Wat a Place!

After a (2)hr flight from Luang Prabang, Laos we arrived in Siem Reap. From the moment we exited the airport we were treated like King and Queen. We stayed (5) nights at The Villa Siem Reap - 5* service at guesthouses prices, gigantic rooms, great staff, good food and great location. There is a reason why this guesthouse is #1 on Hostel World and Trip Advisor - it caters to the tourist and does all the small things right. We were picked up at the airport in a Tuk Tuk Camodian style (a motorbike with a carriage attached) and a cooler full of cold drinks - a nice touch when the weather is in the high 30's.

Okay, after enjoying the ride in from the airport we were checked in and told that we could have a tuk tuk and driver assigned to us for our entire stay if we wished. In addition, within the next 45mins we would be taken to Angkor Wat to watch the sunset. Nowhere in the tourist books did we read that if you go to Angkor Wat at 5:00pm the night before to purchase your (1) day or longer passes you get into Angkor Wat for free to watch the sunset -what a great start to our visit after only being on Cambodian soil for (1 1/2)hrs. We purchased a (3) day pass and took the tuk tuk and driver for the (3) days.

We spent our first (3) days visting the temples of Angkor Wat, following the suggested (3) day itinerary printed in the Siem Reap Angkor Visitors Guide. This guide is the best literature on Siem Reap and it is highly recommend that you get your hands on one as soon as you land - no need for a LP here. Siem Reap for most visitors means long hours gasping at the temples of Angkor Wat, and no doubt they live up to all the expectations. But the city itself is extremely warm to tourists and the Cambodians themselves are friendly and provide enough smiles to last a lifetime. The highlights of the temple touring were definitely Angkor Wat, Bayon, Angkor Thom, Victory Gate, Ta Prohm and the sunset and sunrise at Angkor Wat. We were very fortunate to avoid the huge crowds with the exception of Banteay Srey - a wee Hindu temple quite a ways out that makes for some good rural scenery, where we were met by an army of Japense tourists and their umbrellas. What ever happened to using 45+ sunscreen - we are intellectually baffled at how a hat, sunglasses, dust mask, long pants, long sleeves and a sweater isn't enough to stop the sun rays. But wait, on top of dressing for the Artic there are also the Umbrellas!

Besides the highlight of the temples themselves, the children selling the usual gimmicks are somewhat entertaining. Yes the children in most cases are unfortunately not attending school and are being propositioned by their families to sell stuff, but they are at the same time learning some English - got to look at the positive. When told that we are from Canada they are able to list off the capital, all the cities, the prime minister and the fact that we are a bilingual country - Is Quebec still attached? Anyhow, we had a lot of fun with the kids and indeed spend a $1 on postcards, which also included a quick photo opt! For those children unfortuantely not attending school they are quickly put into survival mode, by the age of (3) the kids here are parenting and wheeling and dealing - far better than any business school could teach!

After (3) days of Temple sightseeing we were really keen to get out to the countryside and see how the everyday Cambodian lives in this part of the country. Although we did get to see a good deal of village life along the way to a number of temples we wanted more. The guesthouse arranged a trip to Kampong Phluk - enough cannot be said about the service of this guesthouse. In order to get there we road the tuk tuk for approx (1)hr and then had to get onto the back of a couple motor bikes to drive to the Kampong Phluk docks. Because the water level is to low to take a boat directly from the first village we needed to ride to the second village to catch a boat. The ride to the Kampong Phluk docks was a muddy and very bumpy ride to say the least. We really felt as though we were on a National Geographic expedition, seeing no gringos and really seeing the daily lives of the villagers. The villages have no running water or electricity and most youngers are half clothed with the little ones running around as "nudists". Every child and grown up we passed, we waved and yelled hello which was responded to with a huge smile and a loud hello back. This was really a special outing.

Kampong Phluk is a cluster of (3) villages of stilted houses built within the floodplain of the Tonle Sap about 16km SE of Siem Reap. A flooded mangrove forest surrounds the area. During the dry season, which is now, the lake is low and the buildings in the villages seem to soar atop their (6) metre stilts exposed by the lack of water. At this time of year many of the villagers move out onto the lake and build temporary stilted houses. In the wet season when the water level rises again, the villagers move back to their permanent houses on the floodplain. The stilted houses were indeed still emersed in water as the dry season has just begun. We stopped off at the last village where we were asked for some grammer lessons by a residing Monk - we obliged, but needless to say, those who can speak English cannot necessarily teach, as we learned! This village did have a dry "road" running through it for a couple of 100 metres. The only time we saw any gringos was on the way back to the Kampong Phluk docks. It was a great day trip and is highly recommended if you want to see how the majority of Cambodians live their lifes - a great break from the hordes of tourists, temples and begging.

Much has been written and documented about the landmines in Cambodia, so needless to say we never went off the path to relieve ourselves. On a sad note there are a great number of people missing limbs which is a harsh reminder that years after the war and bombings the risk of injury and death is as great as ever. The political climate is still very much unstable, no worry for the tourist, but corruption and senseless acts of intimidation are a part of every day life here. There is a lot of construction in progress and a few high end hotels have a presence here. We got the sense that life is much better today than yesterday and tourism is giving a big boost to the average Cambodian. Let's hope that peace will continue and that for the people of Cambodia who have had to life with fear for generations can begin to feel at ease in the future.

We really enjoyed our time in Siem Reap. The city and the people are extremely friendly to tourists and getting around to the sights is very hassle free. Of course we couldn't have a good stay without having great food. We really enjoyed the Vietnamese food at the Soup Dragon and the Camodian food at The Amok. Must say, we also enjoyed the fruit shakes and those relaxing night time massages!

We are now off to Hanoi, Vietnam where we have very fond memories from a past trip.

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