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Published: February 23rd 2009
I have really enjoyed Cambodia and wish I had more time to spend in the country (despite a sunburn that left me looking like a candy-cane, continued problems crossing streets and a scary loss of interest in chocolate - not even the chocolate bar could tempt me at this point, could this be the first symptom of the plague? - that was one of the scary diseases that the travel clinic mentioned as a "remote" possibility but for which they offered no preventative action or solution.) I had two full days in Phomn Phen, the capital city, and while that was enough for sight-seeing, I could have easily stayed longer if I had more time. Getting used to a slower tempo, and the idea that not every minute on a trip needs to be spent "doing" something, is still an adjustment, but I'm getting there. On my second day in Phomn Phen I visited the National Museum. The museum has a beautiful courtyard with lots of seating in the shade, so I spent some time there reading before wandering through local markets and visiting street vendors to collect dinner. One of the things that I like about the City is that many of the vendors/markets seem to be geared for a mix of both locals and tourists, which makes it more authentic, and also leads to strange looks when one asks to buy a single banana as opposed to a pound of them. I'd recommend the Royal Guest House to anyone visiting the area; it is not fancy, but it is nice and I really like the location. Its a few blocks from a temple with Buddha's eyebrow and the river, and about a 10-15 minute walk from the Royal Palace and National Museum. The street is filled with food stalls and small vendors (there is a strong smell of garbage in the street, but it does not permeate the rooms.)
I travelled from Phomn Phen to Siem Reap, the gateway town for the Angkor Wat complex, via boat. While this is the most time-consuming method of travelling between the two cities, I thought it was great and would recommend it, but bring food and water, as only coke and beer were available to purchase on the boat and it makes no stops. Although the boat yard (or is it a dock yard? I should have paid more attention to the nautical terms in Cooper's book!) was relatively near the hotel, and I even knew how to get there, I elected to take a tuk-tuk over in the morning. I had visions of me missing the boat because I couldn't get across the street. (This was on top of the worries that I wouldn't wake up on time for the 7 a.m. departure, but miraculously, I made it, although without time to stop at my preferred fried banana dealer.) The boat had one level of seating, but many more tickets were sold than there were seats, which led someone near me to query about whether the life preservers matched the number of passengers, but since there did not appear to be any safety or emergency equipment, this seemed a moot point. (What the boat did have, was several long bamboo poles, which the crew actually used to "unstick" the boat when it went aground at one point - the river is very low at this time of year.) Because of the lack of seats, about 30 people, myself included, sat on the top of the boat. The top was relatively flat (only a slight grade on the sides), surrounded by a railing a few inches high, so you could rest your feet against it. The top was about 4 feet from a platform, about 1.5 feet wide, that ran around the side of the boat. After about the first 30 minutes, my conviction that I was going to fall off waned, as the boat did not move particularly quickly and generally went in a straight line without many turns to rock it. Being on the top was actually great for the views, we passed floating houses, fishermen, many houses/villages along the river, some built up on platforms, and I got to see local irrigation systems (I think there are lots of opportunities here for the folks at STG.) It was interesting enough that I even skipped reading (and I was in the middle of a good book!) After about 4.5 hours, the river widened considerably and there wasn't much to watch anymore. Shortly after that I realized that I had neglected to put suntan lotion on the back of my hands, which were turning a bright red. Being a worrier, I was concerned that I'd fall into the river while trying to get off the roof, but eventually decided to go for it and (without getting wet) made it into the inside of the boat, found a few inches on a bench, and stayed there for the rest of the trip, shrinking from any errant beams of sunlight.
