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Published: August 6th 2007
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Trees of Ka Prohm
Jungle and temple merge as one Thus far, Cambodia has not been what I expected. I arrived in the town of Siem Ream a couple of days ago, but instead of finding poverty and despair I found trendy little cafes and cash machines that spit out American greenbacks. Undoubtedly, this is a result of the tourism industry centered around the nearby ruins of Angkor, which draw close to a millions visitors annually. I think I will have to wait until I get to Phnom Penh to get a feel for the Cambodia of today, but in the mean time I was set on exploring its ancient past.
What is usually referred to as Angkor Wat is actually a series of over a thousand temples, of which Angkor Wat (the single largest religious monument in the world) is the largest and most recognizable. As you walk among the ruins it is amazing to think that this was the center of a city-state of over a million people at a time when London was still in it's infancy with a population of less than 50,000. It would be even greater if you didn't have to mentally block out the mob of other tourist milling around and getting in
Sunrise Over Angkor Wat
I had to get up damn early for this photo so you had better enjoy it the way of all your photos, but you take what you can get and thankfully some of the smaller temples were not nearly as crowded. All of the temples are great examples of Khmer architecture, but each seems to have it's own individual feel. While most of the temples have a bit of a mix of everything, some are grander in scale, while others inspire with their intricate carvings or ancient trees that have over grown and become one with the ruins. Some of my favourites included Angkor Wat with it's treacherous stairs about half as wide as your feet, Bayon with its hundreds of giant heads looking down on you, and the ancient trees growing at Ka Prohm (where part of Tomb Raider was filmed. Unfortunately Angie was no longer around.... must have run out of orphans for her to adopt).
After a great experience with bicycling in Vietnam, and an abundance of ambition, we set out for our first day at the ruins on two wheels. One blown tire and a bucket of sweat later we arrived at the ruins and were greeted instantaneously by children hawking everything from cold drinks to postcards. They seem to have
Bayon Detail
Illustrates the heavy Indian influence at Angkor worked out a pretty good system by which the first 3 or 4 tour arrive stick to a single tourist. Late comers fall quickly by the wayside, but the original ones stick like glue and chip away at your resistance little by little. Eventually all three of us bought a little something from each of our respective hangers on, but had to refuse most of the children on the rest of our tour. There are only some many useless trinkets I need. On a related note, if anybody out there wants some chinsy bracelets I'd be happy to sell you some... and just because I like you I'll give you the special price of 10 for $1!
The bike tour was rewarding, but exhausting at the same time. We were swimming in our own perspiration after only a few minutes on the road and our stop for lunch in an airconditioned cafe with ice-cold washclothes was a welcomed releif. While we considered doing the bikes again for the second day, we opted instead for a tuk-tuk (imagine a small covered cart attached to the back of a motorbike). This was done partly for the sake of our aching muscles,
but also so we could get to the site a little faster in order to catch sunrise over the main temple.
The only real non-Angkor related stop that we made near Siem Reap was a visit to The Cambodian Land Mine Museum which is run by a man named Aki Ra with the help of a Canadian NGO. The place was extremely well put together and well run, and also serves as a home, hospital and school for local children which have been the victims of land mines. Aki Ra, a former child soldier of the Khmere Rouge, is said to have disarmed somewhere around 50,000 mines (some of which he once helped lay) or other ordinace over the last 20 years using high-tech equipment such as his hands and a stick. In addition to the piles of decommissioned explosives, great displays and first hand written accounts we also had a chance to talk to some of the children living and working at the museum, who were all smiles and more than happy to chat. If you are interested, I would encourage you to check out their website at cambodialandminemuseum.org.
Until next time...
Mike
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