Siem Reap, Cambodia

Asia » Cambodia
March 5th 2010

Published: March 5th 2010

Edit Blog Post

Anthony and Melanie

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat's main temple at sunrise

Cambodia is most famous for its ancient ruins of Angkor Wat so we headed over there for sunrise on day 1 and were among hundreds of tourists that also made the same 5:00am trek. All of the temple’s architectural details were incredible, especially the 80 foot-long murals chiseled right into the stone walls. Though the largest and most famous temple, Angkor Wat was not our favorite. That prize goes to either Ta Phrom or Bayon temples. Ta Phrom, where the movie Lara Croft Tomb Raiders was filmed, is supposedly the only temple that was left mostly as it was discovered, with giant banyan, silk, and “parasite” trees engulfing the temples and inter-tangling their branches and roots with the stonework. So organic and so spectacular! The Bayon temple struck us for its intricate maze-like stone tunnels and the giant 5 or 6 foot carved faces scattered throughout the complex. The faces are subtle enough that sometimes you don’t even realize that a wall you’re staring at is actually also staring at you. After having some late afternoon beers with our friendly tuk-tuk (motorized rickshaw) driver, we went and watched the sunset from the highest point in Angkor where there is yet another

Angkor Wat

awesome temple.

The next morning we tuk-tuk-ed our way to the War “Museum,” which ended up being an overgrown backyard showcasing many lethal weapons used during Cambodia’s civil war. We knew next to nothing about their war (or really any of Cambodia’s history) going in, and were shocked to find out some of the devastating details like the fact that of the 7 million Cambodian people, nearly 3 million were killed by the Pol Pot regime (also referred to as Khmer Rouge) and that Cambodians were killed merely for being teachers, doctors, or any other working professional. And they were killed if they wore glasses (too smart) and they were killed if they had gray hair (too old and too weak). The magnitude of the tragedy was really hard to take in but we were happy to at least have some sense of awareness.

Next big stop: the Floating Village along Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. After a 1.5 hour journey by tuk- tuk along a windy bumpy dirt road, we reached the docks where our kiddie boat captains (we estimated them to be about 11 years old) navigated us through a winding lake

Ta Prohm

The overgrown trees at Ta Prohm

tributary into the floating village. The village consists of TONS of bamboo and straw hut houses built on these incredibly tall stilts (20 feet at least) which were designed to survive the constantly flooding and receding lake waters. On these stilts, the village seemed to “float” in the air. We were in awe. And further awed to find out they don’t have electricity or running water but they still have a pretty cool civilized operation going—there are schools and churches and they make a modest but decent living off selling the fish, birds, and pigs raised on their land. After about a half hour on the boat we reached Lake Tonle Sap, which seemed like more of a sea than a lake. We watched a really beautiful sunset from our boat on the lake as we realized Cambodia is more than just Angkor Wat.

Additional photos below

Photos: 23, Displayed: 23