Siem Reap and the Magnificent Angkor Wat

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With our brains jumbled from the ridiculously bumpy ride, we finally arrived right after sundown in Siem Reap. It must have been after looking at about 5 posh art-deco hotels later that we realized, sadly, that they were as beautiful and expensive as they looked and way out of our budget. $11 hotel, here we come!Following our "lose your expectations" travel rule of thumb, we were not even that shaken up to come back to our $11  hotel/room /guesthouse that we still haven't figured out the name of, to have all of our things from our bags strewn all over the place. Thinking, at first, that we had been robbed (Ah! In a $11 hotel?! No security? You don't say...) by possibly the cleanest thief as he/she had hung up one of my shirts on a hanger on the door, we were happy to find out that all our valuables were safely in the room. While we were out on the town, there had been some sort of pipe burst that flooded our room, soaking all of our stuff and the the guy working there took the liberty to remove everything from our bags and put it all over the place to dry in front of a fan. Now that's service , even for an $11 no-name  room, although we did have to get our clothes cleaned, as they smelled a bit like the toilet and they were sure to come back a tinge more yellow than when we turned our laundry bag in. "Lose your expectations" and you'll only ever be "pleasantly surprised." Those art-deco hotels were looking mighty fine at this point. :)

But I digress... Before we even checked into our room, as we're standing outside in the pitch black attempting to pay our driver, who did we run into... but our long lost friends Kelly and Ryan! The last time we saw them was in Hoi An and we weren't expecting to see them again, as our paths parted long ago. So, of course we had to celebrate our reunion on Pub Street in the heart of Siem Reap. Pub Street is a lot of fun. There's live music (lots of Tracy Chapman and Phil Collins, I noticed), some great little restaurants and a pretty happening night club, always dominated by "ladies of the night" here in Southeast Asia. A Swiss couple that was with us on our boat tour in Halong Bay was also in Siem Reap, so they joined the reunion fiasco.

Siem Reap is a lot like Phnom Phen, with tons of children being exploited trying to sell you things at all costs. Mothers take their naked infants and lay them down on their stands in front of the books they are trying to sell. "Please, my baby doesn't have any clothes. Buy a book." Oh, please, put some clothes on your child. Ryan and I befriended this young little Cambodian boy  who was missing a leg. At first I thought he just wanted money, but soon realized, after sitting him on my lap and giving him numerous kisses on his cheeks that he only wanted more kisses. I asked him how he lost his leg and had his scratches and he said, "Chop." I think it meant a land mine and that they had to amputate. This is extremely common here. It is so sad to see young children suffering through things such as this. Walking into a land mine shouldn't be something people should have to worry about on a daily basis.

We started our three day tour of Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. We checked out Bayon first, which is known for its many faces of stone. It is almost eerie knowing there are hundredss of faces looking at you from every direction, no matter where you stand, but they are all very friendly and peaceful looking. It is almost like they are watching over for you for protection. Bayon was built in the 13th century as the state temple of King Jayavarman VII and was the last state temple to be built at Angkor.

We made sure to make it back to Angkor Wat, the biggest and greatest temple of them all, on the first day of our tour to see the sunset. Angkor Wat dates back to the 12th century as King Suryavarman II's state temple and capital city. It is the largest and best preserved temple in Angkor. The Khmer Rouge couldn't destroy something of this stature and power, even as they destoyed temples all throughout Cambodia. Angkor Wat is one of the hand-made wonders of the world and the most significant symbol for Cambodia, as well as being the reason why most people come to Siem Reap (or Cambodia, for that matter). It explains all the fancy resorts and hotels lining the streets of Siem Reap, as a lot of wealthy people fly from all over the world just to see the Angkor Temples. 

Sunset and sunrise at Angkor Wat are not to be missed when visiting Siem Reap, although, as we found out the next morning, if you brave the 4:30 AM ride out to the sunrise viewing of Angkor Wat, let me advise you to stay out of the pictures. You will ruin the beautiful backdrop. Kevin and I looked like two disgruntled ragamuffins. I resorted to taking pictures of our shadows after the first two horrendous pictures of us, me with one lazy eye open and phony smiles. But really, it is stunning. The pictures speak for themselves.

We checked out Ta Phrom, which is the temple where Angelina Jolie's movie Tomb Raider was filmed. This is my favorite temple we saw, as it has been left in basically the same condition in which it was found, with trees growing out of the ruins of the temple. It is evidence how nature can take over. Kevin and I had a lot of fun exploring this one, as there were not as many tourists when we visited, late in the day. We climbed up the unsteady rocks through the ruins admiring the silk cotton trees that have taken over, only adding to the beauty and mystery of the site.

Our last day of temple sitings, we took a tuk-tuk on a 2 hour journey out to Beng Mealea, which is a completely unrestored temple of Angkor. Not too many people come to visit this temple, as it is so out of the way and once there, there is a ton of climbing. It is literally just tons of rocks all over the place. We had a guide show us around and we walked through old art galleries. You could really picture how it used to look, even in all the ruins. This temple was also very interesting, as we saw where recent land mines were found (within the past year!) and how they are marked. I took a picture of the recent land mine marker and a group of children playing within 100 feet of it in the background. It makes you think, where there's one...

All templed out and ruined for further temple outings in the future, as none will be able to compare, we headed back to the city for our final night in Siem Reap. We had been eating at all the cafes on Pub Street, but decided to try the curbside street vendors that seemed so popular with tourists and locals alike. We settled into our cozy little off-balance plastic chairs, sitting down to our best meal in Cambodia. The food was incredible, and there was nothing over a dollar, so you can imagine the feast we had. A cute Cambodian boy came up to us, "Play tic-tac-toe for a bracelet?" to which we answered, "No thanks, we already have," showing the bracelets we bought. He looked tired, as he was only 9 and it was past midnight, "Can you buy me soup?" The poor kid just wanted a meal, after a long day of slaving  away selling stuff for his parents. He was literally the only street kid left out on the street, so we bought him noodle soup and a Coca-Cola. I followed his instructions and ordered the same. We talked for a bit and he was very gracious before he ran off to catch his motorbike taxi home. It started pouring, so a tuk-tuk grabbed our meals and let us eat under the shelter of the tuk-tuk. Now that's what I call quality service. A great way to end a great city (and country), eating delicious local food under the shelter of a tuk-tuk in the Cambodian rain.

We're saying bye-bye to Southeast Asia (for now) and heading over to Mumbai, India to meet up with Kevin's parents for a friend's wedding in Goa and a tour of Kerala, in southern India. We hope to come back to Cambodia soon, as the country is now on the top of our list. It is amazing to see how a country with such a rough (recent) past has pulled themselves out of it, with big smiles, on the other side.   

Note: Sorry! The internet place we are writing this on is closing, so we aren't able to put up all of the pictures yet!!!! So frustrating. Will add more tomorrow.