Surreal in Siem Reap

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August 4th 2011

Published: August 11th 2011

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Born to Explore

Connors at Bayon

One of our favourite stops, we were alone and with sun on this afternoon at Bayon.

The video version of this blog appears at the following link thanks to Matt:

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Up early, we boarded the bus for Siem Reap at 7:30am and settled in for our 6 hour bus ride. The countryside in Cambodia is much like the Canadian Prairies only replace the wheat fields with rice paddies. It is flat, flat and more flat (another stark contrast to Laos). The bus ride was fairly uneventful and we are getting good at passing the time listening to our latest playlists and watching the kilometers unfold. As with many of our larger city stops, arriving at a new destination is always met with an onslaught of people wanting to take you somewhere (or anywhere for that matter). Siem Reap has an interesting system as certain Tuk Tuk drivers pay a premium ($30 a month) to have first access to travelers in the bus terminal. They take you to your hotel for a fair price but are then in a position to solicit you in order to take you to the various sights around Siem Reap (ie. all of the various temples, etc.). We needed 2 tuk tuks with our luggage load and still we were

Bayon

Faces, faces and more faces. One of 216 large silhouettes.

pretty full. We thought that our hotel had arranged pick-up but after ½ an hour, we decided to go local and grab a tuk tuk. Mr. Chan ended up taking us to our hotel and he implored us to use his services for our stay. We ended up having him take us around for 2 or our 3 days there and he was a gem. He was very knowledgable about all of the history and was an incredibly gracious man (he brought frozen water bottles for us each day and really went the extra mile). We definitely lucked out with him.

Matthew had done the research for Siem Reap so he had some idea of what we were going to do. We had also booked at a hotel where a number of Bottings (friends from Maple Ridge) had stayed so we were set for that (The Golden Banana was an awesome setting and very central to the old town so we were able to walk to the market every night). What we were unprepared for was how amazing the next few days were going to be as we fell in love with the town as well as the surrounding

Backside of Angkor

With renos on the front, we were looking for a non-scaffold picture of this incredible structure.

area and its living historical record of these strong people.

We dropped our bags, settled into our rooms, and then set out to catch a bite to eat and a glimpse of the old town as night set in. The market area in Siem Reap turned out to be a fan favourite as there were multiple unique areas to browse and the energy in all of them was contagious. The one main street reminded us of the old Khaosan Road in Bangkok. It was alive but was not too crowded and there was a spunk to it without being too trashy. We grabbed a great meal (we are completely satiating the whole family for around $30 including drinks) at the Mekong Kitchen (great food) and then proceeded to explore. We headed to bed fairly early as tomorrow was going to be our first venture out to Angkor Wat and its surroundings.

Upon getting up, we were met by our wonderful Mr. Chan and we started our temple adventures. It was a very inauspicious beginning however, as the heavy rain started at breakfast and never ended until well after lunch. Really having no other options, we braved the rain

Ta Prohm

Incredible mixture of nature taking over what man has made.

(and the crowds). Unbeknownst to us, the Angkor Wat area is a very large area made up of many, many temples. For $40 per person ($20/day typically) you can buy a 3 day pass. This seemed like the best option as it gave you multiple chances to see temples. They have 2 basic routes that they follow on 2 separate days to get you a flavour of the area (Little route and Big route). We started with the little route that took us to Angkor Wat and a number of other temples that we heard were great. Our first stop had us drive by the front of Angkor Wat and on to the Bayon Temple (in Angkor Thon – the Royal City). We had a couple of people tell me that Angkor Wat was on their bucket list. Just driving by, we can see why. It is an incredible sight to see. The whole area is surrounded by a massive moat (obviously for protection). As we approached the East gates towards Bayon, we were met by the beautiful statues of the faces of the Gods on one side and the Demons on the other. Most of the architecture here depicts

Beauty in frames

Candid moment ... not.

the continuous struggle between the Gods and the Demons. As we got out at our first stop, we were met full on by the deluge of rain. We quickly bargained for a couple of umbrellas, as our raincoats were obviously not going to be sufficient. Armed with our water deflectors, we proceeded to Bayon which is an amazing temple featuring 216 faces carved into the rocks (everywhere you look, there are 15 faces in view). This structure however was somewhat tainted by the myriad of tour groups and umbrellas that needed to be navigated while trying to take in the sheer immensity of these edifices. We appreciated the first couple of temples but the atmosphere and weather was definitely a factor.

As a bit of background, most of these incredible structures were built in the 10th-13th centuries when there were over 2 million people living in this area. Much of the building took place under the rule of Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century. The waterway systems built up by this huge empire rival those of any civilization in history. All major ancient civilizations were built up around large navigable rivers such as the Nile, Tigris and Yangtze.

Taking a temple break

The view from the top of Angkor down on the commoners below.

The Mekong was no exception as this was the main thoroughfare for all commerce and a necessity for transportation and trade. Walking amongst the temples and canals, you could almost feel the history of the place come alive.

