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Published: February 16th 2010
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The journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia was one of the longest days of travel. We started early in the morning, walking across the border only to wait for over an hour at passport control, then we boarded a super slow bus into town which got us there at about 9pm at night.
After getting a room, we set out to explore the town of Siem Reap, and found it to be one of the most Westernized cities, full of foreign eateries, bars, and packed with cleaner fish "foot massages" where people put their feet in a kiddie pool filled with fish that eat your dead skin. This was quite the contrast to everything else we had seen in the country on the drive from the border into town, where we had witnessed cows walking on and across the roads, some extraordinarily poor farmers who seemed to be contending with serious drought, and true hovels which constituted the towns we drove through. After sifting through the hoards of travelers on "pub street" we decided on a local BBQ restaurant where the meat was cook it yourself, but the most interesting part of the meal wasn't the way the meat
was cooked, it was the meats on offer. This restaurant specialized in some very interesting meats, including snake, rabbit, crocodile, kangaroo, and ostrich. After much deliberation, we decided to try the crocodile and kangaroo, of which the crocodile was a little bit tough, but quite to our surprise, the kangaroo was one of the most delicious meats either of us had ever eaten.
The next day we were met by our guide and a tuk-tuk driver who were going to show us around the Angkor Wat complex. The complex is a huge area outside of the modern city of Siem Reap which used to be the capital of the Cambodian empire and the Khmer people. The temples were built by many emperors from the 8th century through the 15th century and are in varying states of decay based upon the Cham people from Vietnam invading, as well as the fact that the capitol was moved to Phnom Penh in the 15th century and the Angkor Wat area was left to be recaptured by the jungle for 500 years until rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century. The majority of the temples have been reconstructed over the last 50
Bayon Temple
Temple of the Four Faces years or so, but a few of them have been "left to nature" and those are the one's that are famous for the huge trees and root systems growing all over the temples themselves.
We started out our first day with the massive Angkor Wat itself. The temple has a moat around the entire area that is over 1km. on each side. Inside of this, is a huge wall for defense, and the many different buildings which make up the outer formations of the Angkor Wat. We learned that all of these temples had 5 entrances, one for the emperor, the guards, the army, the religious figures, and everyone else. The main temple itself is probably the best preserved and most intricately decorated of any of the hundreds of temples in the area. In the carvings are innumerable stories about the Hindu and Buddhist religions, and our guide even explained to us that one of the carvings tells of the story of why Hindu people wear the red dot on their head. We had quite an interesting and educational morning, at the end of which we were allowed to climb up to the highest point in the temple.
We went to lunch and we were swarmed with children trying to sell us postcards and other souveniers. The children use various selling techniques from whining to reciting facts about the country you are from such as all of the state capitals and the population. We went to Bayon, the temple of the four faces, which had towers with four faces facing exactly north, south, east, and west. Our guide took us to get a traditional Cambodian snack which was a hard-boiled duck embryo egg with a lime, salt, and pepper sauce. After seeing several other temples we climbed up a hill to the sunset temple.
The next day we visited more temples. Most of the temples on this day were older and a little more deteriorated. In addition, we saw two temples that were left to nature and had trees growing out of the walls. Our guide took us for another snack and this time it was for crickets, which tasted a lot like a potato chip.
We took a bus to Phnom Penh where we walked around markets. Then we went to the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields. This was extremely sad to see the mass graves
where many Cambodian people had been left after being tortured and killed. We left Cambodia by boat on the Mekong River headed to Vietnam.
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Marla Silverstein
non-member comment
In case you guys should see this.
Thanks and keep it coming. So interesting, I almost feel like I'm there with you. Love the photo of you guys eating the crickets. You both look soooo happy!