only gone nine days, I did so much that I'm going to have to break the trip down into the cities that I went to. Otherwise I'll be writing for hours with no end in sight.

(12/24-12/25/09)

I started out in Cambodia, even though my first airport stop was in Hanoi. I got off the plane in Siem Reap, and for the first time I actually got to walk on the tarmac. Siem Reap is a very small airport, and rather primitive in comparison to other international airports. My visa information was written in by hand, and to enter the country I didn't have to go through any metal detectors, customs, or immigration - I just had to pay for my visa.


When I left Seoul, the temperature was about -6C/21F, but not snowing. When I got to Siem Reap, the temperature was around 30C/85F, which was a welcome change. The guesthouse where I was staying was supposed to pick me up, but I didn't see a sign anywhere with my name on it. I asked at the counter, but there was no public phone I could use to call them, and my cell phone didn't get reception there. So I sat down to wait and see if they showed up. I started chatting to an older guy from Denmark named Henny while I was waiting, and we ended up sharing a cab to the guesthouse because my pickup never showed.


The guesthouse wasn't that far from the airport, maybe a 7 minute ride by car. I checked in, making a point of saying that no one had ever arrived to pick me up - not sure if I ever got an apology for that. The room was nice but plain, with only a fan instead of air-conditioning (as I didn't really feel like paying extra for it when I originally booked the room). I'd also severely underestimated how HOT Siem Reap would be (I was, after all, sitting in snow when I booked it). The people running the guest house are very nice, and the woman who owns the place has the cutest daughter I've ever seen. She's learning three languages: Thai, Khmer, and English.


Because it had gotten dark and I didn't really know the area that well, I decided to stay in for Christmas Eve night. That way I'd be able to wake up in the morning at 4:00 to get to the temples for sunrise. I paid the front desk for a tuk-tuk driver the next day to take me at dawn to a hot air balloon, and then take me on the 'grand circuit' of the temples. I spoke to a driver later that evening who was hanging around outside the guesthouse. He seemed nice, and asked if he could drive me around the next day. I told him I'd paid for one through the guesthouse, but he could talk to them and see.



The next morning the same driver knocked on my door at 4:30am to take me to the temples. First stop was the hot air balloon. As nice as it was, I had hoped we'd be up in the air as the sky got brighter, not just when the sun came over the horizon. I'd been getting antsy because it had gone from pitch black to rather bright before they let us up in the balloon. While I was waiting, though, I got a chance to talk to my driver. His name is Kim Sour (pronounced Kimsoor), and he was very interesting to talk to. He had lived in Siem Reap all his life, and learned how to speak English over the last five years from talking to tourists. Considering he hadn't really taken any lessons, he spoke very well and even knew some slang ("If you're knackered, you can go back to your room").


I was up in the balloon for about 15 minutes, and then after breakfast we headed to the 'great circuit'. At this meal was where I met my first 'Angkor child'. These children are everywhere. They are small, thin, and adorable. They aren't in the least bit shy, and have no qualms about asking you to buy 10 postcards for a dollar, Khmer scarves, some photocopied travel books, or even handmade paper ornaments. If you politely tell them you're not interested, they'll try to bargain you down to a lower selling price. And they are persistent. The heartbreaking thing is these kids do this all day, every day. It's how they survive. If you're still not interested, they'll try to strike up a conversation with you, like asking you where you're from. When you say the country, they will promptly name the capital, and then ask you again to buy their item.



There are two different routes people generally take to explore the temples. The small circuit is more popular, as it includes Angkor Wat, Bayon, and the temples closer to the entrance of the Angkor Archaeological Park. I wanted to go on the big one because I thought it would be less crowded because the temples were further out (and I also thought it started at Angkor Wat - I was wrong).


We started at Preah Khan -meaning 'sacred sword', which was a Buddhist temple built around the 12th century.


I probably spent the most time at this temple because I was simply awestruck at what I was seeing. It took me almost a half an hour just to get through the front gate. Unlike in the west, where banisters, handrails, and no entry signs would be situated everywhere, you are allowed to climb or explore anywhere you like. The only exception is areas of the temples which are under reconstruction, or which are too unstable and might fall in on top of you. There is nothing that can describe, in pictures or in words, what it's like to be in this part of the world. The sounds of birds in the trees, animals in the underbrush, and occasionally someone playing traditional Khmer music near the temples. The smell of algae in the water, incense burning at shrines in the temple, and morning mist evaporating from the leaves of plants. The feel of the jungle heat, the slight breeze, and the exhilaration of clamoring your own way over stone ruins that are thousands of years old can only be experienced, not described.

After Preah Khan I went to Neak Pean, which is another 12th century Buddhist temple. It's a small island temple that's in the center of 8 pools of water. There's a horse at the entrance to the main temple that's saving some drowning sailors. There was an older French couple walking around near me. I almost asked them to take my picture, but I couldn't quite pluck up the courage to ask, in French or in English.