From the dock where the boat landed, it is about 15 km to Siem Reap along a beautiful road (there are lots of transportation options available when you arrive if you haven't already booked a place, and tuk-tuks seemed to be about $5). The area is very green, with buildings, including several schools, generally close to the road. (It is interesting to see that many schools and water systems are labeled as sponsored by various foreign governments or NOGs.) I'm staying several blocks from a large restaurant/shopping area, where there are several markets as well. This portion of the town is very tourist-oriented, for example, there are separate markets for tourists and locals, so to me, a little less interesting than the environs in Phomn Phen, although more convenient. (You can tell when you've reached the "real" market when the displays of silk scarves are replaced by pig heads.) I observed a new strategy for crossing streets in the area - get behind a vehicle and run after it, letting it clear the way for you, but haven't tried this myself. If anyone is visiting the area, I highly recommend the Siem Reap Hostel, its been a great place to stay.
The nearest of the temple complexes, including Angkor Wat, is about 12 km away. On my first day, I did what is called the "mini-tour" of the area with two women, german and dutch, who are here on vacation from studies in Singapore. You're lucky I haven't figured out how to add pictures to the blog yet, as I have nearly 100 from this first 9 hour sight-seeing stint, which included seeing Angkor Wat itself, the Angkor Thom complex and several surrounding sites. While Angkor Wat was impressive for its size and complexity, my favorite was the Bayon Temple, which is covered with large stone faces that all appear quite cheerful/serene. There is debate as to what or whom the faces represent, but one theory is that they are a mix of Buddha and the king at the time the complex was built. I took the next day off from sightseeing but visited some of the farther afield temple sites yesterday. These included one, just under a 2 hour drive away, that is set at the top of a large hill. It is a roughly half hour climb through the forest, and it was nice to see some elevation. On the top, there are carvings on rocks in the river of a reclining Buddha and other Buddhist-related images. Definitely worth the trip (although large potholes experienced from the back of a tuk-tuk are pretty memorable and explain the handles hanging from the roof) plus a nice way to see a lot of the country-side. It was interesting to note house designs that take into account the fact that most homes do not have electricity, at least not without a generator, and I did not see any of those in use during the day. Also during the ride I realized something quite important, from a self-preservation perspective. I had seen many stands in Phomn Phen selling liter bottles of a yellowish liquid, which I had presumed was cane juice, which I saw people making in various spots. I had refrained from buying any as I wasn't sure if it was mixed with water, and am being very careful at this stage given how much traveling I'm doing. During the ride, however, I saw people pouring this liquid into their motorcycles, turns out its fuel! In hindsight, this makes sense, as I've seen only a very small number of gas stations, but this is definitely one of those rare times when I don't support the "learn by doing" approach to education.
The two excursions did illustrate for me that not all drivers are created equal. On the first day, our driver did not speak very much English, but was very helpful. He somehow managed to spot us as we exited temples before we even had to look for him. On my second day out, my driver had a penchant to wander, and I'd have to search surrounding food areas, etc. to find him when I was ready to go. I did feel badly for him, I don't think he anticipated that I would be out for 11 hours and he was quite tired by the end of the day, but he did his best to wear me out as well. Near the end of the day, I stopped back at Angkor Wat to see the sunset and he elected to drop me off near the back of the complex. I, of course, then took a wrong turn, and instead of walking into the temple, had to walk about 2/3rds of the way around it on the opposite side of the large moat surrounding the site through a forested and largely deserted area. I actually didn't even realize I was on the wrong side of the moat until I passed some boys on a boat in the middle of the moat - they asked me where I was going and, upon hearing my response, broke out laughing and made swimming motions. At that point, I realized two things, first, I was in for a longish walk as the moat is only spanned twice (at least as far as I could tell) and second, I definitely should not go hiking without a guide! Other than one aggressive dog, however, I made it without problems. After all that, the sunset wasn't that impressive. Figures😊
Tomorrow I have a 10 hour bus ride back to Bangkok. I've heard conflicting reports of the trip, some saying that the roads are pretty smooth and others reporting hours of vomiting. I'm really hoping for the former or, at the least, hoping that neither I nor my seat mate experience the latter.
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Bob Cammett
non-member comment
Feb.23
The Plague! I am afraid that is a little too adventurous for my blood. You are a freeless person,and I wish you continued Good Luck. Stay well