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“Even Budda wants a dollar” |
Into Cambodia we flew and got a cab to Siem Reap. It is the size of a small town with a river running right through the middle of it. There are still many bikes but nowhere near as many as Vietnam and it seemed that was due to the fact that nobody can afford them. We hired a driver for a couple of days and bought a pass to see the Ankor temples.
These are the largest amount of Hindu temples to be found on earth, each very different and the total area is a world heritage site. They cover an area that can take you a day to drive from one side to the other. Some are huge and some are humble but all are amazing. No piece of stone in their construction is left uncarved. The largest (Ankor Wat) is probably the size of 50 football pitches with a huge moat surrounding the outer walls which is a good 200m across and makes our English castle walls look a bit stream-like!! Inside they have various shrines to Budda and also many young children trying to sell some tat or other to tourists. They're not begging, but they will be earning more money than their parents. The average wage here is 15 pence per day so if they can flog a bracelet for a dollar then they're minted. However, as harsh as it sounds you soon get tired of shooing them away after you've been asked 100 times already that day and the temperatures in the hundereds!
After climbing one of the higher temples which Lynds point blank refused I was asked to give praise to Budda. No problem, with three head bows and some insence the whole family should be receiving all kinds of luck. But after my little ritual I was informed that even Budda wants a dollar to feed his monks! The one thing I couldn't get an answer to was why are all the temples so steep? The steps have a going of about 5inches with a riser of about 18. This led to Lynds having to be coaxed down on her bum very slowly after she'd been a bit to brave by ascending in the first place!
We had a chat to our driver that afternoon and discovered that he was one of five brothers and he was the youngest at 35. But all of his brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge along with many other members of his family. One brother was clubbed to death for stealing a potato. It was only then we noticed that an entire section of population (mainly men between 30-60) are missing. It realy brought it home how recent these attrocities were and made me wonder why the world stood back and did bugger all (even allowing Pol Pot a seat on the United Nations). I fear if some oil sprung up here the story would be different.
One of the temples has been left as it was found some 100 years ago. And the result is amazing as the jungle attempts to reclaim its land. One of the temples has a 200ft tree coming out of the roof, with the girth of a bus. So if we ever wonder if rainfoerst can reappear after deforestation then this shows that given a chance it'll have it back in a matter of about 500 years.
Now on our days around the temples Lynds managed to burn herself so badly (see pics) that little kids who probably haven't eaten in days were looking at her with concerned faces and asking her if it hurt much. (She's fine by the way it's all gone now!).
One night Lynds and I had drunk one too many beers and were sat singing in a bar, to the delight of the owner choosing the songs. But on our wobbly exit were faced by a group of beggars. One had no legs, one no arms (Blown off by the millions of landmines that surround Cambodia), one was a mother with a baby and the other was a little girl. All wanted our money and the little girl followed Lyndsay miles up the road, crying that she was hungry while the guy with no arms gave me a big hug (of sorts). When we got back we both decided that if we could, we should try and find some volunteer work. Next day we found a group of expats and a couple from the US who were building a school some 25km further north. They said they could always do with a bit of help and so we decided to come back the following day to talk details as it was their birthday night out. They invited us to join them and everyone made us feel very much at home with free drinks all round.
It was only after a few drinks that a couple of stories came out of what day to day life was like here. An aid worker from the US called Scott told me the tale of a bike crash outside the bar we were in. One dead and one dying while Scott (who knows first aid) tried to hold his head together until an ambulance arrived. A crowd came to see and then a couple of police showed up. But they didn't help, they leant down and took the watch from the man who Scott was trying to save. Before the guy was dead (which he was long before the ambulance arrived) his bike had been dragged up the street for scrap. Life here it seems is cheap. There are many cases in Phnom Penh of people being accidently hit by a car. Then the driver gets out and shoots the victim dead. The reason being is that the bribe for murder is $650, but hospital costs are far higher so its cheaper to gun them down than pay the hospital costs.
An aid worker friend of Scott's had been bludgeoned to death after a night out for the 20 dollars in his pocket only 3 weeks previous. Even Scott keeps a bag packed for him and his wife with their passports in as they fear revolution. The farmers it seems are getting a bit tired of local council members swanning around in Lexus cars when the locals are struggling to feed themselves. He himself thinks its a matter of months before the whole thing erupts again and the people will see more bloodshed.
So the following day after a tearful night (and not just Lynds for a change!!) feeling like pond scum for not having the courage to stay and help we booked on a flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and hid from the people who had been so kind to us the night before. It really did feel like running away.....
previous travel blog entryComments or Questions for the Author
John & Lynds says:
I don't know about april but Feb was hot hot hot. Enjoy your time there you'll love it.
cerena says:
Hi, very interesting trip report. Thanks for the sharing. I'll be visiting Siem Reap in April too with hubby and in-laws who are in their late 50s. Have already booked our tickets, hotels and tour guide. But am a bit concerned now aft reading abt the steep steps at all the temples. Read that the steps have a going of about 5inches with a riser of about 18. As I'm 3 mths pregnant now and have two other family members who are old with one having problems walking, I would like to find out if you could share your thoughts on whether it would be feasible for us to continue with our trip to Siem Reap. Particularly, any idea if one could do a trip to Siem Reap without having to climb those steps? Is there a lot of walking and if the road there is really bad for pregnant woman? Any feedback is much appreciated as my hubby is now suggesting that we should just give Siem Reap miss (but I think its a waste since we've already made payment for the trip). Do let me know your thoughts. Thanks :)
John & Lynds says:
You may not be able to climb to the top of the temples but to miss this place would be to miss out. As long as you've allowed plenty of time to walk about at your own pace then you'll be fine.
Tristalee says:
Hello,a very interesting trip.After read through your trip experience in this travel blog,I found that it's very fun to travel in Siem Reap.So, I'm intestered to travel there but this is my first time travel trip. Do you have any suggestion way to apply the visa easily and fast?Or you got any idea that can apply the visa online?Hope can hear your reply soon.Thanks.
sketkhan says:
I will be traveling to Siem Reap in April, do you know what the temperature will be? Very interesting trip, thanks for sharing!