Siem Reap

I first travelled to Cambodia 8 years ago, after finishing my year teaching English in Korea.  After dreams of visiting Angkor Wat kept me going through a tough year in Seoul, I arrived here backpacking through China and Laos.  The site was worth the wait and the labor I had to endure to get here.  Angkor is one of the most amazing places on earth - a huge park of giant stone temples intricately carved with stories from Hindu and Buddhist mythology, located in the jungle.  For someone who grew up on Indian Jones movies, this place was like a fantasy come true. 

I had always hoped to come back here, and, to be sappy, especially with someone I loved.  To get here this time, the trip was hardly any easier.  We travelled overland from Vietnam, all the way down the coast, and then from Saigon by bus to the border with Cambodia.  The travel agent through whom we booked the bus told us to be there at 8:20.  When we arrived, the bus was "on its way".  Half an hour later, it was also "on its way".  More than an hour later, it finally ambled down the street, only to make more stops at other hotels and agencies, then a stop only an hour out for some meal or another.  At this point, one group of passengers realized that they didn't know how much a Cambodian visa cost, and inconvenienced all the other passengers when one of them hopped on a motor bike to find a nearby bank.  We sat, steaming, wondering why they hadn't bothered to ask at one of the 50 travel agencies located in the backpacker region of Saigon, where we boarded. 

4 hours after we were supposed to leave, we finally arrived at the border, and cruised through - though not after a moment of nervousness while all the Cambodia border authorities examined Lena's Uzbekistan passport, having never seen one before.  We got on another bus on the Cambodian side of the border, which took us through the poor but lush countryside, on a ferry across the Mekong, and finally, about 4 hours later, to the guesthouse in Phnom Penh.

 

(A woman selling fried insects near the bus as we board the ferry across the Mekong.)

We got up at 6 this morning to board the bus to Siem Reap, a 7 hour journey on mostly-paved roads.  When I was here 8 years ago, it was impossible to take this trip - both because of the presence of bandits on the road, and the lack of a road itself.  That time, I took a boat on the Tonle Sap lake. 

We arrived this afternoon to a roaring downpour, and lunched then wandered the streets until the weather cleared just before sunset, when we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Angkor Wat.  It officially closed at 6 - exactly as we arrived, but a $1 bribe took care of that, and we walked down the long stone causeway to one of the most beautiful ancient monuments in the world.

 

We have three days at the temples, and are getting up early tomorrow to start.  This is a truly exciting event for me - to come back to this place after so much time and so many changes.

Comments

[Colin]

Where are you guys staying? Are there hotels or homestays near the temple? Has the place been spoiled by commercialization yet?

[Ari]

The town of Siem Reap is about 6km from the temple park. We rented a tuk-tuk (a sort of SE Asian motorized cart) for $10 a day, and he takes you from your hotel to the park whenever you want. The park is well managed - it costs $40 for a 3-day pass, and they check your tickets at every major site. But there's also clean toilets and the roads are maintained, and trash cans at the sites, so it seems like the funds are well-used. There are shacks selling t-shirts and drinks at every temple, but they are usually across the road, built of local materials (wood and palm leaves) and are both pretty low-key and useful. There's no malls or even brick-and-mortar stores inside the park. There's also no electrical grid (just some battery-powered lanterns), and everything closes at 6.

The town of Siem Reap, as I've written in another post, is a totally different story. I wish I had before and after pictures, but it is a rapidly-expanding one-trade town. Lena and I were trying to estimate how many establishments that we saw in the town were *not* serving tourists. It's maybe like 1 in 10. Still, though, it's a quaint little town, and given that it's separate from the temple park, it's actually quite convenient.