It is interesting to note that many of the temples were originally built under Hindu worshiping Kings but have been converted back and forth between Buddhism and Hinduism a couple of times depending on the faith of the king. Many of the temples were vandalized and damaged by the Khmer Rouge during their reign of terror between 1975 and 1979. We had a guide for part of our time in Angkor Wat and he pointed out the bullets holes that serve as a reminder of this period. Angkor Wat was relatively untouched by the Khmer Rouge and served as their military headquarters for a period of time.

Apart from our first taste of rain on our first morning, we actually had fantastic weather for the remaining 2 ½ days. We also had some incredible luck and apart from our first debacle in Bayon temple, we were able to see almost all the rest of the area with very few fellow

Floating village life

Going for a drive takes on a new meaning in this village.

travelers. Highlights of this amazing area include:
Pra Thom - this is a temple that has been left in its original state and there are massive trees growing out in the most incredible places (definitely one of our favourites)
Bayon – we revisited this temple on our last day and were there in the afternoon without anyone else on site. The over 216 gigantic faces make this a marvel to behold. With the place to ourselves, it was a surreal feeling walking amongst the lower corridors and then climbing up the steep steps and stepping out onto the upper ledges.
Angkor Wat – this is spectacular to see from road. The outer wall is impressive and then you catch your breath as you see the five towers of Angkor themselves climbing up from in behind. This magnificent temple is the largest active religious building in existence today. The structure was designed to cater to the king as well as the common people so all of its features allow for both groups to utilize its facilities.
Ta Keo- this was another temple where we were alone and allowed to explore the never ending doorways from one end to the other. The

Did you clean your ears?

Mothers are the same in all species.

steep steps to the top of the temple were also precarious and exciting.

Apart from the temples, we spent one morning out at the floating village of Chong Khneas on Tonle Sap Lake. “In the wet season, the Tonle Sap Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia, swelling to an expansive 12,000 km2. During the dry half of the year the Lake shrinks to as small as 2500 km2, draining into the Tonle Sap River.” This is an 80% difference between the two seasons. As a result, there are a variety of communities that have been built up around the lake. Some are floating villages and others are houses on stilts. The houses on stilts that we saw are apparently up to 10 metres in the air come dry season. The rest of the inhabitants chose floating homes. We saw some barges/ homes being towed inland as the real rainy season has yet to hit this area (apparently they head toward higher ground as the storms can really come up on edges of the lake). For these people, it is all about cheap housing and being close to a food and income source (fishing). As a

Ta Prohm

Couldn't get enough of this place.

result, they are incredibly ingenious and adaptable. We saw every type of floating merchant that you can imagine (a lady selling clothes off the rack from her boat, etc.). The only tainting to our experience here was the way this whole particular village is being exploited by entrepreneurs bringing tourists in (us included) and then asking us to give money to these people (in addition to the $20 US p.p. they charge to take you up the river). This particular village is only 15km from Siem Reap so it sees the bulk of the tourism. Our boat driver was very pushy in this regard. When we offered up some money to buy some things for the villagers, we were asked for more. It left an uncertain taste in our mouths as to whether the $ actually get to the villagers. To cap it all off, as we disembarked and were quickly approached by someone who showed us some tacky plates. It took a second for us to focus and realize that each of our pictures were on the center of each plate. They wanted us to buy these as souvenirs. The gave us a really creepy feeling so we got

Fascinating life

Hanging the clothes like many throughout the world but it just takes on a new meaning here.

out of there pretty quickly and went back to visit our favourite temples one last time.

The evenings in Siem Reap were spent enjoying the fantastic food (the “Red Piano” was particularly good and nicely situated above the street so that we could enjoy the happenings down below). Besides the great shopping safaris that we went on, we also took the plunge (with our feet) and had a fish cleaning. They have these large clear tanks where you put your feet in and for a mere $3, you can have up to 60 or 70 fish nibbling away at all of the dead skin that has accumulated over the course of a 4 week trip. Well, the dares went out between children and parents and 4 of us took a dip. The sensation is jarring at the beginning (and a bit unnerving) but really it ends up feeling like a nice massage on your feet. The flamboyant and gracious lady who ran our stall said that the small fish give you a “hee hee hee” and the bigger fish give you a “haw haw haw”. They promised that it would make you smile or you get your money back.

Fish food

If they like to eat dead skin, do you want to eat them?

There was so much laughter in our tank that we didn’t have a chance at a refund.

We finished each night by closing down the night market and bargaining our way into needing another suitcase to bring home. The main worry now is how we are going to continue to transport this increasing number of bags. Nice problem to have. Tomorrow, we have an 8 hour bus ride and ferry to the island of Koh Chang in Thailand. We are excited to be able to spend our last week on the beach. We did just find out tonight that the hotel we booked at is having renovations done on their pool (the main reason we were staying there) so we canceled and now accommodation is up in the air. Ahhhh, the joys of travelling!!!

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