Siem Riep: Amazing Hotels, Amazing History

So, we almost cried when we discovered that all of our Siem Riep pictures, minus the cooking class, would be forever lost. OK, I cried a little bit. That meant losing our Angkor Wat pictures and the pictures I was planning to use to boast about the awesome hotel we stayed in! Very sad, indeed, but I have a vivid memory of our time in Siem Riep- it was my favourite place that we visited in Cambodia.

We took a very long bus ride from the South in Sihanoukville to Siem Riep, which is more to the Northwest. We hadn't heard great things about the road to Siem Riep, and sure enough, it was bumpy and I got a bit motion sick. No biggie.

So here's the thing about buses in Cambodia: some of them stop every five minutes for bathroom breaks and refreshments, while some... well... drive for eight hours straight with no such stops. In the defense of our bus driver, there was only one place on the entire way that was decent to stop in, and he did stop- for five minutes. I barely got back from the bathroom in time!

The real issue of the day was the fact that Pat and I, being used to the buses that stop every five minutes, failed to bring any snacks with us. We were ravenous when we arrived in Siem Riep eight hours later. Funny enough, when we switched buses in Phnom Penh (all roads lead to the capital) a nice young man who worked for the travel company helped me with my bag and asked me if I wanted his friend to pick us up in a tuk tuk when we arrived. If this had been two months ago I would have told him to leave me alone (please). However, we had been on the road a long time and we were tired. I said sure. Why not. I know he'll just try to take us to a guest house that will give him a cut of the profits, but I would rather that than have to haggle with a non-English speaking tuk tuk driver. So I gave the guy my name.

Sure enough, when we arrived in Siem Riep, there were two young men holding a sign with my name on it. I forgot to tell Pat I had given the guy in Phnom Penh my name, so he was pretty surprised by the royal treatment we were receiving. We asked them to take us to a place we found in the Lonely Planet, but actually, they were able to really convince us- not because we were tired, but because they knew what they were talking about- to go to a locally owned guest house. It's true! All LP ever recommends are foreign owned businesses! Not fair. We decided to go see what the guys had to offer... and ... oh my God is all I can say. What a beautiful guesthouse.

Our room was pretty much poolside, with a nice little patio, air conditioning, cable, hot shower... mini bar... everything you could want for 20 bucks a night. And since it was our last place before going back to Korea, we splurged and were glad. The pool was surrounded by a beautiful, lush tropical garden and the pool itself was just gorgeous. We were a five minute walk away from the famous night market and "Pub Street", and we liked the look of this touristy, but still Cambodian town.

We arranged with the tuk tuk guys to take us around Angkor the next day... at 5:30 AM, to see the sunrise. We went to Pub Street and had Shepard's Pie and Angkor beer for dinner. Very satisfying.

The next morning, we got up early and our tuk tuk dude was already waiting for us. It was 5 AM but it was already hot. It was rainy season in Cambodia but that just means 23 hours of pure, hot sunlight and 1 hour of torrential downpour- if that.

The temples of Angkor are spread over about 15 kilometres (from the most famous to the most remote). The most famous temples are, of course, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (which is really a bunch of temples and was once the capital city of Angkor) and Ta Prohm- which is famous among travellers as the building that trees started growing around and on top of, and famous among everyone else as the temple in Lara Croft: Tombraider (I think- I've never seen it myself...).

We bought a one day pass for 20 bucks and went to Angkor Wat to see the sun rise. Angkor Wat is considered the largest ever religious building... or something like that. Anyway, you need to cross the moat before you even see it. It's huge. The moat itself is huge! We sat and watched the sunrise and then wandered around the temple. Every boy tourist (Patrick included) kept whistling the Indiana Jones theme song. It was amusing and annoying all at the same time.

After Angkor Wat we were supposed to go to Angkor Thom, but we couldn't find our tuk tuk driver. Eventually we found him napping in a corner. Tuk tuks, or at least, bikes, are necessary in order to see the different temples. I think I read somewhere that Angkor was the biggest pre-industrial city ever discovered, so the temples are very spread out. Ankgor Thom was cool. We had to pass through the city gates and then, everywhere you look, there are piles of stones, ruins and well preserved buildings of the old city. We found out that Angkor flourished until the Thais sacked it and whoever was left fled and re-established a new capital in Phnom Penh. No one remembered Angkor until it was discovered in the 1900's by a Frenchman. Then they started trying to put everything back together. Then the Khmer Rouge came into power and destroyed all historical records and documents, so after they fell no one could remember where the stones were supposed to go. Also, they mined the area really heavily, so that had to be taken care of.

