where in the world?
DAY ONE
after a slightly longer than expected layover in ho chi minh city i landed at phnom penh international airport.
the current time 14.15pm and weather outside, 34 degrees celcius with fair skies. the whole plane unloaded on to our bus to take to the terminal building. i got my visa on the spot. i heard stories about needing to bribe officials, but i didn't find any need to. in fact, it didn't seem to matter that my name is misspelled on the visa they issued. welcome to cambodia.
lohng met me at the airport. "hey! did you walk from vietnam?" sorry, it was a bit of a delay in the flight. there was a taiwanese couple sitting next to me on the flight out of taipei. it turns out they were headed to the same beach as us. so we gave them a ride and had extra company.
on the way we needed to stop and get a few coconuts to drink. a fresh coconut really is a lot to drink. poking a coconut is hard work. i think i like the meat of a coconut better than the milk, but either way it was very refreshing for a hot, sunny afternoon.
we continued driving along the national highway.
this highway was built by the americans to link the capital phnom penh to the only deep sea port in all of cambodia and serves as a vital link for cambodia to the outside world. it's a major transport corridor for mostly motorbikes, but also other types of cargo are moved.
it's also the only practical way to sihanoukville, which is a small town that is shaping up to become one of the major tourist destinations in southeast asia. we got to the town and found a couple rooms with just enough time to search for dinner and chat and laugh it up before heading to bed.
DAY TWO
we stayed in a little "quaint" bungalow, complete with a mosquito net. it was nestled in a forest directly overlooking a beach. and at the bargain $5 per night, one could easily overlook the restroom-related issues. after waking up and having a delightful breakfast, we hit the beach for a few hours. where we sipped on banana, coconut, mango, and papaya shakes. at about mid-afternoon, it was time for lohng and myself to head back to phnom penh so he could rest and get ready for work the next day.
we got a little help along the way back. as you can see, this man--an off duty police officer--was kind enough to go in search of jumper cables to give us the extra boost needed to get out of the cambodian countryside.
DAY THREE
a typical side street in phnom penh is filled with motorbikes and people from early in the morning until around 9pm.
notice the aver age of the people in the photographs. nearly 36% of cambodians are under the age of 15. very few people are over the age of 30. an explanation can be found in the recent history history: the khmer rouge, vietnamese occupation, and factional fighting lasted until 1997. nearly a whole generation were killed by the khmer rouge, and there was limited stability prior to 1997certainly not a good time to bring children into the world.
first thing in the morning i went wandering around the city and eventually landed at the the royal palace. the palace was spared by the khmer rouge in their rampage, however many of the relics did not survive. thankfully a number of artifacts have been preserved and are for view here.
within short walking distance is the national museum. notice the traditional khmer architecture with long curving spires coming from all the peaks and overhangs. housed in this museum is the world's largest collection of khmer sculptures.
many of the sculptures are bodhisattva. there are maintainers within who provide guests with flowers to offer to the buddha while touring the museum. a short walk from there is independence monument. this monument is found in the middle of one one the largest roundabouts in the whole city. it may look a little tall, but looks can be very deceiving. it's very tall. it is located at the intersection of one of the nicest boulevard parkways in the city and a road housing a number of embassies.
while i was wandering around in the area near the mekong river, i saw one of the more interesting things of my stay in phnom penh: an elephant. i should be accustomed to not being shocked by things, but seeing an elephant's butt sticking out of a restaurant was a bit of a shock.
DAY FOUR
A quick shout out to all the peeps at Angkor Airways who set me up with the safest and most convenient way to travel between phnom penh and siem reap. love ya guys.
i got to siem reap and wandered around the city for a little bit. the town is significantly smaller than phnom penh. it is also much more of a touristy location, thanks to angkor wat. there is a fair amount of colonial architecture in siem reap, but some of it may in fact be new construction.
the town is rapidly becoming a overrun by new hotel resorts. i decided when in a tourist town, do as a tourist does. so i found a comfortable chair and rested while downing banana milkshakes. bliss.
DAY FIVE
first thing in the morning i headed out to see the ancient temples. first stop was to the ancient walled city of angkor thom. the moat to this city is at least several hundred feet wide, however it is not very deep, though it is said to have been inhabited by fierce crocodiles.
the central area of angkor thom features a number of old temples and buildings. some of the ruins have not been restored, nor would it be easy to restore them, but maintenance has been crucial to their preservation. in previous years, there was no upkeep at all. as you can see, some of the temples have trees growing out of them. this particular spot was an outlying tower to a temple found in the central area of the city.
located at the center of angkor thom is a temple called bayon. this temple filled with many small chambers. it feels as though it may have been the inspiration for a number of video games. bayon truly featured some of the most interesting views of the temples i saw.
there were also far fewer numbers of tourists traveling through the halls. it is very easy to get completely lost in the small corridors that lead in circles and have a number of small chambers directly off of them. this face is extremely famous and can be found in similar incarnations throughout. i found it one of the most inspiring views to be found in the temple. something about seeing such a face causes the entire body to feel a sense that a bow is in order, if for no other reason than to pay respect to the artist.
after that i climbed to the top of phnom bakheng. this temple is the first of three temples that were built atop mountains. of course the area has no natural mountains so the mountain had to be specially constructed in order to build the temple. the view from atop is truly spectacular. one can view a number of the temples in the area. as well as see the town of siem reap and a number of different lakes in the distance.
it is believed that angkor wat is the largest religious structure in the world. many scholars guess it was built to honor vishnu and likely had something to do with death because the front of the temple faces to the west.
the entrance to angkor wat proper is rather spectacular. there is a large moat that one must first cross via a long causeway. this leads to the first series of gates. once through those gates there is another causeway that takes visitors to the actual temple. the temple has a base series of walls that then form a central plaza from which the tall temple towers rise.
from there visitors are allowed to climb to the top level where you can see over all of the surrounding walls and far into the distance. this level is approximately 70 feet above the central plaza. did i mention there aren't really stairs to climb? i saw the sun set on angkor wat. then i headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
DAY SIX
i spent a little bit of the morning wandering around in siem reap looking at various things. grabbed a quick lunch then spent much of the afternoon in a comfortable chair sipping on coconut milkshakes. then i caught my flight back to phnom penh where i was again met by lohng. discovering i was not running short on cash, we stopped for a blizzard at the dq located just outside the international arrivals. then a tuk tuk trip in to town where we got a nice dinner then headed home.
DAY SEVEN
first thing in the morning i wandered around a few parts of the city. then i hit central market, grabbed a couple books and some rambutan. i sat and munched on those before getting a baguette sandwich and heading to the angkor airways headquarters to say bye to the peeps.
on the flight out of ho chi minh i sat next to a couple of old vietnamese. the old man next to me didn't know what a seat belt was. despite all of these challenges they were facing, they were both very cute and inspirational to see them conquer these challenges at such an age. i'm sure they have a number of very interesting stories to tell, if only i could understand vietnamese.