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Siem Reap, Cambodia – Day 1
By jeni | September 3, 2008
Waking up at 5:30 on Thursday morning to catch our flight to Siem Reap must have left us a little loopy, because John and I took this picture on the flight over and we thought it was absolutely hilarious. It made us laugh every time we were scrolling through the 400-something pictures we took while in Cambodia. I think it’s the hairy arm that really makes the picture. I forgot to shave that day.
Anyway, backing up a little, we had an amazing time in Cambodia. It was a wonderful trip and we could have stayed much much longer. We saw so much that I’m going to break our trip up into a couple of different posts, so you’ll be hearing about Cambodia for a while. We also have a ton of pictures, which we’re going to make a new page for, so be on the lookout for that link.
So, since we left so early, we also arrived in Siem Reap fairly early, meaning we had most of the day left to explore. First things first, we caught a taxi to our hotel, listened to the driver give his spiel about why we should choose him to drive us around all day, and spent 20 minutes giving each other furtive glances about whether or not to accept his offer without actually speaking to one another. You know how thse things go. In the end, we accepted because our first day we planned to go further out and hike up to see the Kbal Spean (aka the River of a Thousand Lingas) and Bantaey Srei, one of the smallest temples around Angkor, so a car was in order. The other days we took tuk tuks around town, but more on those later.
Anyway, we dropped our luggage off in the hotel lobby, got lubed up with a ton of bug spray and sunscreen, and hit the road. The drive to Kbal Spean took about an hour, and it was an amazing way to see the Cambodian countryside. Rice paddys (paddies?) tons of little villages, naked kids, people washing their cows, little stands selling petrol in 2 liter bottles, you know the usual. Once we arrived at Kbal Spean, we got our first taste of the kids in Cambodia. One after another ran up to us yelling “lady lady lady you wanna buy [insert product here]?” Usually it was water, soda, silk scarves, or guidebooks. We soon learned how to manage most of the kids pretty well, whether it was bartering for water or giving them a piece of candy, which they usually loved. Next time we go to a country where there are lots of kids selling to tourists, we plan to bring a lot of Singaporean candy to hand out because they get pretty excited about it.
Anyway, the hike up to the river was about 1500 meters, or just under a mile. There were some easy portions and some steep and scary portions, but we were just so happy to be outside and exploring we didn’t really care. This was also our first chance to experiment with our hats and scarves and bug spray and sunscreen and long pants and sleeves to see what worked best in terms of keeping out the sun and the bugs, but not causing heat stroke within ten minutes. Because as much as I talk about Singapore being hot, Cambodia was hotter.
Some pics of the hike up to Kbal Spean:
These are some of the carvings in the riverbed, mostly on the natural rock bridge that has formed here.
And John enjoying the waterfall
We spent a lot of time up at the top, walking around and enjoying the shade of the trees and the cool breeze that came off of the water, because by the time we made it up there, we were facing the full heat of the mid-afternoon sun and it was intense. We never went too far off the beaten path though, because landmines are still a major problem in Cambodia and there are warnings about going into uncharted territory everywhere. We’ll talk more about the landmines soon. We finally made our way down, got back in the car, and enjoyed the air-con (as they call it here in Asia) for about ten minutes as we made our way back down to our next destination, Banteay Srei.
We purposefully chose to visit Kbal Spean and Banteay Srei first, saving the large temples of Angkor, including the phenomenal Angkor Wat, for last, so we wouldn’t be disappointed with everything in comparison. Our guidebook (Lonely Planet Cambodia, 2008 – I’ll probably pull a lot of details from it) described Banteay Srey as a “mini-temple” so when we saw it we knew we were in for great things the rest of the trip.
Work on Banteay Srei began in AD 967, but according to LP, it’s carvings are unlike anything seen at that time. They are incredibly intricate – and have a “3D” quality to them. In the end, this was one of our favorite temples because of the beauty of the carvings.
Here’s the causeway as you walk toward the temple:
A shot from outside of the moat:
The blocked in windows of the temple
Some of the intricate carvings:
Honestly, none of our pictures will do this place anything we saw justice – it’s just amazing. To think these temples are still standing after a THOUSAND years – I’ll just say it – it blows my mind. Like I said, we have a ton of pictures, I’m just picking out a few here, but please come back and look at our photo page so you can get a feel for the pure beauty of this place and all of the temples we saw.
After trekking around Kbal Spean and Banteay Srei we were sweaty, hot, tired from the travel and the walk, and we were going to just go back to our hotel and take a shower, but we decided to make one last stop at the Cambodian Landmine Museum & Relief Center.
We learned a lot about the curse of the landmines while we were in Cambodia. Mines were laid during years of civil war, the terror of the Khmer Rouge regime, and the Vietnamese, among others. Cambodia is covered with landmines, many still undiscovered, and millions have been killed or maimed by mines. In fact, on the way to the museum, our driver showed us the spot where his father was killed by a mine.
This is the entryway to the landmine museum. I didn’t take much inside because it’s mostly words words words and doesn’t really translate onto film.
The landmine museum is run by a de-miner who has gathered all of the mines he’s disengaged and collected donations in order to show people what landmines look like, and of course what they can do. He also runs an orphanage dedicated to helping children who’ve lost family members due to mines. You can see victims of the landmines pretty much anywhere you go in Cambodia – we saw lots of amputees and burn victims all around the temples and in town too. It’s really difficult to see, but I can’t tell you how glad I am to have been exposed to this life – one completely different from my own. It makes me appreciate how incredibly lucky I am to have what I have.
After the museum we headed back to the room, took showers and relaxed for a bit before heading into town to try some Khmer food for dinner. We took a tuk tuk, basically a little cart attached to the back of a moto scooter thing, and hit Pub Street, the main drag for restaurants, bars, etc. in Siem Reap. Dinner was at the Red Piano, a little place that is super excited because Angelina Jolie used to hang out there while she was in town filming Tomb Raider.
See the little carts? Those are the tuk tuks.
After dinner, we were pooped, and, being the hardcore partiers we are, were home and in bed by about 9 or 9:30. In our defense, we were still on Singapore time (an hour later) and were planning to wake up at 4:45 the next morning to see sunrise at Angkor Wat.
So, that recaps our first day in Cambodia. The sunrise, some amazing temples, and our Belgium friends tomorrow!
Topics: Cambodia, culture clash, flying, hot, traveling | No Comments »
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