After Angkor Thom we went to the famous Ta Prohm temple, which was really a monestary! It's funny, Angkor started out as, I believe, a polytheistic society. Then they turned Hindu, and finally they were Buddhist. The artwork carved into the buildings is a mixture. It tells stories of great wars, of bare breasted dancers (they say the Thais took the dancers with them and that's where Thai dance has it's roots) and then there are Buddha's and Krishnas everywhere. It's great. Ta Prohm was amazing. It's crazy how the trees are holding the building together!

There was much more to see, but we were exhausted and all templed out. It was getting very hot and I could hear the pool calling my name, so we went back happily to our hotel where we swam, relaxed and had lunch. Lovely.

The next day we took a Khmer cooking class at a restaurant on Pub Street. It was fun, as our cooking classes always are! We cooked alongside an American Philippino couple who actually live in Korea and work as nurses on the American base in Yongsan (Seoul). Too wierd! They were really nice and we enjoyed a nice lunch together afterward. The four of us all made different dishes and shared. I made Amok, which is sort of like a curry, but with a different, more Cambodian paste. Sarah made a curry, her boyfriend made a stir fry, and Patrick made LocLac- Cambodian steak (very yummy). We all made salads- I made mango, Pat made banana flower and the couple made a papaya salad and spring rolls. Great lunch!

After lunch I thought I would treat myself to a mani-pedi. My first one, ever. And it cost me 12 bucks (for both). Very relaxing. After that, a swim and a smoothie and some BBC Newsworld, we hit the town!

Back on Pub Street we had a nice dinner and several glasses of wine and beer. Then we hit the night market. I loved it! The stuff wasn't as nice as the night market in Luang Prabang, but there lots of great dresses and we got a hammock and some scarves and some little ornaments. And then we found Dr. Fish! Yet another Korean installment! Of course we had a go, and I asked if the fish came from China (I knew that would be the first question asked by my Korean friends- no dirty Chinese fish, please! For whatever reason...). Of course the man running the pool said no! These are clean fish from Europe! A fish is a fish if you ask me, but I have fun teasing my Korean friends about their inherent racism towards China... and Japan... and almost everywhere else...

We didn't want to leave, and I certainly didn't want to go to Bangkok because I hate flying and the closer we got to Bangkok the closer we got to flying... but we were up bright and early the next day, ready for anything. We would be in Bangkok later that afternoon...



After we cooked our meals they were brought out so we could dine al fresco.

Pat, concentrating on making the perfect LocLac.

Ready to plate it up.

Us, our cooking companions and our teacher with our works of art.

Stirring up my Amok. I made this one with chicken, but it can also be made with fresh water fish.

Pat's banana flower salad in the foreground and my mango salad in the background. Both delicious!

Ingredients for Banana Flower Salad. After shredding the banana flower, Pat had to soak it in lemon for about 15 minutes. On the plate you can see sweet basil and shredded carrot.

Getting ready to pound up my curry paste.

Curry Paste ingredientsL lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, fresh root turmeric, small red chillis, galangal ginger, garlic and shrimp paste.

Mango salad ingredients: sweet basil (ribboned), shredded carrot and shredded mango. Easy!

For my Amok? Onion, oyster mushrooms, chicken and tamarind leaf (I think?).

LocLac ingredients: zucchini, tomato, beef and onion. And chillies.

Slicin'

The first thing we saw when we came in. Glorious!

Fresh produce at the market.

The fishmongers just sat on their tables.

Hard at work.

Of course, we had to try some crickets. They tasted really nutty, and actually yummy, but I gagged when I tried to swallow their legs and my throat got tickled.

Plenty of stuff for sale.

Bored in Phnom Penh? Why not volunteer with SCAO for a few days.

We knew all along that we wanted to do some volunteer work once we got to Cambodia- like I said before, it has many more opportunities than anywhere else in Southeast Asia for the Average Joe to do some good.

We stayed at Simon II Guesthouse in Phnom Penh, and on the wall I noticed a photocopied notice asking for volunteer English Teachers at a local orphanage (well, not local- seven km from Phnom Penh in the dusty village of Boeng Chhouk, but still fairly close). Unlike many orphanages that offer little more than scams to the average backpacker, Pat and I had a good feeling about this one (although we remained skeptical until we arrived- it was definitely a gamble).

The owner of our guesthouse helped us arrange a tuk-tuk for the day and, without making a reservation and without any outsider's knowledge about this place, off we went to buy a bag of rice as a gift and play with the kids.

