Here’s the post on the sites that bring the tourists to Cambodia, and for good reason.  I can’t imagine taking a trip to Cambodia and not seeing the ancient Khmer ruins.  When I was a kid, I had this really cool map hanging up in my room (now it’s in storage in the basement of my condo).  Though it sits under glass, it appears brown, crinkled, and very old.  And, it’s illustrated with various famous sites all around the world.  The map is titled “Wonders of the World” and includes natural as well as man-made wonders.  I can clearly visualize Angkor Wat displayed on the lower center part of the map.  And, I recall often looking at that map and imagining what those places, including Angkor Wat, must be like.

The funny thing is that whenever I go on these trips, I do little in depth reading of what I’m about to see.  The same thing with climbing trips.  I never fool with too much detailed beta (my partners usually do that).  But, I notice that I enjoy reading these details after I visit a place.  Strangely enough, I usually purchase my guidebooks either during my visit or after.  Weird, huh?

Well, I had no idea that the system of temples in this area was so vast.  I assumed there were a couple of big ones and then several small ones, maybe consisting of a small courtyard and a pagoda.  No.  The short guidebook provided by the owner of the guest house showed maybe 50-75 temples in the nearby area, all of them quite big.  Some of them are like small cities.  Angkor Wat, of course, is the single largest structure and is well-preserved.  It sits on it’s own island surrounded by a wide moat.  The image that we’re all familiar with is just the main area, but there are outer walls that enclose a much bigger area complete with the original streets.  There’s not much to see anymore on the outskirts other than jungle, but it’s a pleasant walk.

I was warned that I would be “templed out” by day three and this was certainly true.  We only spent a half day seeing temples on the last day, the main one being Beng Mealea, which was a two-hour drive on decent dirt roads from Siem Reap.  I hear it’s often impossible to get to during the rainy season without a boat.  The neat thing about Beng Melea is that much of it is still wild and dominated by the jungle.  The locals talked this place up about how you can crawl around and explore.  Well, it wasn’t nearly that wild; since there’s a $5 entrance fee, there’s also a guide provided who will take you around the most expiditious route.  I probably got on his nerves some by often slowing down and wandering off on my own, climbing on some unsafe roof, or whatever.  I behaved, for the most part.

(Above) Panoramas of Angkor Temples

If I had to pick a favorite temple, hmm, it would probably be Bayon, which is part of the huge fortified city called Angkor Thom, right down the road from Angkor Wat.  This is the site with all the big smiling faces – over two hundred of them!  It was so neat because it was big, well-preserved, and loaded with passageways, steep stairs leading to numerous towers, and hidden alcoves.

But, of course, each temple had it’s own charm. Ta Phrom was made famous from that awful “Tomb Raider” movie (yes, I endured watching it after returning from Cambodia).  With various trees supporting the crumbling walls, it has some of the best “temple” atmosphere in all of Cambodia.  Angkor Wat, of course, is by far the biggest single structure.  It’s a chore looking at all the carvings on one side of the structure, and there are four sides!  If you love that sort of thing, you will go nuts over Angkor Wat.  There are just too many to mention and some of the others started blending together in my head by day three.

(Above) Lots of images from the Angkor Temples

I sat on the east side of the plane and, because the rising sun was so intense, I kept my window shut. When I did open it, I looked down on Cambodia and realized we were banking along the northern edge of Tonle Sap, or “big freshwater lake” in the Khmer colloquial language. Siem Reap sits on this northern edge while the capital, Phnom Penh, sits on the southern edge. Exiting the craft, we were delighted at the perfectly comfortable temperature at 8am. This was certainly a pleasant change from Kuala Lumpur, but it was not to last. The sun becomes intense around 10:30 and the day is hot thereafter. Of all countries so far, Cambodia had the most complex entry requirements. Well, it was easy enough, but there is more attention paid in the entry and exit forms. In fact, the agent staples it to your passport. Also, a visa is required. We used the Cambodia eVisa site, which was a piece of cake, but you can get one at the airport (not recommended since you have to wait in a line). A guest house representative was supposed to be there and, sure enough, when we left the cute little airport, there was someone holding a “Mr. Theron” sign. He spoke no English, but introduced us to our driver for the trip who’s English was functional enough.

We drove into Siem Reap and met the owner of the “Yaklom Angkor” Guest House. I have to have thank my friend, Suzanne from Portland, who recommended this spot.  It was inexpensive, comfortable, clean, and the staff was delightful.  Our room was a minimalistic setup with two twin beds running $28 per night.  It had an attached useable bathroom.  It was plenty good for us and, splitting the cost, $14 a day was a great price, though I’ve heard that prices have risen quite a bit.  It’s true; Cambodia is cheap, but perhaps not stupid cheap the way it was about five years ago.

One of the things that struck me about Siem Reap was that it resembled and average sized town in the US.  In what way you ask?  Probably because most of city seemed to consist of outskirts.  Riding in, we passed various small building after building, hotels, restaurants or clubs, and so on.  Each sat on it’s own lot separated from others.  So, without a car or certainly a bike, getting around would be hard.  Of course, there is an “old town” where most of the fun is (markets, restaurants, and most guest houses).  Besides walking, the main form of transportation for tourists is the “tuk tuk”, which is a two-wheeled carriage capable of carrying up to four people pulled by a motorcycle.  Everything destination within the town seemed to cost “two dollars”, which is overpriced.  One dollar is too, but that’s what we paid usually.  The town is small enough that you can walk much of it.

I was struck at the number of westerners in Siem Reap.  Of course, it makes sense; it’s home of one of the world’s great religious monuments, Angkor Wat, but still, on some sections of streets and in many restaurants, one was hard-pressed to find someone who was not western.  Siem Reap is very friendly and easy for English speakers to get around in.  It’s a fairly safe city too, unlike Phnom Penh.

We avoided the more expensive restaurants and ate most of our meals here on the street, with the locals.  The tourist restaurants, with their big fancy five dollar entries were just too upscale for folks like us.  On the street, each meal and drink was almost always $1.  Most meals consisted of either fried rice or barbecued noodles with your choice of meat or just vegetables.  The “Angkor” beer brand is quite popular, but beer has never refreshed me much.  Spending all day in those temples, often under the hot sun, I needed something more refreshing.  Since those tropical shakes were so popular, that’s basically all I had.  We ususally had our more fancy meals somewhere around one of the temples.  When I could get it, I would order a dish cooked in with the “Amok” spice, which was reminded me of a Thai peanut flavored dish.  It was delicious.

Overall, Cambodia is more depressed and poor than China.  Though there are paved roads in key places, most of these roads are no more than two years old.  Our driver was proud to point out to us who had commissioned and funded the roads (usually the Japanese or Koreans it seemed) and how old they were.  I believe only a few were more than five years old.

By the way, “Siem Reap” means, “Siam Defeated”.  Think the visiting Thais feel bad?