Cambodia

When we were in the Amazon, Anthony Bourdain told us that if we were going to Thailand, we needed to carve out a few days for Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Before he told us about it, we had no idea what this place was or why it existed. But one thing is for sure. When Anthony Bourdain tells you to do something, you do it. So we did. (Actually, it was a guy who looked exactly like Anthony Bourdain. He had lived in Thailand for a few years, is a lifelong world traveler, fantastically interesting and generally someone you listen to when he is dolling-out advice)
As soon as we got into Bangkok, we found ourselves leaving again. A short flight and the best breakfast we ever had on a plane, we arrived into Cambodia. There was a fantastic amount of paperwork required to get into the country (more than we’ve ever had to fill out), and then there wasn’t a place for customs though we had to fill out a piece of paper concerning what we were bringing into the country. We took this as a sign and were even more excited about this place that we had never imagined visiting.
We were happily greeted by Chantha who is just about the best tuk-tuk driver ever! We loaded our stuff on this motorized cart with pink silk cushions, and we were on our way. With the wind in my hair on the tuk-tuk, the new sights, the warmth, the delicious smells, I just couldn’t get a smile off my face. Today was Cambodia day, or maybe tomorrow would be. I didn’t care, I was in Cambodia.
Chantha suggested that we check out the Tonle Sap Lake and the floating village then in the evening see the sunset at Angkor Wat. Instinctually, we trusted his judgment this day and all the rest. We weren’t disappointed.
So this lake is wicked cool and a key reason why huge, advanced societies were able to flourish here and why people are able to easily sustain themselves today. It is no ordinary lake. For most of the year, water flows south out of the lake toward the Mekong Delta out to the South China Sea. However, every wet season, snowmelt swells the Mekong River (just east of the lake), hits the very shallow Mekong Delta, is backed up the Tonle Sap River, and lake swells to four times its size. Fish literally start swimming throughout the jungle. This gives a chance for nutrients from the forest floor to replenish the lake, which allows an extraordinarily vast and diverse population of fish to thrive. It also allows rice to constantly be both harvested and planted. Add on the exceedingly diverse amount of fruits grown in the area, and there is a recipe for a well fed population with time to create some amazing and complex art and culture. This lake is essentially the reason why thousands of people come here every year to look at some old temples.
With that said- our visit to the lake. We hopped on one of about 30 boats vying for the business of the next tourist and off we were to the floating village. There was a young man who spoke English rather well and explained to us the lovely culture of this town on water including the issues with over-fishing, “children with no-mudda-no-fatha,” and his desire to teach within his village. We stopped to visit with kids at their floating school, and let me tell you, Mike had a blast playing with the children and the camera. They just loved seeing themselves on the screen! (Both Mike and the kids..hehe) Thanks to our unofficial tour guide, we felt like this part of the trip was a wonderful peek into the lives of the people in the area.
But the day wasn’t over yet. The sunset over Angkor Wat was coming, and we didn’t want to miss that! Back in the tuk-tuk, a quick shower (they love showering here) and off we went. Surrounded by a huge moat, crumbling lion statues greeting you at the doorway, huge pillars surrounded by boulders of itself, and some of the most intricate stone carving we’ve seen, this place almost shouts of a great age gone by. Unfortunately, these was our first glimpse of the hordes of tourists coming here, but never fear, we found a peaceful spot where it was only the sunset, the Wat (temple), and a Buddhist monk or two.
The next morning, we got up super early (Chantha was doing his morning stretches while he waited for us at the tuk-tuk), and went to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. With a pond of lotus flowers in the forefront of the temple and the golden beams of morning, it was a beautiful site. Of course we shared it with about 200 of our closest friends who weren’t all exactly a serene as the situation called for.
You might see a pattern forming here. In a place where almost everyone wants to be the only one there, there seemed to almost always be someone there. It wasn’t so much the individual travelers that got the blood boiling. It was almost expected and accepted that people from here and there would come for the same reasons we did. It was the tour buses of people. It was like they moved in a single mass, taking the same pictures, standing forever in front of the most interesting places, being told exactly what to do, think, and see, and creating human walls between everyone else and what we came to experience. What comes to mind are the Sandworms in Beetlejuice. Therefore, each temple became an exercise in finding the spot with virtually no people, thus allowing the mystery, adventure, and history to seep in. We were more successful in some places than others.
One place where we were particularly successful was just after the sunrise at Angkor Wat. There was a small temple that looked like a Mayan pyramid. Two stories of crumbling steep steps led up to a small room with a Budda. A light from the tall ceiling shone down into exactly the center of the room. No one was around at all. This was some serious Indiana Jones stuff. All Mike needed was a hat and a whip!
Next, we came upon the entrance of the South Gate of Angkor Tom (the capital). Huge statues from the story of the “churning of the milk” form the handrails of the bridge and huge Budda-esque faces on the entranceway. Kinda eerie. Near the top of the entrance way was a troop of monkeys, so of course we had to take a look. So we took out our cameras and video cameras and looked for the great shot of the monkey and Budda face. However, Mike’s video was interrupted rather quickly. One of the older monkeys strolled up near Mike and sat down. He looked at Mike, looked away nonchalantly, then bam! The monkey jumped on Mike’s back! Swinging back and forth, giggling the whole time, Mike tried to get the monkey off his back. Eventually, the monkey tired of this man and hopped off, looking just as nonchalant as he was before. Both of us were a bit stunned. I mean, did that just happen? Oh, did I tell you that Mike kept the tape rolling??
After we got our bearings, checked for bites or scratches (there were none), and laughed our butts off, we got back on the tuk-tuk and checked out the next place, Angkor Tom. This place had 10 foot high Budda faces everywhere, beautifully engraved stories of its history along the walls, and just an eerie feeling (when you could get passed the Italian tour group). There were also temples that were completely taken a part to be stabilized and reassembled like the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle, elephant sculptures, and tons of ruins to climb up. It was about time for us to get some less populated spots and Chantha knew just the places. It was about this time too that we decided we were not going to take any more pictures in the Angkor Wat area unless we saw something really new, exciting or unique. We both kinda breathed a sigh of relief and for the next two days of our time at Angkor Wat, we set about some crazy fun! We became Indie and Lara Croft searching our way through loads of ancient temples in search of an archeological gem, weaving our way through secret passage-ways, looking for clues in the stone carvings, avoiding huge imaginary boulders, and of course fighting off the greedy bad guys who were trying to steal the ancient relic (most of the time they were the Russians). This is truly a place where your imagination runs wild.
We also headed into town (Siem Reap) during the evenings. With 50 cent beer, $3 t-shirts, $3/hour foot massages, and tons of life along the street markets, this place was great! Probably the most fun thing we did was to get fish massages. Yeah, we didn’t know what that was all about either. Well, basically, we stick our feet in a pool of little fish and for 30 minutes, fish eat all the dead skin off. And wow, does it tickle! The two of us couldn’t stop giggling the whole time!
Knowing that it would take time out of traveling through Thailand, we questioned if it would be worth it to come to Angkor. By the end of our adventure here, the question was answered loud and clear; “Yes!”