Temples galore

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Our next day was an unexpected surprise. Kyle had met what he described to be a very friendly Cambodian the day before in an internet cafe. He said he was between jobs and would love to show us around if we wanted. He didn't want any payment, just our company. When Kyle told me I was skeptical at first. You're never sure with certain scams etc. in SE Asia. Kyle had gotten his phone number so that morning we gave him a call. The girls wanted to have a shopping day around Siem Reap so we split up. Our Cambodian friend met us fairly quickly and I instantly knew how harmless and nice he was. His name was Sambath (pronounced samebaht) and he had a huge smile on his face from the moment we met him. We let him negotiate the tuk-tuk price as they won't fleece Cambodians as much as tourists. We got a fair price and headed off towards the countryside to see some more remote temples.

We turned off the main highway and headed down some pretty bumpy roads, which on a tuk-tuk is not all that pleasant but still mostly fun. There are rice paddies everywhere around and small thatch-roofed houses. After about an hour we made it to a Sambath's house in his village of about 200 people. His parents, some siblings, and some cute nieces were all lounging under a thatch hut on the side of the house. They were drying a tarp full of rice out front and their house was actually fairly big. We sat down with his family who smiled back at us and then went back to lounging. He had 4 or 5 friendly dogs to play with (especially Kyle as he missed his dog back home). Mostly we kind of just took in the whole experience of sitting in a village where almost everyone is subsistence farmers. They all grow rice and some grow potatoes, corn or other vegetables along with the chickens, cows, buffaloes, and pigs that they keep. We hopped back in the tuk-tuk and went to see some temples.

Ruins is probably a more accurate term for the first temple. We could've never found it without Sambath. It was in a thicket a little ways off the road and consisted of a couple of holes with large stone slabs. Some of it was ruined by the Khmer Rouge during their regime and other parts were dug up by people looking for "treasure". We hopped back in the tuk-tuk and went to the next set of ruins. This one was also in a thicket next to a rice paddy where no one could have found it if they tried. This temple had more structure and was buried in some jungle. There were holes all around where people dug for unknown valuables and some bricks missing due to some villagers taking bricks to use for building. I guess when you don't have building supplies and there are some next to your house its an easy decision. Beautiful ruins though and the best part is that we were the only people even remotely close to the area. A bit different than Angkor Wat 😊

From there we took about a 15 minute walk to reach the shores of the Western Baray. This large square reservoir was built hundreds of year ago by the Khmer empire to help with irrigation. We could see the tips of the towers of Angkor Wat even. A short tuk-tuk ride then took us to the Artisans silk factory. This is the same company of Cambodian training and skilled work that had the stone carving etc. factory in Siem Reap. This is where they made the silk for their scarves and clothing. We got another free tour of the whole process from where the silk worm larvae consume mulberry bushes to where they spin the silk onto spools and dye it to where they weave the scarves. You get such an appreciation for the skill it takes when you see the whole process.

We headed back to town and met up with the girls who were leaving the next day to go through Phnom Penh to Vietnam. We went out for some cheap drinks on bar street (yes its even called that) and people watched for most of the night. Weird mix of backpackers, older ex-pats, and groups of "frat" boys in their Angkor beer cutoff shirts. The next morning we said goodbye to the girls who I might meet up with again in Laos if the timing works. Kyle and I spent the day at a couple more temples on the main circuit including Ta Prohm, a temple overgrown by trees. For sunset we climbed a "mountain" (nothing next to Kinabalu) that has a temple on top called Bakheng. The view from the top was nice but the crowds were enormous. You could see Angkor Wat and the Western Baray, but the sunset itself was less than spectacular due to the clouds. The night we took Sambath out for dinner to say thank you and switched guest houses to a more backpacker friendly place called the Ivy guesthouse that had a cool chillout area with hammocks.

Within minutes we had already met someone. He was a Brit named Pete who had already been traveling all over the place including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. We asked if he wanted to join in on our adventures the next day and he happily agreed. The next morning we embarked on a long tuk-tuk ride to some further temples. The first on the list was Banteay Srei which means temple made by women. It is thought that women made the temple because the carvings in the pink sandstone are too intricate for men's hands. Take that for what you will. Unfortunately we arrived at the temple, 37 km outside of town, right when 4 huge tour buses full on Japanese people pulled up. The temples charm is its intricate carvings not its size so we did not spend much time there. We hopped back in the tuk-tuk and took off towards Beng Melea, a huge Angkor Wat sized temple in ruins in the jungle.

Beng Melea is about 70 km from Siem Reap and part of the road was broken so we had to take side roads for part of it. At one point we heard a "woosh" sound and seconds later we had a flat. We got out of the tuk-tuk and started walking. We had no idea how long we were going to be in the blazing sun in the middle of nowhere but none of us even batted an eyelash. Its all part of the experience. Luckily we were close to a town and sat down for a bowl of Cambodian soup while the tire got changed. Eventually we made it to Beng Melea and boy was it worth it.

There was nobody around except for one other group of two tourists! We got some local guides who took us through the labyrinth of ruins of the massive temple. It is a scene out of Indiana Jones with trees growing out of every part of the ruins and causing the bulk of the destruction. Lizards and a huge spider were crawling on the walls. Just an amazing atmosphere that you can only get by being there (or secondarily though pictures).

Just before we were about to leave we noticed a sign for "harmony farms". Turns out it was an orphanage. The volunteer teacher, a Brit, stopped teaching for a bit and told us about the operation. It was started by a Cambodian and is attempting to be completely self-sufficient by growing their own food etc. Just an awesome organization. I put it in the memory banks as a place to volunteer if I ever have a month or two to spare.

We finally made it back to Siem Reap having traveled about 200 km. That night we went for Mexican food (they have everything in Siem Reap and none of us had had Mexican for awhile). We went with Pete and 4 Australians who we met at Ivy, some of whom were working in Laos and came down to meet friends for vacation. It takes very little effort to meet people if the hostel has the right vibe to it.

The next morning Kyle and said goodbye to Siem Reap and took a 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh ($5 US). Phnom Penh was hectic but I'll leave that for another day as I have to go catch my flight to Laos in a couple of hours.

I'm glad to hear from the feedback that people seem to be enjoying the blog. It's fun to write too...when I have the time.

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