Cambodia, The Start

Plane Flights and Hitting the Ground Running in Siem Reap

This trip got off to a slightly rocky start with a family emergency and and some rearranging of the schedule. We were originally supposed to stuff our bellies with Turkey and all the fixings and then slide into our plane seats, fall into a tryptophan coma, and awaken refreshed and ready to roll 12 hours later in Hong Kong. Instead we had to contend with hospitals, cantankerous family, refund policies, and a credit card’s travel insurance. It was a lot stressful and a little enlightening and cost us a week of travel and the excising of the Hong Kong and Laos portions of our original trip. Eight days after our original departure date, we finally boarded a red eye and set out for Siem Reap, Cambodia.

After a brief layover in the a Hong Kong airport (just enough time to scope out their premier lounge and snag a bite to eat) before a puddle jumper to Cambodia, we arrived at the Siem Reap airport in the later morning and were greeted with cool temperatures and a very enthusiastic Tuk Tuk driver holding a sign bearing my name. Our accommodations, Sizen Spa and Resort, were kind enough to arrange transport from the airport to their location which saved us the hassle of figuring out prices right of the bat with jet lagged brains. Siem Reap will be our home base for exploring Angkor and the surrounding regions over the course of the next five days. 

Siem Reap is a series of small villages settled around Buddhist pagodas dotted along the Siem Reap River. Together, the area forms the capitol city of the Siem Reap Province in northern Cambodia. It primarily serves as a resort town and the gateway for exploring the Angkor region of temples and Wats. 

Being our first day in town, we dropped our bags and headed out to explore a bit. Turns out we’re staying slightly outside the hubble and bubble of the main tourist part of town, but that works for us; we get to see the more authentic Cambodia. We are however, near the Angkor Wat Museum, which was a short walk down the road and across the River from our hotel. 

The museum gives a great overview of the history of the Khmer Empire (the predecessor of modern day Cambodia); its people, its rules, its beliefs, and about Angkor, which was the site of the capitol city during the empire’s zenith. It’s a very modern museum with a combination of historic objects and multimedia presentations. My favorite part was the Hall of a Thousand Buddhas, which truly has a thousand Buddhas of varying sizes, shapes, and representations. Each sculpture is its own work of art and all of them were magnificent.

Additionally, I loved the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The short version is that the gods (Devas) were cursed to have no strength, energy, or fortune and were then defeated by the Asuras (demons). The gods wanting their powers back, made a deal with the Demons to help recover the Amrita (nectar of immortality) in order to regain their strength and power by churning the Ocean of Milk. To churn the ocean, Mount Mandara (the world axis) was yanked from its roots and turned into the churning rod, then Vasuki, the Naga (snake) that resides around Vishnu’s neck was conscripted to be the churning rope. 

Vasuki vomited poisonous venom when pulled and tugged this way and that and the Gods and the Demons alternated between who held which end of the snake; inevitably, both group were affected by the poison. The venom threatened to pollute the Amrita and so the Devas asked Shiva to protect them and the world. He agreed and swallowed the venom, turning his neck permanently blue, but saving the world.

The churning was so violent and lasted for millennia because the Gods and Demons decided not to share the prize and wanted it solely for their side. As a result, many Demons, Gods, and animals died; but also many other wonderful things were created during the churning; including many powerful Goddesses and the Apsura (celestial dancers).

Our First Peak at Angkor Wat

After visiting the museum and gleaming a small understand of Khmer Empire and the Angkor region - in particular Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom - we grabbed a tuk tuk from our hotel and headed to buy a three day pass for exploring. If you buy your pass after 4 pm the night before you want to start your allowable days, they will let you go into the Park to see the ruins at sunset. As our driver wove his way between the motorbikes, tuk tuks , and vehicles inundating the thoroughfare, we realized how happy we were to have hired a tuk tuk and not attempted to either walk or bike the area. Angkor is a few miles outside of the city of Siem Reap and all of the various temples and Wats within it are also largely spread out. It is possible to bike around (and many people do), but we’re way too out of shape for that; especially in the heat.

We arrived at the entrance with just 15 minutes to race across the temporary floating bridge (they’re excavating and renovating the original causeway) that extends across the moat and make it to the magnificent buildings of Angkor Wat before the guards kicked everyone out for the evening. The ruins are magical to behold and another example of the beauty and craft with which ancient societies created their monuments and that modern society has all but forgotten in their race to modernize and mechanize everything. There are brilliant bas reliefs, etched deities, Hindu God statutes, Buddhas, and intricate designs everywhere within the structures. 

Angkor Wat is currently the largest religious monument in the world. During its heyday it was the largest pre-industrial urban center in the world. It was built in the 12th century by Khmer King Suryavarman II. King Suryavarman was a rebel and decided to dedicate the temple to the Hindu god Vishnu, breaking from a long tradition of Khmer Kings dedicating their temples to Shiva. The temple was built as the capitol of the King’s empire and as his eventual mausoleum. Twenty-seven years after the King’s death, the temple fell into the hands of the Khmer empire’s enemies, the Chams. 

Many generations later, Khmer King Suryavarman VII took back the area, but abandoned Angkor Wat in order to build his own capitol and own temple, Angkor Thom and Bayon, respectively, just a few kilometers to the north. Angkor Wat slowly transitioned over time from a Hindu center of worship to Buddhism, and has remained that way into the present day.

Both Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are located inside the Angkor Archaeological Park, which have over one thousand ruins scattered throughout the forests and the farmland over a distance of at least 400 square miles. While the ancient cities that resided in Angkor are gone, there are still modern day villages scattered throughout and you can see an interesting juxtaposition of young school children riding motorcycles to primary school interspersed with foreign tourists gazing in awe from tuk tuks or local women selling grilled meats on the road side interspersed with Eddie Bauer clad tourists climbing gigantic temple steps.

