Sleepless in Siem Reap

Bayon temple

After our short time in Phnom Penh, we boarded yet another bus to Siem Reap, the border town of the ancient Wat Temples, including the most famous, Angkor Wat. The bus ride was interesting, to say the least. What should have been a much shorter drive became much longer and complicated by the rough road and numerous stops. For a stretch of about two hours, we traveled a narrow isthmus that was broken up by deep ruts and rocks. This meant we were driving at very slow pace, and that we were afraid that the bus would tip over at any minute. Passing many houses on stilts and even more cows (three different types: a normal looking brown one, a geometrically angular white/grey one with horns, and a dark gray one with longer, pointy horns.) There was always a pond of some sort in the front of the yard, where children and cows would be swimming, and women would be removing water lilies or washing clothing.
Arriving in Siem Reap, we were picked up by one of the guys that worked at our guesthouse. He spoke a little English and smiled constantly. We instantly liked him, and were thrilled when we found out that he would be our tuk-tuk driver the next day. As we got closer to our guesthouse, the roads became watery and then were flooded. The driver took a roundabout way to get to our hostel, but we still had to walk through knee deep water to get to the front door. Apparently, it floods every year. The owner of the guesthouse gave us a map and explained the best temples to go to and her favorite foods and where to get them. Her and her husband are from Canada and bought the guesthouse ten months ago from a British guy. Taking her advice, we dropped off our bags and headed out into the flooded streets.

fish massages

We followed the map she gave us, found one of her favorite restaurants and tried a multitude of things, including a sweet potato/chicken bake and a pumpkin soup. After dinner, we walked along the flooded streets of the market, and stopped to get a fish foot massage. We climbed up on the cushioned seats and submerged our feet into the huge tanks. Swarms of two to three inch starving fish swarmed our feet and nibbled hungrily. The strange sensation at first tickled, and then became uncomfortable about fifteen minutes later. Laughing as we got out, we headed down the river back to our hostel. On the way back, we passed a little stand attached to a cart that said banana-chcolate-pancake. So of course we stopped. The man made them in front of us on his stove. This delicious treat quickly became one of our favorites.

Banteay Srey

The next morning (with our prepacked breakfast of museli, fruit and yogurt), we headed out in our tuk-tuk to go to the temples. Our driver first took us to Banteay Srey, a Hindu temple made of a pink limestone and dedicated to the god Shiva. As it was very early in the morning, there were hardly any people there, and we were free to wander around in the quiet morning. Back in our tuk-tuk, our driver asked if we wanted to stop by the landmine museum. We debated for a minute and then said sure. It turned out to be one of the most interesting places we stopped at.
Walking into the land mine museum, we passed huge Russian and American bombs. Once inside, we read about Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge child soldier that has dedicated his life to decommisioning land mines. As a soldier, he laid thousands of land mines and was first given a gun at the age of ten. As a country, Cambodia has one of the highest rates of land mines. Land mines cost less than a dollar to make, but over a thousand to decommission, costing this already impoverished country more than it can afford. Over two and a half million tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia by the United States between 1969-1974, while the total amount of bombs used by all countries during World War  II was only two million tons. Still,  the United States remains of thirteen countries (including Myanmar, Nepal, India, China, North Korea, South Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Vietnam, Iran, Russia and Cuba) to continue to produce (or not pledged to stop producing) antipersonnel mines.

inside the Land Mine Museum

Behind this museum holds an orphanage of children that were affected by land mines. Stopping by the handicrafts on the way out, we bought a few things, as all the proceeds go to the orphans. Leaving this museum, we told our driver, Chamnan, that we were so glad that we stopped and learned a lot more about not only Cambodia’s history, but our own.