I spent most of the rest of the day being driven to various temples around the park. I was clamoring over piles of rubble, through broken stone windows, scaling steep and narrow stairs, getting sunburned, and just in general have an exploratory grand ole time.






I had finished the grand circuit before noon, so I went to a few on the small circuit. I had wanted to do an elephant ride after lunch, but they only do them in the morning. It would have been nice to say that I rode an elephant for Christmas, but I was willing to wait a day. I was seated along at lunch, and then the restaurant seated another lone traveler at my table. I didn't mind at all, and after chatting for a bit about what we'd seen and were going to see, we exchanged facebook info and I headed out.


By this time I was getting a little tired, and more than a little sunburned. I decided to do one more temple, and then head back to the guesthouse, so I went to Bayon. It was amazing - I could spend days exploring that one temple. While we were pulling up to the temple, I heard a loud sound that I thought was coming from the tuk-tuk, but it sounded like the whining of construction machinery. Kim Sour said it was cicadas. If it was, they were louder than anything I'd ever heard before, including the ones I'd heard in Mokpo at the White Louts Festival.







I heard several languages while wandering around the temples. Most of them I recognized, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, German, English, Spanish, and Italian. Some I had no clue. I did hear some people talking about the tuk-tuk drivers and they way they swerve around all the time like they're drunk. I wanted to pipe in that the reason they do that is to avoid the massive potholes and bumps in the dirt road that would make for a highly uncomfortable ride, but decided against it.

I'm so glad my friend Kathryn suggested I bring a face mask. In Korea, I only use them to keep my face warm, though the Korean use them to protect themselves from getting/spreading diseases as well. The roads in Cambodia are dusty, and things kept flying into my eyes. They're constantly sweeping or raking the leaves in the park so that only the dirt shows. I bet if they didn't it wouldn't be as dusty, but I'm sure there's a reason why they do.

After Bayon, my battery (the second one!) was dying, and I was getting more burned, so I asked Kim Sour to take me somewhere I could get sunscreen. We stopped at a gas station, where I got soap, sunscreen, and two 2-liter bottles of water ($2 inside the temple, 60 cents outside). They only had 12SPF left, so I made a mental note to apply it liberally and constantly the next day.

I went back to the guesthouse and tried to plug in my camera battery to charge it, but the power in my room was off. I asked at the desk, and they said all the power had been turned off because they were fixing the air-conditioning. They must have meant the air for some of the guest rooms, because the main area was pretty much an outdoor room with a roof and three walls. So I started reading a book on Angkor, but fell fast asleep in the lobby for about 90 minutes. When I woke up the power was back on, so I plugged in my battery and got cleaned up.

Then I decided to go through my pictures and delete any extra or blurry pictures. I'd taken over 600 pictures in one day! I hadn't realized the settings for my camera were set at the max resolution, which must have been why my first memory card didn't even last me a day. I'm so glad I brought a second one, and that I'd put the bigger one as the back-up. Otherwise I would have had to delete pictures from my first day in order to make room for the other 8.

Kim Sour was supposed to pick me up around 6:30, but I was ready to go by 6. I talked to "The Old Man" as Kim calls him (the tour-guide/receptionist) about tomorrow. I decided to take a motorbike on my second day instead of a tuk-tuk. It's not as comfortable, but it's much faster, and since I was going out of the city it was the logical choice.

So I went to a restaurant where they serve western, Asian, and Khmer food, and have an Apsara dancing performance afterwards. I had an ice milk coffee with my dinner. They use sweetened condensed milk instead of regular milk. I didn't know that when I had coffee with my dinner in the morning, but I learned rather quickly not to add any extra sugar to my coffee.



The dinner was decent, and the dancing was facinating. It told a story, but with much slower and stranger movements than I'd ever seen. At first glance it looks rather easy, but on closer examination, the extended positions that they keep their hands and feet in, and the slow steady movement they use, is probably much harder than it seems.

Kim picked me up from the dancing around 8:30. When I mentioned beer, his face lit up, and he said "OK" and hoped on the tuk-tuk. He took me to a bar on a small side street with all Cambodians, no Westerners. The 'snow beer' was 50 cents a glass, and though the musive was loud, we had a great conversation. He told me more baout his schooling, old folk tales, his version of history of the Khmer Rouge, and How to say my name in Cambodian (Kolab or Kolap means Rose). He wants to be a tour guide, but it's $3000 to get a license, $2000 if you have a high school diploma. He finished 7 of the 12 years of public school, so he'd have 5 more years to pass in order to graduate. He speaks English well, but he says he can't read or write well. After a few beers, we headed home, because the next morning was sunrise at Angkor!