Day 4: Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

We woke up early to say good-bye to Siem Reap and catch a boat to Phnom Penh to continue our adventure there.  As with other places in Asia, the official price of the ride for foreigners is over three times the price it is for locals.  Oh well, it was well worth it and fun to see life thriving along the river.

Establishments such as this bring new meaning to the term "houseboat".  It's basically a house on a raft that people pull behind their boat.

A floating neighborhood

Freezing (and loosing my hearing) on top of the boat

A floating city...complete with electrical poles and wires.

Upon arrival in Phnom Penh we headed to our hotel and then took it easy, got hair cuts and pedicures and walked around to get a feel for the city.  Phnom Pehn is the essence of a large city in a third world country.  It is full of blaring contrasts.  Straw huts next to an enormous temple housing a floor made of sterling silver and a Buddha with a 25 carat diamond on his head.  A Bentley driving past tuk-tuks on the street.  Beggars missing limbs from land mines and NGO's setting up organizations creating opportunities for street kids.  We found it both depressing and fascinating, as I suppose anyone would.

Day 3: Siem Reap

After assessing our "high-lows" from the day before we found that the more ruinous, jungle engulfed temples were our favorite, so we decided to spend our second day in Siem Reap travelling to one of the lesser visited, completely unrestored temples outside of the central Angkor area: Beng Melea.   

The guys had to work in the morning, so we got on the road at about 2:00 for the hour drive to Beng Melea.  Our driver's name was Dara, a government employee who makes $65 a month and decided to take three months off to work as a driver in an attempt to save up some money.  Like many of the men we met, he came from a poor family near Siem Reap.  After the Pol Pot years he went to live with the Buddhist monks, who supported him while he continued his education.  Cambodia has been a country run, not on government welfare, but religious welfare.  This is true in many countries in S.E. Asia and continues to fascinate me.  

For decades after Pol Pot was ousted from power by the Vietnamese he held territory in Northwestern Cambodia.  Dara's town was a few miles from this boundary line.  As a child, he said his mother always made him stay indoors.  This, he said, was very boring...with few books, little education and no T.V.  He grew up in terror of the jungles surrounding his home due to the land mines they held and told us many stories of friends and neighbors being injured or killed by the mines.  Nowadays, these signs can be found all over Cambodia and Vietnam, posted mainly by NGO's.

Dara's father had died only a month before.  When his father was younger he had been a Buddhist monk, but had left the monastery and married Dara's mother (it wasn't clear why...perhaps due to the Khmer Rouge when religion was abolished).  At some point after Dara and his two sisters were born his father and mother divorced and his father went back to being a monk.  Dara said this was not uncommon and it didn't seem like a problem to him at all.

When we arrived in the village, Derek had to take an important phone call.  While we were sitting and waiting for him, a group of children from the village wandered over and to see us.  They were fascinated by my big earrings and Alex's dog tags.  As time went on we decided to play some games with them.  We tried "Simon Says" for awhile and then settled on a game of "Duck, Duck, Goose" which was a huge hit.  Parents passing by even encouraged their children to join in.  We had a very memorable time playing with kids who have already had a harder life than we can imagine.  

Derek on the phone.

Simon Says

Duck, Duck, Goose

Eventually we said goodbye to our new friends and headed towards Beng Melea.  Beng Melea was made in the exact same layout as Angkor Wat, and is believed to have been a trial run of sorts for the more famous temple.  It has an overwhelmingly mysterious feel sitting silently in the middle of jungle.  The sun set as we explored it and the bats emerging in the growing darkness certainly added to its creepy ambiance.

The gatekeeper.  This man quite possibly took part in the building of this temple 900 years ago.  He was older than dirt, but as spry as a little hobbit.  He took us all through the ruins and practically climbed under a bolder in search of Justin's dropped camera.  

After taking our time to explore the ruins (and Justin and Derek almost getting an eyeball put out by a bat), we met back up with Dara and set off for Siem Reap.  On the way we passed his mother's home and he asked us if we would mind stopping.  We, of course, were happy to meet his family and pay our respects to his father.  A small shrine was set up in the corner of his mother's home and his father's pictures were everywhere.  According to Khmer tradition, the family mourns for a month after the funeral and then has a party with all of their friends and neighbors to celebrate the life of their loved one.  

When we got back to Siem Reap we ate dinner with Dara and listened to more of his stories and then called it a night.

Day 2: Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a beautiful city which is famous for its ancient temples, considered by many to be the 8th wonder of the world.  After visiting we were among the many believers.  Angkor Wat is the most famous of these temples, however the others we saw were equally - if not more - impressive and unique in many ways.

We decided to follow the advice of nearly every guidebook and catch the sunrise at the temples.  So, at 5:00am we hopped into tuk-tuks and headed north.  Anyone who knows me knows waking up early is NOT my idea of vacation, but this was well worth it.  We took in amazing views over a lake while sitting on the ruins of Sra Srang, a place that used to be reserved for the king and his wives.

 After watching the sunrise we walked about 100 meters to the ruins of a massive Buddhist monastery called Banteay Kdei which was built at the end of the 12th century.  There were few other people here, which made for a great visit.  The most striking aspects were the intricate carvings and the fact that it has been left basically unaltered.  This was in contrast to more popular locations, like Angkor Wat, which have been largely restored.  We all preferred the more natural, ruinous look.

From here we hopped back in the tuk-tuks and headed to Ta Prohm.  This is the most famous "wild" temple and was the location that some of the filming for the movie Tomb Raider took place.  It definitely feels like something out of Indiana Jones as tree branches and roots snake their way through the crumbling structure.  

On the way to lunch our driver suggested that we stop at Ta Keo, an unfinished temple that was built between 968 - 1001 AD.  It's made entirely of sandstone and is almost 50 meters tall.  Needless to say, we earned our lunch climbing to the top.

We asked our tuk-tuk driver to take us to a local restaurant near Angkor Wat where we enjoyed barbecued fish, a whole chicken, and some Cambodian beer.  Delicious.

Brothers playing in the dirt

Angkor Wat is the largest and best preserved of the temples surrounding Siem Reap and is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world, according to Lonely Planet.  It is thought to have been built by King Suryavarman II to honor the Hindu deity, Vishu, between 1112-1152 A.D.  We took time to walk around the outer sides of the temple, which are lined with 800m (8 football fields!) of bas reliefs hand-carved into the stone.  Each segment depicts different stories - some religious, some historical and some symbolic.  They were educational, fascinating and my favorite part of Angkor Wat.

Incredibly intricate bas reliefs carved from black marble

While we were focused on admiring the bas reliefs, this little friend came up and demanded a bit of our attention.  (Who am I kidding, forget the bas reliefs, he was definitely my favorite part of Angkor Wat!)

After a day of wondering at the feats accomplished by human hands almost a millennium ago and seeing the infamous Angkor Wat complex, we didn't think our experience could get any better.  We underestimated Bayon.  This temple really looks like a pile of stones or crumbling mountain from afar:

 But as you walk closer, enormous faces begin to appear from the rubble.  216 faces, to be exact, with at least a dozen heads visible at any moment.  It's as intimidating as Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, intended when he had it built between 1181 - 1219 A.D.  When Bayon was found it was completely covered in dense jungle and the function and symbolism of the temple remain a mystery.  One thing that is not a mystery is the unbelievable creativity you feel oozing from each crack and cranny.

After a long day of climbing temples we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant specializing in Amok, a Khmer specialty, and indulged in the fresh fruit smoothies.  After dinner we all decided to splurge on a two hour massage, which set us each back a whopping $15.  I love Asia.