Mary, Clark and I arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday afternoon and immediately hopped in a tuk-tuk to our hotel. Tuk-tuks are the primary mode of transportation for tourists in Cambodia, and consist of a chariot/carriage hooked to the back of a motorbike. Our first evening in Siem Reap, I met a friend named Rhat at the night market, and he taught me the basics of Khmer (the Cambodian word for Cambodian), which I will write phonetically because Khmer is written in a distinct script that looks somewhat like Sanskrit:
- Suas'dai= hello
- Awnkoon= thank you
- 1,2,3= muy, bi, bai
We made the most of our afternoon by stumbling across a pagoda (also known as a "wat") that was huge, beautiful, and ornate. My crew team travel buddies felt at home pretending to row a giant gold dragon boat in the main square of the Wat. As we wandered through, a nice man beckoned us to join the monks in a Buddhist worship service, so we took off our shoes, sat down on the floor and attempted to chant along, transfixed by a statue of Buddha whose electrical "halo" flashed silver and alternated neon flashing lights of pink, green, and blue. The colors of the Halo complemented nicely the bright paintings along the walls.
The many monks in orange robes sat in rows and sometimes smiled for the pictures. Later in Phnom Penh, we visited many Pagodas and often ran into monks walking around collecting donations. Their English was quite good, and some of the young men struck up conversation and were even flirtatious at times. We saw numerous monks walking around using their smart phones. One monk named Sareth asked us to friend him on facebook and visit his website, www.raisethepoor.org. I enjoyed conversing with these monks and learning about the charity work they do.
Some of the Wats are like monk cities, with an ornate pagoda or two, numerous ornate stupas (like memorial statues/towers for kings and important Buddhists) which often were reminiscent of the towers of Angkor Wat, and living spaces and even street food within the Wat for the monks. At Wat Ounalum in Phnom Penh, it was comical to see the orange robes hanging ot dry on wires hung between stupas.
We also saw some sweet monkeys on our way to the Wats!
What Wat? Downtown Siem Reap was very fun but also very touristy. All vendors speak English very well (much better than most of the Vietnamese that we met) though fewer people spoke English in Phnom Penh, the nation's capitol. We also found that bargaining with Cambodians in the markets was ten times easier than in Ho Chi Minh City (and definitely easier than Bangkok), even if we had assistance from Vietnamese friends. Khmer people who I interacted with are still very friendly, though I was taken aback by the number of children soliciting money from tourists on the street.
One evening in Siem Reap, we stumbled upon a free "lady boy" show, which in terms of creativity was worth every penny, though it was entertaining. I've heard these shows are even more common in Bangkok. Clark and Mary and I also got a very inexpensive aquatic pedicure, meaning we stuck our feet in a fish tank and the hungry fish come and nibble off all of our dead skin. We were laughing hysterically the whole time, it was such a funny sensation! It was definitely effective, too--our tired feet felt so soft afterward.
The following morning, we woke up at 4:20 am to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat, the most famous of the ancient Khmer temples, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It reminded me of the setting of a board game I was introduced to this spring. Due to the overcast morning, the sunrise was less than spectacular. Angkor Wat, however, was still incredible to behold. The walls and columns are inticrately carved with lotus, Anspara dancers, and scenes of Hindu gods and Khmer kings. The Wat (and the other ancient wats as well) had a moat around it (I believe for aesthetics and spiritual purposes more than for defense), and a long straight stone walkway that perfectly centered the balanced symmetrical temples. There are now many Buddha statues throughout the halls, as Angkor Wat was converted from a Hindu to Buddhist temple in ancient times. Some of the other temples, like the Baphuon at Angkor Thom, seem to be Buddhist from the origin because the giant image and shape of a reclining Buddha is skillfully incorporated into the architecture of the building, along with towers displaying four faces of Buddha.
We spent a marvelous day bicycling around to most of the major wats and pagodas, biking about 30 km in total. A day like this was definitely a perk of traveling with athletes. All of the wats are intricately carved sandstone. We got a sense of how old the temples are from the extreme disfiguration of the original stones due to the natural weathering processes the rock experienced, and from the enormous trees growing right on top of the walls of the temples, their roots stretching as far as 15 feet to reach the earth. This was such an exciting day for me, as someone interested in ecology, geology, and human culture--all three in one day! My favorite of the ancient temples were probably the Baphuon and Ta Prohm. I wish I could learn more about the architects and actual builders or labor force of these temples.
Cambodian food:
In Siem Reap, we tried a delicious Cambodian Banh Mi, which was tasty but oculd not compare to the ones we ate in Ho Chi Minh City. We also tried the Khmer equivalent of Banh Xeo, a kind of savory yellow pancake on top of flavorful cooked vegetables and meet., which is very tasty and one of my favorite dishes so far. The best food, however, was the uniquely Khmer fish Amok, served in a bowl of palm leaves. Clark's cambodian Curry was also excellent. I highly recommend Khmer Amok, Curry, and Khmer noodles.
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