We Heart Cambodia

Up at the butt-crack of dawn again and off to Suvarnabhumi (pronounced “Soo-wanna-poom” [of course!]) Airport in Bangkok to catch our flight to Siem Reap (pronounced “See-em Ree-ipp”), home of Angkor Wat…or to those of you from our hometown…where they shot Tomb Raider (gag—I can’t believe I just wrote that.) Must say that Suvarnabhumi is quite a site…it just opened less than two months ago and it’s the largest airport in Asia now. It’s quite a marvel of architectural wonder…never really noticed when we flew in.

Two atavan and a few 2 inch-deep nail marks on David’s arm later, we made it to Siem Reap Airport—which is basically a strip of asphalt and a customs stand. What an amazing landing…flying over rice paddies and looking down on a landscape that’s so alien, we found ourselves continually mouthing ‘wow…oh my God.’ Upon arrival, thanks to a lot of research online beforehand, we came fully prepared with all our visa paperwork and photos, so we zipped right through the airport quickly and were on our way to our hotel, the Bopha Angkor (prounced ‘Bo-Pah Angkor’.)

Driving through town, we couldn’t help but get the impression that Angkor is growing at about the same pace as Vegas - new 5-star hotels are opening up like hotcakes, with apartments jumping in price almost 500% in the past 2 years (due to the massive influx of tourism.) Not wanting our experience to be generically tourist, we were thrilled to see that Bopha Angkor is not like every other hotel here - it’s GORGEOUS (how gay of us to use the caps)! We have to admit, we were a little skeptical, given all the people whispering in our ears about only staying in 5-star hotels in third world countries, but our hotel is quite the gem.

Even more surprising was our room. Since we told them we were on our honeymoon, the Khmer hospitality kicked into full-force and we were given what can only be the best room in the hotel. We have a HUGE room, replete with stone carvings bordering every wall in the room and gorgeous tapestries and fabrics from all over Southeast Asia. Not to mention we have our own private veranda…where we get our complimentary massages tomorrow night (after a long morning of visiting the ruins of Angkor)…now we get why there are so many ex-pats living here now. Score #2 on the hotel front! Woo hoo!!

After a delicious Khmer breakfast (which we’re not so sure is different from a delicious Khmer lunch or Khmer dinner, for that matter) of chicken noodle soup and dumplings, we headed into town to check out Siem Reap. The town is marked by a collection of buildings built by Les Francais (Fronch, to you philistines) at the turn of the century. Walking around town enabled us to get situated with all of the places we wanted to go, as well as find the places the Lonely Planet guidebook recommended.

Wanting to see a little bit of Cambodian artistic culture, we headed to Les Chantiers Ecoles (the Artisans School of Angkor.) This school, dedicated to the production of silkwork, wordwork, laquerwork, silkpainting, and stonecarving was eye-opening…not to mention a goldmine for anyone with a keen interest in Asian interior design. After the Cambodian culture was destroyed by Pol Pot, all art was lost. To provide some help to the poor village of the region, this artisan school was created to train the local children in crafts that could be sold to reinvest money in their small communities and train more artists.

After a quick lunch in town (happy pizza!), we raced back to meet our guide Dara, but he was apparently overbooked for the day, so he sent his friend (a lovely woman whose name, of course, we can’t remember.) So we headed to the floating villages on Tonle Sap (pronounced “Tone-lay Sop”.) Tonle Sap, the great lake of Cambodia, has several amazing features. First is it’s a mobile village…the people follow the ebb and flow of the lake (which recedes as much as 10-12 kilometers in the summer months.) The river, which is the lifeblood for these villagers, really refills during the rainy season. The poor villagers that live in this community actually pick up their houses and cart them several kilometers so that they always remain close to the water. When the tide rises as every November, the village moves back near the mountain again. It’s another amazing part of Cambodian culture.

As we boated out to the center of Tonle Sap, we passed scores and scores of river houses, where the people live, some families of 4 crowded into small sampans (imagine a family of 6 living on a small canoe and you’ll get an idea of what it’s like for these people.) Honestly, you see this and it amazes you and breaks your heart at the same time. This was a defining moment on our trip—we wanted to see how people on the other side of the world lived and we definitely did today. It really reminds you of how VERY lucky we are in life for what and who we have. All sarcasm aside, we really have a nice life, and the life of the people of this poor country (who are so generous, optimistic, and NICE more than anything) pales in so many ways to ours.

After the beverage, we headed back across the lake a headed towards Seam Riep, stopping at an amazing Buddhist Pagoda where monks pray, live, and teach Buddhism…if you come there every day, the monks would eventually accept you wholly.

At the evening wore down, we walked into town to check out the nightlife…and found the only gay bar in town (perhaps the only gay bar in Cambodia.) Glad to know that, even in Cambodia, we still don’t like going to bars. As Billy started to fall asleep into his gin and tonic we decided it’d be best to head back and get a good night’s rest before our first big day at the temples. More to come…!

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