Day 8
As I write this one day later, I am realizing just how much we are learning each day. However, we are learning so much in the moment, it is difficult for me to remember even the key facts the following day. I need to bring paper and a pen around with me to write down random facts and thoughts throughout our journey. Blogging helps, but is impossible to do in the moment. I am going to try my best to write down the highlights from one of our best days yet.
We started the day bright and early at 4:00 am as we wanted to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. Our 5:00 departure was welcomed by a very friendly staff and driver. Holy cow did everyone else have the same plan. So many people. It looked like a start of a huge race with everyone lined up for some great photo shots.
We were lucky as the rain had moved through the night before, so we got a dry and very nice sunrise. We were able to find some isolated spots for great pictures. The temple was built X centuries ago! Too many dates on too many sites yesterday. The interesting thing about Angkor Wat was that it was vacated hundreds of years ago when their water lines burst and the Thai invaded it. The jungle took over the temple and was only found in this past century. Ironically, a buddist monk had stayed behind to watch over the temple and was able to share the history of it when it was rediscovered. The Tomb Raider temple we visited later in the day showed how the jungle had taken over the temples as many of the huge trees are still place on the sandstone. It is really called Ta Prohm, but is nicked named Tomb Raider after being featured in Lara Croft Tomb Raider.
We made our way back to an awesome Western meets Cambodian breakfast. I had an omelette with a side of vegetable curry and warm waffles covered in chocolate chips! Best breakfast to date. In fact, I replicated it exactly again this morning before our flight to Vietnam.
Our only full day in Siem Reap was packed full of temples and learning about the history of Siem Reap. I enjoyed the Tomb Raider Temple more than Angkor Wat as you could feel the jungle surrounding the temple making it much more mystical. However, seeing the huge Angkor Wat Temple at sunrise was an image I won't forget. The sun rising putting a shadow of the temple on the pond was awesome!
We had multiple bouts of rain, but ironically, we were always in the car or eating lunch when it rained. It was crazy how it all timed perfectly! We ate an awesome Cambodian lunch! I loved the food we had here. Coconut and red curry is my favorite combination.
Our guide brought us to three of the most prominent temples (Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat, and Bayon), some built in the 7th century. Yes, I wrote that correctly. How amazing. They had some renovation to keep them in good enough condition to explorer, but some aspects were still original. There are over 2,000 temples in Cambodia built between the 7th and 15th century. The older ones were built with bricks and the more "recent" ones built with sandstone. Some had elaborate carvings highlighting daily life at that time, while others were plain sandstone. They were built by the Kings in honor of the important people in their life. They were used for prayer. Originally, people of Cambodia were Hindu, but now more than 90% are buddist. The architecture of temples is a combination of Hindu and Khmer.
We made great time through the temples so we had time to see the local floating fishing village. This experience I will never forget. They fish at night and sleep and prepare for fishing during the day. I tried out our GoPro camera which I am a hoping I can turn off the wide angle as it makes things round in the photo. I did not have my lens cloth either, so the pictures are not great. I didn't want to risk having the nice camera in a old wooden boat.
The conditions these people live are amazing. No running water. Most drink right out of the river instead of going into the giant lake. They bathe and clean with the water. Most of us would have to be on deaths door of dehydration to even consider a sip. It is not surprising that 12% of kids die before the age of five. Despite being a floating school in their village, the literacy rate is only 46% and the average life span is 54.
It was cool to learn that there are at least three different types of rice grown here: dry, wet, and sticky. I have to learn exactly what the differences are and how they are harvested. We couldn't get YouTube to work last night to learn.
We made it back to the hotel to clean up and enjoy free happy hour again. I just love the service at the hotel. They brought us our much needed free laundry. A quick scare as they forgot Kristen's sweater, but that was solved after we produced a picture of it.
Although the food was amazing at the hotel, we wanted to eat local Cambodian food, so we ate in the city. Kristen had vegetable curry and me amok fish (recommended from our driver) and we shared an interesting omelette like egg dish. All were delicious.
The cost of food and travel in Cambodia is cheap. Draft beers on Pub Street were $0.50 with the most expensive cocktails $4.50. We found a local ice cream store that I felt I could trust and had delicious vanilla and brownie ice cream. 60 minute massages for $25 highlight the cheap travel.
We explored the night market, but have no room for or need for any items. Plus it was almost 9:00 and we were getting tired from our 4:00 wake up. We called our driver using our cell phone and headed back.
What a great day in Siem Reap.
Day 9
This morning I duplicated my delicious western meets Cambodian breakfast. Still shocked that I am eating curry at breakfast. I kind of wish I would have appreciated curry more when I was at Midwestern with my Indian classmates.
We left for the airport right after dinner. Upon finalizing my bags, I realized that I left my small Emirates Air travel bag on the plane upon arrival! This had my blackout shades, ear plugs, ear phones, and ear phone splitter! Only like $30 worth of stuff, but damn, some vital items when traveling a lot.
Some closing thoughts on Cambodia:
1) awesome food. We have been to three countries now (I am writing in Vietnam) and Cambodia has Chinese, Indian, and Thai influences.
2) very friendly people. Very happy to help make your day better.
3) cheap.
4) Hotel Borei was fabulous and comes highly recommended. Best hotel thus far on our trip.
Some random thoughts:
1) We did not really see Westerners in China. Most of our hotel and people on the plan out of Cambodia were Westerners. Being away from them for almost a week really highlights how much overweight our society is. We eat soo much more food at the restaurants. Maybe this was highlighted as one gentleman on the flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) had to be moved as he could not fit into one seat.
2) It was highlighted to me that big tour buses are not for me. It is amazing how much faster we can move through temples, restaurants and stops by either figuring things out ourselves or having a private guide. We end up seeing more in a much quicker time. It seems to me that these groups are always waiting on someone or something vs exploring.
3) Our hotel provided a driver and a guide. I wondered why the guide just didn't drive to save resources. I quickly realized how great it was to have them both. We would walk through a temple with our guide and exit on the opposite side and boom, there is our car. No need to waste time and energy to walk all the way back to the entrance. Additionally, the car was always air conditioned as it hadn't set in the sun while we were inside. For less than $40 a day, the driver was a no brainer as it helped us cut down on the amount of time we spent at each excursion. We covered a lot of Siem Reap in one full day.
Posted with Blogsy
$25 massages? I'm booking flights now.
ReplyDelete