When I pictured an orphanage in Cambodia, I pictured lots of babies for some reason. I pictured an institution, maybe established long ago by French nuns and now run by Cambodians, with a backyard and a playroom, I pictured kids screeching with happiness upon the arrival of visitors, and I pictured making such a connection with one child that it would be difficult for me to leave it at the orphanage. And I pictured it being a one day thing.

Well, out of all my imaginings, only one was correct. When we arrived at the small building made out of plywood and surrounded by a blue gate, the children ran up screeching happily to greet us. The orphanage houses about 17 children and teenagers and really focuses on their education. The Save Children in Asia Organization had just begun 16 months before we arrived, and Pat and I were not the only foreigners there.

They were housing four English teachers from Europe when we arrived and, by coincidence, our friend Jes who we had met in Laos was also volunteering there for one class a day- very strange to run into her like that! That meant, including Pat and I, the total number of teachers numbered seven.

A few months prior, a foreigner had helped them build an outdoor schoolhouse and classes were being held four times a day for all the children at the orphanage plus all of the children in the village. Pat and I agreed to take a class for the next day, had a talk with one of the senior teenagers living in the orphanage (who wants to be a teacher) and promised to come back the following day.

The next day we arrived and met with the director of the orphanage, Mr. Samith, who runs the orphanage with his wife. I was amazed at their relationship with the children living at the orphanage. It was more like Mr. and Mrs. Samith adopted these kids instead of putting them up for adoption (they are not really up for adoption; their parents could simply not afford to keep them). The kids behave as if Mr. and Mrs. Samith were their real parents, and indeed, they fought and cried and behaved as if they were all one big family. It was great to see such a stable environment for the kids.

Although they are clearly lacking in adequate housing and docations of food are always needed and appreciated, the kids want for nothing. They have plenty of playtime, they go to school, they all eat together and watch cartoons together, and they're happy.

The orphanage takes in those who want to volunteer for five dollars a night- including three yummy Cambodian meals a day (believe me, with what little they have they can serve up a tasty lunch), so if you're interested in volunteering just follow the link on my blog and you can stay there, too.

I spoke with Mr. Samith about fundraising and got some ideas for when I go home. I know that Pat and I will continue to support the orphanage every year, but if we could raise enough money each year to help put one of the senior kids through university or an apprenticeship it would be even better. And it doesn't cost very much to put a kid through university here- maybe 500$ total?

After meeting with Mr. Samith we taught our class. The kids were really great! We taught two pages from their textbook and got them to understand what a verb, or an "action" is by playing some games and practising. I taught them how to play "Zip, Zap, Zop"and we all had a great time- even Mrs. Samith, who sits in on the lessons to learn English as well.

So if all you can think of doing in Phnom Penh is eat and get (I hate to say it) high... again... why not put the doob down and take some time to play with the kids. You'll be glad you did :)

PS: To my Mom: I don't smoke doobs. That was hypothetical. Phnom Penh is famous for doobs.





Pat and Lee: the only boys.



I kinda love Lee. What a kid. The girls have better English, but I have never seen a seven year old with a brighter attitude!


Mr. Samith and three of his kids.



The youngest child (two) liked hitting Pat with plastic bottles and stealing important documents.



Lee! Best kid ever!



Checking up on assignments.




The brand spanking new bathroom.



The kids and Mrs. Samith, hard at work.



Playing some games during breaktime.



The zip, zap, zop championship finals.



The youngest little girl with her favourite puppy (they have four puppies and several grown dogs that they're trying to find homes for).



Escaping the mid-day heat in the laundry tub. Cute.



Thanks to this map, the kids really know their geography.



Profiles of all the kids at the orphanage- the oldest ones have information on what they want to study and how much it should cost to sponser their education.



Daily and monthly costs of food.



One of their true orphans. The dogs here break my heart!



One of the oldest kids giving Pat the run down.



She took us around and showed us the school on our first visit.



The nicest 13 year old you will ever meet.



And finally, the bag of rice that I couldn't lift. Great experience; highly recommended.

Phnom Penh: Dusty and Hot... and Awesome.

We left Saigon at around 3 PM, and were assured that we would be in Phnom Penh a mere six hours later- border crossing included! That sounded almost too good to be true since we spent about 2 or 3 hours at the Laos/Vietnam border, but still, we went with it.

From Saigon it takes about 2 hours to get to the border. While on the bus (12$ US) one of the attendants asked us for our passports. He took every passport on the bus, filled out our arrival and departure cards, took the 25$ US for our Cambodian Visa and did *absolutely everything* for us. All we had to do was pass through to show the border officials that we were the same person as in the passport. It was the easiest and fastest border crossing. Ever. I totally recommend the bus.

