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Saved: February 12th 2009
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Our vessel to the Fishing Villages
These are the long boats which take tourists and others out to the fishing villages. Nice ride, unless you hit a wake and get a mouthful of brown, lake-water droplets... We flip-flopped about coming to Cambodia on this trip: desperately wanting to visit the country in the earlier stages or tourism, but at the same time, wanting to leave more time to explore Vietnam. With the encouragement of Henry Su and Kimmie (go Vikings), my brother (and his friends), and sheer excitement over exploring angkor wat, we decided to make the trip. And so happy we were!
After a short afternoon in Ho Chi Min City, we headed to Siem Reap, best known for its temples of Angkor Wat (fondly referred to as the wat). We stayed at a little B&B called Journeys Within, which I would highly recommend for the owners are quite knowledgeable about Cambodian politics and history. They were also helpful in pointing us in the right direction for tasty Khmer food (somewhere inbetween chinese and indian foods, which is not surprising given the country's cultural influences) and in helping us plan our time in Angkor Wat, the largest monument in the world.
DAY ONE: We set off leisurely (of course) in the morning with an A/C car and a guide who spent about 6 hours with us at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. (My hope
Kids waving on the way to fishing village.
A bunch of cute kids saying hello to the foreigners as we rode down to the river for our little expedition to a fishing village was to bike the area around the temples on our own, but I could not win against Surya's compelling arguement that biking in 100 degree humid hotness was insane. So the A/C won out in the end. He was right.)
The history of the temples of AW and the people who built them is too intricate and long to even scratch the surface, so I will stick to some fun facts. For those interested, check out www.angkorwat,org.
The temples of AW, built between the 8th and 13th centuries, are spread over 40 miles around Siem Reap, Cambodia. It is the prized possession of Cambodia, although the Thai believe that AW belongs to them, as territories of land "ownership" were fluctuant during the times that AW was developed. Nonetheless, it is clear that King Jayavarman I and his decendents began the development of the temples and Suryavarman (Clearly, he was reincarnated as the modern day Surya we all know) expanded the empire.
Angkor Wat, which many people would recognize in photographs, was built from 1113 to 1150. It is a massive temple complex with a surrounding moat (no crocodiles) measuring 570 wide and 4 miles long! The temple
Vietnamese Children on their boat
Here is a boat full of Vietnamese children of the fishing village. They approached us and asked for money. has many Indian architectural features, but according to what I have read, by the time of building AW, the Khmers had developed their own architectural style. The temple itself has was built to honor the kings in rule at that time, as well as the Hindu gods (at this time). This honor becomes clear when one sees the thousands of figures carved into stone which adorn the temples- especially stories of Hindu mythology (Ramayana).
The temple structures were made of stone which were transported in on elephants, and in a "ball and socket" manner placed on top of eachother without mortar. It is amazing to see that the temples have remained standing over 100s of years, in the absence of restoration projects, which have only recently been underway.
Despite the beauty and miraculous contruction of these temples, it is sad to see them in such disrepair. We learned that the Japanese and Korean governments have donated large amounts or money into the restoration of the temples and the roads that lead to the temples. It seems that without their help, many of the temples would be dangerous to visit and closed to visitors. While the cost of entering
Home sweet home
A typical house boat in the fishing village. Remember a family of 8 with animals could live here! the heritage site is close to $20 US dollars per person per day, we heard that less than 15% goes into the maintenance and restoration of the temples- the other 85% goes to who knows where, but it is rumored that the money goes to keep rich the goverment officials and workers who control the area. While the Khmer people clearly honor thier temples (as evident from the thousands of people visiting every day for worship and wonderment!) the official honor their wallets.
The day was long and hot, but beautiful and awe inspiring. We spent most of our time at AW itself and Angkor Thom (the city capital at the time), the terrace of elephants, and the grounds area of the city. Check out the photos.
DAY TWO: After another lazy morning, we headed to down town Seim Reap and loafed around, visited some of the markets, drank some Angkor Wat beer, and mostly people watched.
DAY THREE: After deciding to take mopeds to visit more of the temples, we braved the traffic (not nearly as bad as vietnam!) and went as far as we could in the heat and with the time we had. The best part of the day (aside from the moped fun) was seeing the temple of Ta Prohm which show the passage of time and continuation of nature across the centuries. The temple (again, not maintained over the years) is interrupted in areas by enormous roots of banyan trees, which entangle the stones and carvings. With parrots also flying overhead, you literally feel like you have happend upon this amazing temple when walking alone in the jungle. There are few people here (not the usual stop for the tour buses), making Ta Prohm even more mystical and spectacular.
DAY 4: Our final day in Cambodia was spent on the Tonle Sap Lake. It is the largest lake in Cambodia, and supplies the majority of the fish eaten in Cambodia. Our guide, Thy (pronounced Tea), was great, as his father was a fisherman, and he was raised on the lake (literally). The lake itself is nothing special, except for its size, which reminded me of the great lakes in the states. On the other hand, the people who make a living off of these waters, havemade a greater impression in my mind.
There are 2 large communities on the lake- and i mean ON the lake- separated by culture and ethnicity. To the right are the Vietnamese. To the left, the Cambodians. The Cambodians blame the Vietnamese for overfishing the lake- perhaps misplaced historical blame; but according to some folks we met, the Vietnamese are much more industrious than the Cambodians. Either way, both communities share the lake.
Fishermen and their families live in small wooden boats (less than 200-300 square feet- making New York's apartments look like mansions) along with their dogs, cats, PIGS. Their gardens are on rafts attached to the back of their boats, and the toilets (we think) are the waters. Too bad there was not time for swimming. Along with the tight quarters, the poverty was apparent, and as our boat roamed through these "neighborhoods" children in big round cooking bowls would paddle up to us, begging for some money.
Years back, in light of the decreasing population of the lake's fish, some NGOs dedicated their time to build fisheries and teaching the local fishermen how to harvest the fish for sustainable fishing. Apparently the project was a success, until the day the NGOs left town. At that point, the fisheries and the dream of sustainability went out to sea. I guess it is only a matter of time until the fisherman need to find a new livelihood.
Oh, for those crocodilian lovers out there- there use to be MANY crocs in the lake. No more, however, due to- you guessed it- hunting and fishing. We were able to see one crocodile floating farm (yes, floating farm) in the middle of the lake, where a man keeps about 100 crocs (small ones, only 6 feet maximum) squeezed into 2 small pens. He feeds them well in hopes of fast growth and when the size is right, he sells them for their skin. We keep telling ourselves that no matter how much humans hunt and kill crocs due to hatred and fear, the crocs will somehow survive. They have this long, so we find no reason to think otherwise. But in seeing the sad state of the crocs in the pens, we wonder if they will make it.
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