Snakes Taste Like Jerky - Or it Could Just be the Seasoning

After our taste of history, we decided to get a taste of local fare and had our tuk tuk driver dropped us off in the heart of the Old Market at the bustling tourist trap series of Night Markets. This area comes alive at night with a plethora of restaurants, bars, gifts shops, and massage parlors. All the tourists we didn’t see around our hotel we mingling here. 

Almost immediately after arriving at the market, we saw two young women carrying a cart of fried snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, and crickets. Most tourists were paying a small fee to hold these creatures and take pictures, but no one seems brave enough to actually eat one. We had to change that. The scorpions and the tarantulas were just a tad too out there (although Em says she’s going to eat one), so we settled on a small yellow snake. I think the women selling them were actually shocked when we ate it instead of just taking a photo with it. The thing had been cooked so long that it essentially tasted like a very flavorfully marinated jerky with crunch (since it was so small, there wasn’t really a lot of meat to it).

The snake served as an appetizer, but all the street stalls called out to us with their heartier fare. Lining the Siem Reap River are numerous food carts that serve everything from crepes to fruit smoothies, to rolled ice cream, to full restaurant menus. We grabbed a smattering of different goodies and enjoyed a delicious dinner making friends with a mother and two preteens from Hawaii as we crammed our adult bodies into the toddler chairs and table on the river bank.

A Day Full of Ruins and Little Pampering

Our second day in Siem Reap was spent touring the various different ruins of the Angkor Archaeological Park. Our tuk tuk driver from the previous day decided to claim us as his own and told the other drivers to back off as he ushered us into his ride. He didn’t really speak English, but he was personable and turned out to be very good at finding directionally challenged foreigners.

Traditionally, tourist travel around two circuits - the Small Tour and the Grand Tour. We opted for the Small Tour; a 17 km (10ish mile) circuit that covers about seven different temples, including the must sees of Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple of Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm (made famous by the Lara Croft film).

At Angkor Thom, our driver dropped us off at the South gate of the Bayon Temple complex and told us via hand gestures that he’d meet us at what we later figured out was supposed to be the Eastern gate; where the temples of Prasat Thommanon and Chau Say Tevoda we’re located. As you can probably already guess, this did not happen. 

While the various temples within the Angkor park are well labeled with placards at their entrances, those entrances can be a significant way down a road from the actual temples themselves. Additionally, there are signs all over that say “way of progression”, but sometimes, that “way” is not actually the “way” you need to be headed. Sometimes the route you want is actually the one marked with the “do not enter” sign and crammed with people flowing in from an alternative entrance. All of this we figured out about two hours later when we popped out of the jungle at a souvenir market and restroom stop. 

Instead of hanging a right somewhere in the Bayon ruins, we’d followed the wrong crowds and the wrong signs and popped out to the north and slightly off to the west. While this detour allowed us to see the Royal Palace area, Phimeanakas, and the Terraces of the Elephants and of the Leper King, we had absolutely no idea where we were or how to find our driver. 

After wandering around for a bit attempting to find a local that spoke enough English to understand our predicament and who had a cell phone, we were saved from ourselves by our driver. Somewhere along the line he’d realized we hadn’t materialized in the correct location and thus moved on until he found us. My guess is that the drivers have a good idea of how long people typically stay at each site and they also have an idea of where errant passengers have ended up in the past. Whatever logic or magic they use, saved us a long walk home (mostly cause we wouldn’t have even known which direction to head).

After being saved from our adventurous blunder, we visited Ta Keo, King Jayavarman V’s state shrine, and then the highlight of the day, Ta Prohm. While every site is amazing in its own way, and Ta Prohm is completely run over by tourists snapping photos among the roots of the ancient spung trees (Tetrameles nudiflora), it was my favorite temple. The shiny branches and roots of theses trees have crawled over and claimed various structures among the ruins of this temple. Because of the ethereal beauty and haunting quality that these majestic trees create, archaeologists have left them to their own devises and not attempted to clear them from the ruins themselves. 

As a result, this complex comes with a hint of otherworldliness that would be spectacular if you arrived early in the morning, before the throngs of tourists. If you have a three day pass to the park, maybe head there at sunrise while everyone else is busy wandering Angkor Wat. If I return to this region, I will definitely have to try that. I also will have to look for the carving of the stegosaurus that is hidden somewhere in the ruins and has caused a speculation as to its authenticity.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped briefly at Banteay Kdei (translated to mean “a Citadel of Chambers”) which functioned as a Buddhist monastery for centuries; and Sarah Srang, an artificial 10th century lake.

To unwind from our long day climbing stairs, exploring, and losing the photographic battle of who can annoyed the other by getting in the way of their shot to large groups of Chinese tourists, we wandered back to Pub Street in the Old Market area of Siem Reap and tried out one of the massage parlors. These are a dime a dozen and insanely cheap at $1-2 for a 30 minute foot massage or $3-5 for a full body massage. Just be aware that they’re definitely not all great. 

We had opted for a back, neck, and head message on our first night and it turned out to be terrible, with too much pressure in the wrong places, and attempted cracking of backs on slanted cushioned couches (a terrible idea that lead to even sorer backs later on). Tonight we opted for the half hour foot message and fared much better. The place we picked projects a documentary on Angkor above all the lounge chairs, so you can learn a bit of history while they’re kneeding and twisting your feet into ways I’m not positive they’re meant to go, but that felt so good.