When you arrive in Cambodia you don't see any poverty. You see a lot of casinos. A lot. Right at the border.

Our bus stopped just outside the border and we had our first Khmer meal. It was pretty yummy, actually, considering I had heard mediocre things about Cambodian cooking (same as Thailand, only bland, apparently). Their curries (amok) are quite sweet with pineapple. I didn't like that so much. But they made a delicious pork and egg soup that I enjoyed pouring over my rice, and their meat and stir fries were great, too. I think a lot of the food catered to tourists is mediocre, but this backroads place was pretty great!

We arrived in Phnom Penh at about 9:30 PM. We're getting used to busses dropping us off in the middle of nowhere, outside of the cities or in front of a guesthouse that gives the bus company money, so while we were prepared we still lucked out since we met two Australian girls who were living in Phnom Penh for several weeks, volunteering at a hospital. I've noticed that expats here generally work for an NGO or have drug/sex addictions. And then there are the perfectly normals ones who just love the country and the people.

Anyway, the Australian girls offered to share a tuktuk with us, and we were relieved, because you never know how much it should cost to get somewhere, which means you never know if you're getting ripped off. It was much easier to just follow the girls to their guesthouse.

Most of the good guesthouses in Phnom Penh are located in a place called the "Lake District". It is full of backpackers, full of restaurants, and full of people trying to sell you stuff. It's a bit hard to find, so again we were lucky to have the girls show us around. The guesthouse we wanted to stay in was full, so we stayed at a very cheap and slightly sketchy guesthouse until the next morning, when we moved into the air conditioned, cable TV room that we've gotten so used to renting since Vietnam. We ate breakfast and then hired a tuktuk driver for the day.

The city was once known as the "Pearl of Asia" and since the Khmer Rouge days it has started to fall apart, piece by piece. The French colonial buildings still stand, and they are beautiful, but most are in desperate need of paint and plaster. I remembered from the books I read by Khmer Rouge survivors that some of the best memories the authors had as small children included sitting with their Dads in the evening on their apartment's balcony, watching the world go by.

Driving through the wide boulevards of Phnom Penh, I could almost see what the city was like in her glory days, which families out socializing, sitting out on their balconies and eating in the restaurants. Today the people still smile and they continue to make a living, but you can see the remnants of war sketched on everyone's face. I think it will still take a few generations to heal the wounds of the Khmer Rouge. Forget the current trials- most of the people involved are corrupt government officials and, many, former Khmer Rouge, but the people of Cambodia are so resiliant and I really love their country.

As someone recently told me, Cambodia's economy is growing thanks to the investments of other Asian countries- namely, Korea! You see Korean busses and businesses everywhere here, and plenty of signs are translated into Korean as well. Who knows what Korea's motive really is, but I like to think that they, more than most countries, understand what it's like to strengthen your economy after war, so I think it's cool that they've taken an interest in Cambodia.

Indeed, there are lots of ways to get involved in community projects here, moreso than anywhere else in Southeast Asia. NGO's, volunteer projects, orphanages, fair trade- the possibilities of doing some good are endless in this country, but you should do your homework before you think about volunteering. Lots of "projects"and "organizations"here are really just tourist traps- you spend money on something you think is worthwhile, but your money just goes into some businessman's pocket. We really lucked out when we volunteered at our orphanage... more on that later!

Of course, no visit to Phnom Penh is complete without witnessing the atrocities the Khmer Rouge commited during their regime of terror in the 1970's. It''s difficult to see, but I think it's one's duty as a human being to see what can happen when the wrong person comes into power and always remember. I often wonder where the governments of our great countries of the West were while the Khmer Rouge were killing millions of their own people. I mean, I know they were secretive about it, but wouldn't you start to wonder what was going on when an entire capital city is cleared of people, all foriegners are expelled and the currency is obliterated? I suppose there's a lot about this time that I don't understand, but walking down the streets of Phnom Penh and seeing seeing people in Cambodian villages you can tell that the war is still affecting them, and the form the war has taken today is poverty.

That being said, so far Cambodia has been a great country and everywhere you look there are new businesses, developments and wonderful people. Those living in rural or poverty stricken areas no longer want your charity; they want their children to have an education and have the same chance in life as other children. Giving in to children begging on the street or trying to sell you trinkets in frowned upon, and Cambodians now ask you not to support this kind of thing. There are other, better ways you can help.

I think everyone should come to Cambodia. This country is amazing! The kids are wonderful, the food is wonderful, the hospitality is top notch and the stories people have will melt your heart and bring tears to your eyes. You'll never forget this place once you visit.

Pictures coming soon!