May 27, 2016 – May 29, 2016
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Lil’ Sun and I got to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap way too early but that’s okay it gave us time to catch up and learn that monks get priority seating in Thailand and Cambodia. We landed in Siem Reap and we immediately felt that Cambodia was very different from Thailand. The airport looked new and clean but was very quiet and in a very rural area. There were no lines at the immigration check point and very few people in the airport. It seems like the airport was designed in anticipation of Siem Reap becoming a major tourist/travel hub like Bangkok. We were told that we can arrange tours to Angkor Wat and the other temples with the tuk tuk drivers at the airport. We asked the tuk tuk driver that we found to take us to our hotel about the temples and he said he could take us. We think we did some hard bargaining and got the driver to drive us around for 2.5 days for $50! Oh they use the US dollar in Cambodia…which I felt actually made it more expensive than the rest of South East Asia. After some maneuvering of our luggage in to the tuk tuk (motorcycle with a carriage), we were on our way on the bumpy, dusty road, to the hotel. We put up our feet, we had the wind in our hair, and we took in the sights of the fields all around us with skinny cows wandering and huge buffalos splashing around in the water. It felt good to be away from the cityness of Bangkok.
We stayed at the ultra fancy Le Meridien Ankor…it was surprisingly affordable and very, very nice. Also, there is a gorgeous pool…which was necessary because it was crazy hot. When we arrived at the hotel we got this yummy green drink with mint, grenadine and something else delicious that I can’t remember. So of course we requested the drink every time we entered the hotel. We couldn’t really figure out why, but the hotel was shockingly quiet, so they were very willing to accommodate our ridiculousness.
Once we had checked in, our driver, Mao took us to lunch. We asked him to take us somewhere authentic but I think he has a standard spot where he takes people. The place he took us was decent but definitely geared towards tourists. We had chicken curry in a coconut and another dish that I think was minced chicken. Both were good…very similar to Thai food but not as spicy. Oh and we had some Asian coke, yay!
After lunch we decided to check out the floating market. To get there we rode through several different parts of town – the main city, the nicer part of town and the slums. We rode along the central canal to get to the floating market. It reminded both Lil’ Sun and I of Pakistan…but maybe a bit less developed. Much of it was pretty, dirty and sad. We did stop at a beautiful modern temple along the way, while our driver got an oil change? Yeah, it was odd. We got to the floating market area and found out they were going to charge us $50 for a boat ride to the market. Neither of us were that interested in getting gouged so we decided to skip the market. Instead we snapped a few pictures of the area and headed back to the hotel to test out the pool. It passed the test. That night we went to the night market and we ended up eating some street food. I wasn’t particularly impressed. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t amazing either. After eating we walked around the market a bit. It was a bit tourist trappy. Lot’s of hammer pants with elephants, scorpions on a stick, beer buckets etc. etc. The best part was the ferocious tigeress…oh wait…that’s just Lil’ Sun with her tiger beer :-).
The next morning, bright and early we met up with Mao for our first day of temple touring. We started with Ankor Wat. The plan was to get there in time to see the sunrise so it was a very early morning. We got there well before the sunrise but there were already a ton of people there. Especially gathered by the little pond to snap the infamous, reflection of Ankor Wat at sunrise picture. Just my luck, my camera was completely fogged up because our room was nice and air conditioned and it was a sauna outside. I took some pictures on my phone but they’re just eh. Also, when I looked back at my pictures, I realized that the pictures of the other temples we visited in the Ankor Thom and Bantey Srey areas are much more impressive. I must say though, Ankor Wat really is a magnificent temple. The level of detail that you see in pretty much every part of the temple is truly astounding.
Oh, while we were wandering Ankor Wat, we saw a monk giving blessings and bracelets so both of us got one. Lil’ Sun grabbed an awesome shot of me getting my bracelet (cover photo). I wore this for good luck for the majority of the rest of my trip, until it started disintegrating. I still have what remains.
I lost count of how many temples we visited in the Ankor Thom area (just down the road from Ankor Wat) but I think it was at least 5. My favorite was the Bayon temple which was built under the Mahayana Buddhist King, Jayavarman VII. The smiling faces apparently resemble the king (more, if you do so desire). Being surrounded by the towering, serene smiles just makes you want to smile, despite the heat and the Asian tourists trying to knock you down with their selfie sticks. I think Lil’ Sun liked the tomb raider one best, Ta Prohm (correct me if I’m wrong). Yup, we hung out where Angelina Jolie did! The strangler fig and banyan trees seem to be slowly eating the temple. It’s very cool. My pictures of it on the other hand are not that cool. I needed a wider angle lens. Oh well, it is what it is. We wandered these temples in the energy sucking, muggy heat and were completely spent after we saw what seemed like 20 temples. It was time to go back to the hotel and enjoy the pool, drinks and air conditioning.
That night we tried a more upscale Cambodian restaurant called Mahob. It was attached to a hotel and was absolutely adorable. We tried frogs legs, fried rice, and more curry. I think it was a curry with the local river fish. We were a bit apprehensive about the fish considering we had seen the water it came from…but we’re both still alive so it must not have been that bad. Frog’s legs are okay…don’t really want to try them again
The next morning we explored the temples of Bantey Srey. But, before we got to the temples went to have breakfast at the market nearby. We had eggs and and street mango. The street mango was cut up by a nice old lady, with flies swarming all over the mangos, and a few not so clean, but adorable children. We wandered around the market a bit and looked at the south east asian tourist dresses. I like them…they are colorful and have pretty patterns. Better than the hammer pants. Then on to the temples. The first one we visited was called the women’s temple by Mao, our driver. We didn’t really understand why but it was a beautiful temple. It seemed much more compact than the others we had seen with the towers much closer together and the stone it was made of was much more red. When we finished, we had some street mangosteen. Here’s a video of how they cut up green mangosteen…who knew.
We saw one other temple afterwards that was kinda falling apart (similar to Ta Prohm). The temple had beautiful and very intricate carvings. Very impressive. Here, a cute little girl asked me for candy when I asked if I could take her picture. I didn’t have any candy but she let me take a picture of her anyway. We also saw another little girl that was selling bracelets and blessings. These bracelets were much fancier. We each got one. After our temple visit, when we got back to the tuk tuk, we were getting swarmed by children trying to sell us crap. I am cold hearted and just ignored them. Engaging them just draws more. Lil’ Sun was nicer than I am and we did talk to one little boy that was trying to practice his english and not really trying that hard to sell us stuff. Our driver showed up eventually and we were able to make our great escape.
Our relationship with Mao was a bit hot and cold. He was there to make money, not be our friend, which I understand but he did ask us to add him on Facebook as he dropped us off at the hotel. I don’t think either of us ever did. And with that, our time in Cambodia was over. I would love to go back one day to get off the beaten track a bit and explore some of the national parks. I feel like there is much, much more to see. For now, it’s back to Thailand!
nomadshak 