Siem Reap, Cambodia

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Hello Friends and Family,
I am back in Bangkok now after three weeks travel through Southeast Asia. A few weeks ago I went to the Temples of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Prior to my visit I had great expectations for the temples, being one of Man-Made Wonders of the World. I also had friends and family who have traveled to Siem Reap and only had the best things to say about it. Now that I'm back, I'll say that I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The temples, as well as Cambodian culture and lifestyle were quite intriguing.
I had also heard horror stories from friends about the journey by land from Bangkok to Siem Reap. There is a rumor which justifies why the journey is so horrendous. Something along the lines of Bangkok Airways having a monopoly on flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap, thus making it very expensive to fly. However, Bangkok Air counters this issue by paying off the Cambodian Government not to pave the road from the Thai border to Siem Reap. This dirt road deters many travelers from going by land, thus leaving the only way to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap to fly. Now I'm not sure if this is true, but I will say the descriptions of the road I heard about were right on; it truly was a nightmare. I'll do my best to explain the journey.
I woke up early on a Friday morning after two full days of class at Rangsit. My four friends and I tried to beat the early morning traffic and make it to the northern Bangkok bus station to catch a bus to the Thai-Cambodian border. This part of the journey went very smoothly. After a six hour bus ride we made it to the Thai border city Aranya Prathet by early afternoon. The procedure for crossing the border is very specific. All ground transportation between the in the two countries ends at the border. So it's impossible to take a bus from Bangkok all the way to Siem Reap. We got off the bus in Aranya Prathet and had to walk across the border. As soon as we walked through the Thai immigration office and stepped into Cambodia we were hounded by young children begging for money. It was quite a disturbing experience; young girls holding a malnourished baby in one arm and an umbrella in the other, walking along side us so we wouldn't get wet, hoping for money in return of course. These distractions attracted many young boys who would surround us looking for any vulnerability in order to pick our pockets. The country is clearly a step below Thailand as far as prosperity is concerned. After fighting through the distractions, we finally made it to the Cambodian immigration office and bought our month-long travel visas for $25.
There were five people in our group, so we decided to take a taxi from the Cambodian border city Poipet to Siem Reap, which was ended up being about as expensive as taking a bus, but a bit faster. The cab ride was pretty miserable. Because there were five of us we had to pack four into the back seat. The road was absolutely treacherous. It was raining the entire time, as our cab struggled in the battle against pot holes and sliding off the road where the clay/dirt road was too slippery to drive fast. The entire ride we were getting bounced around with our heads hitting the ceiling and being thrown into each other. I was able to get my mind off the horrendous condition of the road, but I still think the worst part was our cab drivers breath. It was definitely the most repulsing scent I’ve ever smelled, and every time he exhaled into the air conditioner the smell spread throughout the car. We ended up driving 190 kilometers in about 4 1/2. We had a lot of fun for the first part of the journey, but by the end we were all exhausted. But looking back on it, we made it, and we’re better people for it
Upon arriving in Siem Reap, we found a guest house near the main drag named Pub Street. It was a similar to State Street in Madison, just not quite as long. This was where all the travelers hung out at night, so it was a good place to meet people. Our favorite pub was a bar called Angkor What?, a congregating area for young travelers. Another interesting aspect about Cambodia is that they use American Currency, so when you take money out of an ATM you receive dollars. Everything is still very cheap relative to the States though.
As we spent more time in Siem Reap I really enjoyed comparing the country to Thailand. The language spoken in Cambodia is Khmer, which is very different from Thai. Buildings aren't quite as well kept in Cambodia and the country isn't as clean. Similar to Thailand, Siem Reap was very accommodating to tourists, but more snakes were on the prowl, slithering around trying to exploit tourists. The main annoyance in Siem Reap was the tuk-tuk drivers. A tuk-tuk is a wagon sort of taxi attached to the back of a motorbike. This is the mode of transportation that most tourists use to see the temples in Angkor. They are spread throughout about a 30 kilometer radius, so it is helpful to have someone who knows the territory to drive you around. However, there are many more tuk-tuk drivers than tourists, and they were quite pestering chasing after our business. We ended up choosing one of the tuk-tuk drivers who we thought was the least pushy and annoying. (These guys just do not understand the word "no," they really are downright obnoxious) Our driver’s name was Robbie, and he was a 22-year old Cambodian boy who was trying to make money to pay for his younger brothers to go to school. He was absolutely great, and made our trip wonderful. He drove the five of us around for three entire days, taking us on informational tours of the temples and explaining the history the Angkorian Empire
As we became better friends with Robbie he became more comfortable with us. On our last day in Angkor he took us to his family’s village a few miles outside of Siem Reap on a river. It was difficult to see the conditions his family lived in, but quite a mind opening experience. His family of six lived in a one room concrete house, with an aluminum roof which didn't even cover the whole room. They slept on straw mats that offered no padding from the concrete. Robbie told us that he makes most of the income for is family, driving tourists in his tuk-tuk. I came away with the experience questioning our lifestyles’ back home. Robbie’s family was in the best of spirits, happy, cherishing everything they had. But what they didn't have did not matter to them. It seems like we have so much back home, yet, we struggle to be content with that.
Needless to say, we were very impressed with our driver, who took us a bit off the traditional tourist trail in order to make our experience in Siem Reap memorable.
The temples were breathtakingly beautiful. It's hard to believe they were constructed in the 12th century and are still standing so grandly today. Angkor Wat was very impressive. This temple in particular was massive. It was also intriguing to see temples revolving around a Hindu style of Buddhism. The Buddha statues were a different style than Thai Theravada Buddhas. It was interesting to witness the transformation from Hinduism into Buddhism, and seeing this first hand in the architecture of the temples.
We spent two entire days touring the temples and by this point we were templed out, but we were happy to have seen most of them. My favorite temple was the jungle temple Ta Prohm. We saw this temple in the late afternoon of our first day. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, but the sun was shining. We had a blast jumping around on the ruins which had massive trees and roots splurging through the rock structures. Portions of the temple were completely caved in, covered in a radiant green moss which was pretty slippery. Apparently the temple is famous for being in one of the Tomb Raider movies, but I haven't seen it. We spent the better part of the afternoon monkeying around in this temple, until the weather turned. When it began to storm we were right in the middle of the temple and we decided we would to get wet regardless so we opted to stay inside the temple and continue climbing around. All the other tourists sought cover, and I assume they thought we were fools for getting wet, but we were certainly having more fun than the others.
On our last day in Siem Reap, our tuk-tuk driver brought us to a floating village on a lake about 30 kilometers south of the city. Cambodians definitely enjoy their lives on the water, sleeping in hammocks and fishing to supply their meals. It was cool to see this lifestyle. We also had fun swimming in the lake, doing flips off the top of our longboat with the Cambodians. When we made it back to our guesthouse we went out for our last night on Pub Street. Fortunately we were able to watch the Liverpool-Tottenham game, but the draw was a less than desirable outcome.
We woke up early the next morning for another horrendous taxi ride back to Poipet, the Cambodian border city. Fortunately the weather was better, so the ride went quickly. On the return it was the same procedure. Walk across the border from Poipet to Aranya Prathet, through Thai Immigration and Customs. I will admit, it was quite a relief to be back in Thailand. It's beginning to feel a bit like home!

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