Siem Reap, Cambodia

We flew from Vientiane to Siem Reap (with a random layover in southern Laos that the government-run carrier failed to tell us when we purchased the tickets), where twelve uniformed Cambodians in a semi-circle greeted us, who then manually passed our passports along the human chain as each inspected our pages.  

Arriving into Siem Reap town, we discovered the ATMs only distributed U.S. dollars... only to find out later that stores gave us change in Cambodian riel but they did not want to accept it as payment (they wanted dollars).  Siem Reap town was definitely a tourist bubble, our first sign of the traveller’s ghetto was the Swenson’s ice cream store in the air conditioned mall three blocks from our guesthouse. Was this really Cambodia?   

Our first night we had too much self indulgence - a bar served our favorite drink (Moscow Mule, shout out to the Smutny’s) in bucket form (equivalent to four servings in a plastic bucket with 6+ straws)... lethal.  We later learned that locals buy similar plastic buckets for children’s toilets and thus think the tourists are totally crazy drinking from them.  Upon further review, we completely agreed with them.  After the cool Laos mountains we started experiencing Cambodian heatstroke, so Shelley found us a pool / fitness center for the bargain price of $5 per day... score!... a much needed escape from the searing heat.

The national treasure in western Cambodia is Angkor Wat - the largest religious structure in the world.  The fortified complex is actually a series of temples and royal residencies built between 900-1200.  Constructed of sandstone, the stone carvings decorating the walls depicted various historical battles and religious tales.

We hired a guide for two days of touring, a definite advantage for both historical context and ease of travel.  We laughed at every bathroom break - our guide joked of the “toilet temple, most visited temple in Angkor Wat”.  On our drive we pulled over to learn how local people produce palm sugar... yum!  The liquid dripped from the trees, followed by boiling and then stirring until the mixture hardened and was served in hockey-puck sized servings.  Talk about sugar overload.

Thousands of tourists packed the temples, each vying for the perfect photo opportunity -  we had a bout of tour bus overload.  The Chinese and Korean groups were a riot though, with their matching lanyards, yellow baseball caps and determination to “visit every temple on their itinerary” regardless of the grueling heat or exhausting stair-master climbing days.

After about ten temples, they started to look the same and feel a bit repetitive.  But the one thing that is always gratifying is visiting local children, so we arranged to tour a “floating village” - an impoverished rural community about a one hour drive from Siem Reap.  Fishermen built the village houses on stilts in the middle of Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.  During dry season the lake recedes (and actually flows backwards into the Mekong River) and in wet season the village homes can only be accessed by boat (as the snow from the Himalayas floods the area).  Our boat driver, aged 15 (who looked about ten) cheerfully struggled with the boat and then played a grueling game of bumper boats (sans bumpers) along the canal leading to the lake.  We sat silently, wide-eyed, fearing the tiny boat was certain to sink.  

Before we reached the village, we purchased 40 pairs of children’s flip flops (a request a teacher had made previously that the kids desperately needed).  The students were thrilled and started screaming when they saw the footwear we brought them.  The reward was seeing each strut home with a smile from ear to ear after school in their new Superman or Hello Kitty flip flops.  Such a positive experience - another trip highlight!