Cambodge: Part 1 (August 3-17, 2010)

Cambodia’s western countryside is rice paddies and flooded fields as far as the eye can see.  After driving on flat, dusty roads for three hours, our first views of Siem Reap were a shock.  Giant hotels and resorts line the main street, with impressive fountains and Angkor-inspired statues along the fronts.  We were dropped off at the local bus station, which was little more than a dirt parking lot.  From here we hopped onto a tuk-tuk (a small cart pulled by a motorcycle) and headed to the Rendezvous Guest House.  We were pleasantly surprised by our room.  The small cost of $5 provided us with a clean room with a fan, private bathroom, and hot water!  It was late in the evening when we arrived (around 9pm or so) and we were quite hungry after traveling all the way from Bangkok, so we set out to find some dinner.

While walking down the dusty streets of Siem Reap, you get the feeling that the town is being built up for tourists.  The downtown area has a night market, where vendors sell various knick-knacks and souvenirs.  Seems you can find anything in these markets, from bootleg movies to cobra liquor.  There are more than enough restaurants to choose from, selling a variety of foods from Mexican to Italian to French to Khmer.  There is even a street named “Pub Street” which is lined with foreign restaurants and bars.  We opted to share a pizza at a ‘fancy’ restaurant (though we opted out of sharing some wine in favor of saving some dollars).  Topped with fresh spinach and chopped tomatoes, it was delicious!

We decided that Siem Reap was a city worth exploring, so we spent our first full day wandering the streets, markets, and souvenir shops.  We found a grocery store that sold peanut butter (score) and wheat bread (double score), and we knew we were in love.  That evening we arranged a tuk-tuk for the following three days of temple exploration.

For our first day of temples, we opted to venture out of the general area and ride 70 kilometers through the beautiful countryside in the back of a tuk tuk.  The stunning temple, Beng Mealea, seems to have been forgotten about.  The surrounding trees have taken their toll on the temple, and its distance from Siem Reap ensures that not many tourists visit.  It was beautiful, and exciting.  We were climbing over mounds of rocks, moving from one hidden room to the next.  It felt like our own movie adventure.  

The following morning, we woke early in hopes of seeing the sunrise over the famous Angkor Wat.  Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy and cloudy so actually seeing the sun come over the temple was not possible, though we did get to see some lovely colors in the sky.  We spent hours wandering around the giant temple before moving on to see several more.  We had a full day of temples and were quite tired by the time we returned to our hotel.  We spent the next day wandering through the ruins of more temples and simply being amazed at every turn.  The photos we took do not do justice to the temples, and nothing can convey the feeling of actually being there and experiencing the ancient Angkorian architecture firsthand.  

From Siem Reap we headed south to Battambang.  The town was very slow paced and laid back, and didn’t have much to offer us in the way of sightseeing, so we decided to move on after a day here.  In this photo, you can see two women balancing a variety of baked goodies on their heads for sale.

We headed straight to the capitol city of Phnom Penh.  The quiet and dusty streets make the capitol city feel smaller than it really is.  The Tonle Sap River runs through the city, and the main street that follows the river is lined with restaurants, shops, and guesthouses.  

The traditional architectural styles of the royal palace and the national museum are a great juxtaposition to the colonial style architecture of the shops and restaurants found along the same street.  Here is a photo of the royal palace of Phnom Penh.

We spent several days walking around and enjoying Phnom Penh.  We visited the national museum where we saw pieces of the temples we’d just explored.  We spent a day wandering the aisles of the Russian market, where you can find name brands for a few dollars (H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, The North Face, and Old Navy to name a few).  I managed to find two wool sweaters for the whopping total price of $7.  We spent a day going in and out of all the boutiques and art shops along Street 240.  We walked along the riverfront in the evenings and enjoyed watching the locals participate in their nightly aerobics routine.

We dedicated a day to the Tuol Sleng Museum, formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High school until Pol Pot and his crew took over and turned it into a prison.  

The classrooms were turned into torture chambers and prison cells.  Today, walking through the museum is an eerie and depressing experience.  The torture chambers still contain the iron platforms and instruments used by Pol Pot’s soldiers.  The cells emit a strange feeling with their doors opened to a narrow hallway.  Some of the remaining classrooms have been dedicated to displaying photos of prisoners.  It was very creepy to look at the photos and know that every face you see was murdered.  As I said, a very depressing, but a very eye-opening day.

After spending a few days wandering around Phnom Penh, our friend Ruairi arrived to meet us.

-Renee