Siem Reap, Cambodia

I am nearly a week into my R&R. It's been a bit of a split experience for me. I have really been enjoying my first trip to South East Asia so far. At the same time, I've been desperately keeping up with events in Juba, South Sudan where I work. On the day I left, fighting broke out between the two opposing sides and from Friday afternoon until Monday, my colleagues and friends were in lockdown all over the city. Our organization has many national (South Sudanese) staff and friends who do not live on compounds and are the most vulnerable. There was nothing I could do from here but watch our skype group chats religiously and hope for the best. Fortunately a ceasefire is holding for the moment and many international staff were evacuated to Nairobi. There's no way to know what will happen as I get closer to returning to Juba, so I'll just wait and see.

I arrived in Siem Reap on Sunday night. After checking into my hotel the Golden Banana, which I highly recommend, I went out walking just to get out there and see what's up. The night before in Bangkok, i had gone down to THE party street in town and while it was awkward at first to be by myself, I eventually found some other solo travelers and we formed a little group of party friends. I hoped lighting would strike twice.

So I'm maybe two blocks away from my hotel, it's a quiet night, just a few people out walking when another non asian crosses the street ahead of me. An older guy in the Cambodian version of a Hawaiian shirt, we just start talking. He said he was looking for a bar called the Jungle Bar. I said, well I'll tag along. His name is Lorenzo and after getting lost on foot, getting a tuk-tuk and finally finding the place, we talked over a couple of drinks. He's Australian and been traveling for a couple months through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam I think. He'd only been in town a day longer than me but already knew a ton of people. And the more we talked and he told me stories of sailing down the Me Kong river, I realized with no fear whatsoever, oh you're a crazy old man aren't ya? An extrovert, wide open to all people, makes friends with everyone, optimistic and tells a lot of the same stories over and over again.  He was starting the temples the next day at 7am, I was scheduled to start them at 10 am. I joked that we might run into each other out there (it's like saying oh I'm sure I'll run into you tomorrow in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park). And we went our separate ways.

The next day while walking into my third or forth temple ruin I heard a group of backpackers talking and I realized  I know that voice! As I got closer I shouted "Lorenzo!" with both hands up in the air. He turned around and looked overjoyed and the backpackers he was talking to lost their minds. "No way!! You know everyone!!!"

Myself and Lorenzo

He introduced me to the backpackers briefly and we all met up at Jungle Bar that night for burgers. But I had to mark the moment with a photo :)

DAY 1 SIX TEMPLES!!

The first day of sightseeing I went to six different temple ruins. None of which were the more famous Angor Wat or the ones used in Tomb Raider (we all know that's why I'm here). But they ended up being my favorites. They are beautiful and climbing all over these ruins was invigorating. The architecture was so symmetrical and really used depth perspective in a way that was stunning. I took a lot of pictures of hallways and columns and windows, etc.  It was so frustrating to see these amazing things and then not be able to fit them in my camera. These pictures do not do it justice.

As you might imagine, it was an incredibly humid day. The heat wasn't as bad but it is the rainy season so a couple of times rain seemed to come out of nowhere. At the last temple the heavens opened up!!

I tried to take shelter in a window frame but it didn't help much. I went back to the hotel wet and exhausted.



DAY 2 Angor Wat and Pra Tom

The next morning, I was picked up at 5am for sunrise at Angor Wat. But with the rainy season, there wasn't actual sun just improved light. That didn't stop a large crowd from gathering at Oh Dark Thirty at the ancient palace converted to a temple.

But it was still beautiful in the early light. 

However, local artists renderings show you what it is supposed to look like. 

By 6:15 am I had joined another guy, Karlos from Spain, who was walking around with a tour guide. So glad I did this. I learned so much about Angor Wat that I would have completely missed.  As I mentioned, Angor Wat was originally a palace for the King, or rather a holiday home for the King. The people at that time were Hindu. But when the Buddhist took over, it became a temple. The building was constructed on an equinox so at two solstices the sun rises over the center tower. Instead of summer and winter solstice in June and December, their solstices mark the rainy and the dry seasons. So on March 23rd, the sun rises on the center tower. From March to September, the rainy season, it drifts to the left rising on the far left corner before traveling back to the center. On September 23rd it rises on the center again and then travels right to the outside corner before traveling back again. And this was constructed in the 12th century. 

Left to Right, Tour Guide Teer, Myself, and Karlos from Spain, standing on what was believed to be the center of the universe. I'm standing in the East which represents Water.

By 7:30 am I had finished Angor Wat and was ready to head on to three more temples. I'll skip ahead to Pra Tom except to say, this one temple - shaped kind of like a pyramid -  is probably why my thighs hate me today.

 

Pra Tom or the Tomb Raider Temple.

Anyone else exhausted yet? Pra Tom is in the most disrepair. And Nature has fused with the architecture in exquisite ways. I could tell you more but I'll just show you. Oh and I had to change shirts because by 9am, my white shirt was becoming not only gross and uncomfortable but see through as well.

And of course the tomb raider tree. My souvenir t-shirt has an elephant on it and says Cambodia.

I finished tomb Raiding and was back at the hotel by 11am. I showered had a nap then headed off on another tour with Siem Reap Shuttle Tours, to the floating village in the afternoon. Turns out the village isn't so much floating as on very high stilts. These tiny villages surround a huge lake (the largest in Southeast Asia?) and much like the villages in the Amazon, build their homes and structures high on stilts for when the lake swells. It's the beginning of the rainy season so the river/lake had not reached so high. But it was impressive looking around and thinking about how high the water does get in September/October. Our guide took us on a long boat, then we walked through one of the villages and met a few people. Then he took us out into the lake to a floating restaurant (this one really did float). Having left the hotel at 5 am I had not eaten breakfast. Then I had taken a nap instead of eating lunch thinking I had more time than I did. So when we got to the restaurant I happily ordered Fried Spicy Crocodile. DELICIOUS!!!

Having recapped my two very full days, I no longer feel bad about being a little tired. I have done a lot! Siem Reap is full of very friendly, very lovely people. It's definitely built up around tourism. They take American dollars, and many restaurants have western food.  My flight leaves tonight at 9:30 pm so after resting this morning, I'll spend the afternoon walking around the city. I'm kind of the worst of American tourists. I'm just here for a few days and it was specifically to see some things I only knew about in a film. But being here is very nice and I haven't once felt scared or overwhelmed being here on my own. I've met many people who are also traveling and that just adds to the experience.  I know I've missed a lot of fun things by limiting it to temples and villages, but I hope I get to come back and see more of the country and more of the people. It's been a great experience.