More Siem Reap (See and Weep)

Its amazing the subtle differences one notices crossing borders. Cambodia is no exception, I mean we hadn’t see a live pig trussed up on the back of a scooter anywhere in Asia, now every third bike seems to be carrying one. The Tuk Tuks are different, the beers, local whisky/rum/vodka stuff, traditional clothes, facial features. In Cambodia you can’t get local currency everything is in $US even at the Autobanks. Some countries don’t use coins, change is given in sweets! One delicious thing in Cambodia is the bread, lovely fresh baguettes everywhere, a throwback from the French occupation.

As we entered Cambodia we started noticing little stands alongside the roads with bottles of yellow and red liquid, couldn’t figure it out, we thought perhaps a traditional drink until we stopped to fill up, turns out its petrol, no meters, no pumps just old bottles filled with petrol sold by the liter, not surprisingly petrol filters are evident in the shops. Cambodia is mainly Buddhist and one comes across simple daily offerings everywhere, little handmade baskets with rice, flowers and incense. The after effects of the war are visible all around, minefield survivors with no legs or arms are in bands playing traditional music in town at night on the pavement or at the entrance to temples, damn its heartbreaking.

The “Golden Banana” becomes our central point for our explorations, a little oasis with a pool to cool off and relax. Met a girl there doing a survey for World Vision on the kids, she goes out into the field and asks questions, some of the answers break your heart, child abuse, sex tourism, slavery. Kids as young as 4 or 6 approach you at the temples, why aren’t they at school?
One thing that seems consistent is both the positive and negative effects of tourism, towns and cities are changing at a blistering rate all over Asia. Siem Reap is showing all the signs of becoming a tourist trap, touts, western bars, expats, cheap sunglasses, Mexican restaurants in Cambodia huh? People start giving up their traditional ways and sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to find what you are looking for.

An early morning visit to the local market in Seam is fascinating, I am on a mission to find an even bigger suitcase, one with wheels on as our luggage is breaking out all over the place. With the heat and lack of refrigeration fresh produce pours in daily from the surrounding countryside, piles of fish, strange vegetables, flowers, skinned frogs, other unmentionable moving things. With the heat, smells noise and steam the atmosphere is rich in the market, my camera lens keeps fogging up as I try to capture the scene. Our stomachs are pretty tough and spicy by now and we eat a lot of street food, mama behind the wok, children serving, $ 8 dollars buys our family a delicious fresh crunchy tasty (albeit MSG filled) meal.

One morning Mr Sam took us out of town to a little boat from where we traveled for about an hour to a floating village set on the largest Lake in SE Asia, a source of vast amounts of protein. This village is not set up on the side of the lake but miles from any shore. Everything is floating - houses, shops, vegetable gardens, even their pig-pens. We bought a hundred pencils (at a vastly inflated price) and stopped at an orphanage where Nicky handed them out. 100 sweet little Vietnamese children, human flotsam living in the middle of a lake in Cambodia! Last stop and of course the boys highlight was a visit to a floating crocodile and snake farm/ restaurant – as tough as our stomachs have become we declined to stay for lunch.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat must rate along with Michu Pachu and the Pyramids as one of the wonders of the world. It’s not possible to describe the scale and magnificence of the place and so despite the difficulty in reaching Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) it was well worth the effort.

Built between the 8th and 14th centuries this vast area consists of literally hundreds of cities, palaces and temples in various stages of repair. One can spend weeks stumbling around discovering new wonders and unlike most sites of this importance it’s still relatively ungoverned and you are able to really go just about anywhere unguided giving you that feeling of being an old time archeologist discovering things for the first time.

Mr Sam, our tuk tuk arrives in the morning and we are all bleary eyed but looking forward to the adventure. The road leads through thick indigenous forests, it’s like a movie stage set - incredible with a huge energy. We arrive at the most famous one first and get absolutely bombarded by touts selling books, trinkets, guides, videos and anything a tourist will buy.

One of the girls takes a complete fancy to Bill much to his disgust and says to me
“Hey mother in law you give me your son I take him home and show him some loving!”

Yeah right sista!!!!!! More like I’ll Karate chop and kick box you if you lay a hand on him. We laughed our way out of that one and Bill was horrified – “her teeth were disgusting”

We walk around feeling overwhelmed by the size and complexity of it all, thank god we have a 3 day pass as there is so much to explore. Somewhere in the ruins we come across a Monk who performs a ritual on Nicky, it’s priceless, he tells Nicky that whatever he sets his mind to he will get, Nicky responds later “I want puberty”.

We travel a few kilometers further and reach Bayon the temple with the huge faces and now we are really blown away. Huge, powerful and moving. Most of the sites have been adopted by countries who undertake the restoration and maintenance of a single temple. A project of massive scale and expense, with all the modern technology and machinery available they still struggle to attempt the most simple restoration making one wonder how on earth these edifices were built in the first place.

The highlight of the first day for Nicky was the monkeys, we stopped and he fed and loved them, Craig got his hair de-nitted in the process.

The second morning Craig and I arrived at sunrise and visited the more remote temples. What a powerful and moving experience. Ta Prom was the set for Tomb Raiders Angelina Jolie has a tree named after her. The temple has been left and the jungle has grown back, ancient trees are growing in, through and around it. The energy is incredible, you don’t need to even know what the temples are about, no need to do anything but wonder around, let go and absorb the atmosphere.

On the last night Louise and I climbed up to a temple set on top of a “mini lions head” We started climbing with the first signs of an imminent tropical storm. From the top we watched the storm approach over this incredible landscape of ancient civilization. As the storm broke 3 monks appeared on the horizon silouetted against the landscape. What a sight to burn into the mind as a final vision before running through the rain and our descent back to Sam our trusty tuk tuk driver.