To be honest, I didn't have much interest in this stop on our travels. This destination was purely for Tony. Siem Reap is home to Angkor Wat, a very famous temple ruins. Though the images I had seen of the site online were impressive, I wouldn't have been convinced to fly there simply to see them in person... especially not if I had to wake up at 4am to see them during a sunrise. But, part of marriage is doing things you aren't thrilled about because your spouse is.
So, there we were, landing in a small airport and getting a fancy new visa sticker in our passport, for a short and sweet three-day visit. We were picked up at the airport in a tuk-tuk sent from our hotel, and either we were assigned that particular driver, Sokhun, or he liked us enough to be our driver for the entirety of the visit. Our hotel, the Golden Mango, was really nice, and tucked away down a private dirt road, complete with a restaurant with free breakfast, an oasis of a pool, and a much-needed laundry service (after ten sweaty days on the go in Thailand).
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| Sokhun, the tuk-tuk champion |
Our first day, we relaxed by the pool and checked out the bazaar, where the food was delicious and SO CHEAP. We each got a cocktail and shared a Cambodian sampler platter (though the food was plentiful enough to serve as both our dinners) for about $12.80. There's no way our drinks alone would be under that price in the States, and food? Forget about it. We didn't know what we were eating, but it was good. Some kind of spring rolls, two dishes of mixed meat/vegetable/sauce, and perfectly ripe mango slices for dessert. After checking out the local merchants' many wares, we headed back to the hotel for an early night's sleep before an even earlier start the next day.
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| Picture-perfect skies at the night bazaar |
Sooner than either of us were ready, our very unwelcome wake-up alarm was already buzzing. I was extremely cranky, even after our hotel gave us breakfast to-go and we were lumbering into Sokhun's waiting tuk-tuk. It was still too dark to be out and about, but he seemed used to it - and soon we found out why. Sunrise at Angkor Wat is a very common and popular thing to do. After we bought our day passes to see all the temples in the area, we joined the rest of the tuk-tuk traffic headed toward the ruins in the darkness. We thought we were early - the horizon was only just starting to reveal some dark orange hues - but upon arrival, I realized that some visitors must have gotten there hours before. By the time the sun did rise, there must have been thousands of us. And soon, we discovered that this wasn't only because of the beautiful experience and incredible photos... Cambodia gets HOT. Very early. By 8:30am we were panting.
Truly, Angkor Wat was spectacular. Tony geeked the entire time, trying to imagine what it had looked like during its heyday. He kept exclaiming to me, "Look at these carvings!" and "How did they do this?" and "Do you see this?!" After a couple hours, we left, quite impressed. Tony was satisfied, having checked something off of his bucket list.
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| Angkor Wat at sunrise |
For a few more hours, Sokhun drove us to see some other impressive ruins (Siem Reap is chock full of them!). My favorite was Bayon, which was smaller and less famous and therefore not as crowded; it displayed dozens of stone faces throughout its many facades. By late morning, we were hungry and hot and exhausted, ready to go back to the pool and take a nap.
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| Ruins of Bayon. How many faces can you find? |
Since our second day in Siem Reap was the main event, our third and final day was going to be more relaxed; we didn't have much of a plan, but Sokhun offered to take us to a nearby lake. We thought, great, we can relax and enjoy nature for an hour or so before making our way to the airport in the afternoon. After forty-five minutes' drive, we realized the impact of the language barrier. Unbeknownst to us, we were to spend $20 each to purchase a ticket to board a motorized longboat that would take us around the lake area and floating villages for two hours. Surprise! Well, we had made the long journey out to the boonies, so we acquiesced. We didn't have cash, though, so joke's on Sokhun - he had to lend us a fifty.
Onto the longboat we went on our ecotour, although the racket produced by that motor surely created some noise pollution of its own. Our driver tried high-lighting some points of interest along the way, but I couldn't understand him through his thick accent and that seriously loud engine. We passed spindly wooden homes built upon stilts, some so precarious and exaggerated, they looked like something from a Dalí painting.
The floating village also included government buildings, schools, and fish farms of similar structure. We ate lunch at a local (floating) restaurant - shrimp soup for me and fried crocodile for Tony. I chatted with another girl on our boat, who revealed she was from Brazil, and I had the opportunity to try my hand at conversational Portuguese for the first time ever (and quite successfully, if I may say so). We disembarked onto land near the village and visited a school with only two walls and a ceiling, plus a dirt floor. The children were learning English! They were so sweet and excited to practice with native speakers. The teacher told us that the school is hurting and desperate for donations to provide supplies and resources. Unfortunately Tony and I didn't have cash (we still owed Sokhun!) but bank transfers are accepted as well. Take a look at these sweet kids and tell me you don't have a couple dollars to spare! **You can donate to Kampong Phluk school here!**
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| The sweet kids of Kampong Phluk |
We returned safely to our tuk-tuk at the end of our tour, without having seen any crocodiles, unfortunately. We stopped at an ATM on our way back to town and repayed Sokhun, plus a generous tip. And finally, we concluded our amazingly brief trip to Cambodia and bid farewell to its dusty roads, relaxed atmosphere, and friendly people. If we'd only known how much we would enjoy the vibe of this area... but now, it's time to move on to Vietnam.
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