Ta Prohm

Heading down the bumpy road, we were taken to Ta Prohm, the location of Tomb Raider, where the trees have overgrown the temple. We then headed to Bayon, the temples that have the large faces everywhere and Ta Keo. Hot and sweaty by this time, we headed to the largest of all the temples, Angkor Wat. I thought that my favorite would be Angkor Wat, but I was more interested in all the faces at Bayon. As it was now late in the afternoon, we headed back to our guesthouse to shower and change for dinner.
We headed out to find Sugar Palm, a restaurant that had the best fish amok in town. As we left the guesthouse, the owner commented that the water had gone down, and that he was glad because “yesterday they were worried about the crocodiles getting loose down the street.” Later, our tuk0tuk driver told us that they escape every year, but not to worry because “the owner goes out right away to find and catch them.” Great.
After searching down the street that the restaurant was supposed to be on, we had to ask multiple people where the restaurant was. After being sent down another street, it began to pour. And yet again, we had forgotten our rain ponchos. Running through the streets, we found the restaurant and enjoyed the fish amok (a whitefish cooked with coconut milk, tumeric and paprika to the consistency of a souffle) and chicken curry alongside our margarita and caipirinha, which tasted surprisingly similar. After the crocodile story, we decided not to brave the streets again and took a tuk-tuk instead. And stopped for banana pancakes on the way. Delicious.

Bang Mealea

The next day, we again left early to go to Beng Mealea, a temple left entirely to the wilderness. It took over two hours to get to this temple, much further than we expected.  A guide took us around the temple, climbing over loose rock and wiggling through the trees. Of course, we did it all in flip-flops. Without the guide, we definitely would not have explored all of this intricate temple.
Back to the tuk-tuk, our guide drove us on the back roads back to Siem Reap, passing through the village that his father was from, and filling up with gas at his cousins’ place. Filling up with gas was interesting: the driver’s seat is lifted and gas is poured from a bottle, most often a old Pepsi bottle, from a stand on the side of the road. Driving over the (increasingly deep) ruts, we were glad when we made it to the Silk Factory.
Walking through the factory, our guide explained all the steps of silk-making, which is way more complicated than we thought. Becca interviewed our guide at the end of our tour, and he was more than happy to explain why he thinks people should learn more about Cambodia. Leaving the factory, we stopped and bought ice cream cones for us and Chamnan.
Eating our ice cream by the tuk-tuk, we asked him lots of questions about his life and Cambodians perceptions of Americans. He showed us pictures of his children and told us about his Australian photographer friend that is paying for his twin girls to go to a private school. And he told us that Cambodians really like Americans. Then, Becca asked how they possibly could after everything we’ve done to them. Smiling as he took a bite of his cone, he said “it was a long time ago. The Cambodians, we forgive. We are a forgiving people and we want to move forward.” Smiling back, we agreed that that was a good way to live, and that more people should take similar stances and forgive others instead of holding grudges.
Back to Siem Reap, we asked to be dropped off at a bank so we could take out more money (as it’s dispersed in US dollars here. Going inside, we took out our daily allowance, and took it to the counters to be changed into smaller bills. And then the disaster began. Becca received five hundred back in small bills, after the woman had not counted the bills in front of her. But she was positive that she had given the woman six hundred- five that she had just taken out and another hundred from her wallet. The woman looked at her in confusion as she insisted that Becca was wrong. As the rest of the bankers crowded around Becca’s window, she insisted that she had taken five hundred out and given them another hundred from her wallet. A few women left and others came, staring at us awkwardly. This continued for ten excruciatingly long minutes while Becca asked them what they were going to do about the problem. Finally, we started talking, I said I took out four hundred, with one hundred broken into smaller bills and one more from earlier. A dawning recognition came over Becca’s face as she realized what she had done- one hundred was already broken into smaller bills. “We have to leave,” she commented, as she grabbed her wallet and we rushed toward the door. Unfortunately, it was not that easy, a woman from behind the counter followed us out and asked Becca if she wanted to see the video. And then Becca had to explain what happened as I stood outside the door of the bank, barely containing my laughter. Leaving the bank, we stopped at an optometrist, as they were offering a special deal on glasses, and I really wanted a new pair.  After going through the really funny exam, which consisted of different lenses being placed in these huge glasses, they said my prescription was not included in the deal. At least we have funny pictures of me wandering around in huge, black framed glasses. And then what did we do after our long, funny day? Found the banana pancake man and got one more before our trip to Thailand.