Siem Reap – a City of Culture and Heritage
Wednesday 10 July
I flew out of Rome yesterday at midday and arrived at Singapore Airport at 6.30am this morning and had a wonderful reunion with Ben who I haven’t seen since April last year! Two hours later we were on our flight to Siem Reap. Cambodia has been on my travel wish list for years and I have been really looking forward to this visit. Ben has been here at least 10 times so I have an expert guide at my fingertips and he has arranged everything for us for the next 5 days.
We arrived at the new airport at Siem Reap – a far cry from the European ones - our plane was one of only three on the tarmac and looking at the board, there seems to be only 9 arrivals today! Quite a complicated system getting through the airport, we had already downloaded our arrival form in advance which gave us a QR code, we then had to get a visa which involved a line of windows each with a smartly dressed uniformed guard, and our passports were passed from left to right at each window, until we ended up receiving the passport, with visa, at window 8!!! That’s one way of providing lots of jobs!
We are staying at this delightful 12 room residence, Cambodian style with lush gardens around the swimming pool and wonderful personal service. After a quick unpack we headed off in a tuk tuk (the only way to get around the city centre) to Sister Srey café for lunch. This is a café with a difference, as well as having great organic food, it supports Khmer students struggling to study and support their families. It also donates a percentage of its profits to landmine clearance and is passionate about sustainability. We were wilting a bit after this, not only due to the high temperatures and humidity here, but also because of me being jet lagged, so decided to pop back to our hotel for a swim and rest.
Ben had my first Cambodian evening experience organised – first stop was at Wild, a typical Cambodian traditional wooden house, set in lush gardens – a real tropical oasis in this bustling city – with a very fancy cocktail list, and again, an establishment with a conscience, they help many local NGO’s through donations and fundraising – the perfect start to our evening.
Next stop was dinner at Malis, overlooking the Siem Reap river, the ambience was stunning – a beautiful garden with water pond and interiors inspired by the temples of Angkor with Cambodian art and handicrafts embracing the local culture. The menu was in a beautifully bound book featuring traditional Cambodian cuisine, all exquisitely presented – like works of art – and absolutely delicious.
Thursday 11 July
Up at 4.00am this morning, yes you read that correctly! Ben has booked a private guide to take us on a tour of the temples and it is essential that we get there for sunrise and before the crowds and humidity kick in. Han picked us up and our first stop was to Angkor Wat – a Hindu-Buddhist temple located within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor and considered the largest religious structure in the world – the jewel in the Khmer archaelogical crown! Han, a local expert led us around the back of the temple in the pitch black. All we could hear were the night noises of insects and birds in the dense jungle surrounding us – without light, he guided us around water and rocks, so we were able to take photos as dawn arrived and the sky started to lighten and before any other people were around. Surrounded by a huge rectangular moat and an outer wall measuring over 3 kms in length, the temple consists of three tirered galleries and five towers shaped like lotus buds. Known for its beautiful sunrises, we didn’t get quite the orange shades you see in photos as it is the rainy season here, but we were thrilled with the views that were opening around us.
The sheer scale and symmetry of Angkor Wat, is unique and such is the national pride in this site, that the outline of the temple features on Cambodia’s national flag. The inner walls of the outer gallery feature a series of large-scale stone carvings depicting lively scenes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Numerous pillars and walls are also decorated with exquisite depictions of apsaras (heavenly nymphs) and devata (Hindu deities). Thousands of these figures are carved throughout Angkor Wat, each one unique with different poses and even different hairstyles. It was truly breathtaking – and I have about 100+ photographs to prove it!!!!
Next stop was the Ta Prohm Temple, the jungle temple, as it is the monument most densely overgrown with trees on stones. The roots of some of them are strangling the buildings, but they can’t be removed without damaging the building structures. One of Angkor’s Conservators called it
"one of the most imposing and the one which had best merged with the jungle, but not yet to the point of becoming a part of it". Strangler Figs and Spong trees have roots entangling walls and some of the wooden buildings have disappeared and are completely forested. Ta Prohm is a flat temple
and labyrinthic and romantic. It’s original name was “Rajavihara”, "the king’s monastery". The modern name Ta Prohm means "ancestor Brahma". Jayavarman VII dedicated the temple to his mother. The main image depicted her as a representation Prajnaparamita, the female manifestation of perfect wisdom according to Mayayana Buddhist teachings.
Ta Prohm is also known as the “Tomb Raider” temple. With its crumbling towers and walls dappled in shadow and locked in the embrace of the vast root systems, it features in the 2001 Lara Croft movie starring Angelina Jolie and subsequently played a big part in promoting tourism to Cambodia.
It was an awesome morning and by the time we got back to the hotel we were pretty exhausted – up early (Ben two hours earlier than me due to England being in the semi finals of the Euro 2024 football and kicking off at 2.00am!) and having walked almost 8 kilometres and climbed far too many steps to count we were ready for breakfast and to rest our weary feet and it was only 9.00am!
A few hours’ rest and we were back in the tuk tuk to go to Footprints for lunch, yet another locally owned business whose motto is People, Planet, Profit… People - providing investment in the future through training and skills for their employers, Planet – sourcing ethically and locally and reducing, reusing and recycling and Profit: 100% of net profits given as grants back to the local community as educational and entrepreneurial grants. In a country as poor as this, it is amazing that the first three food establishments we have been to are so invested in helping their community – we could learn a lot from this.
Our next outing of the day was a trip Ben had booked to go and visit the floating villages on Tonle Sap Lake - “Fresh River” translated as Great Lake belongs to the Mekong River system and is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The 120 kms long Tonle Sap River connects the Lake with the Mekong River, the size and water volume of the lake varies greatly throughout the year with a minimum area of about 2,500 – 3,000 square kilometers. We were met at our hotel by Jim, our guide for the day and since there were only two of us on the tour, he decided it would be more fun for us to go to the lake by tuk tuk, not taxi van. Our first stop, and a very interesting one it was too, was to a lotus flower farm. In Buddhism, the lotus is associated with purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness. Each flower is considered pure as it is able to emerge from the murky waters and be perfectly clean. It is also known to symbolize purity of speech of the body and of the mind. Fortunately for us, one of the ladies working at the farm walked in with a huge bunch of lotus flowers that she had just harvested from the water, they looked a bit like large tulip buds. Jim showed us how to fold back all the leaves and we watched as he turned this bud into something resembling a beautiful rose. I learnt two other things about the Lotus flower today – one is that if you break the stem gently, there is a sort of thin fibre inside which is called a lotus thread and these fibres are used to weave fabric, Lotus silk is one of the most expensive fabrics in the world and was first used to weave monastic robes for Buddhist monks. These days it is used for scarves, jackets and hats. Secondly, if you split a Lotus pod you will find lotus seeds – or lotus nuts, which are rich in protein, B vitamins and dietary minerals – and I can assure you that they are very tasty!
Next stop was to see the floating villages – we arrived at Chong Khneas where Jim ushered us into a not very salubrious wooden boat, but luckily for us we were the only two on it, along with Jim and the skipper, if you could call him that! He started the engine and began to back out of the dock – it was very interesting, or maybe I should say, slightly perturbing, to see the pedals and gear stick all seemingly attached by rope, and the boat with a definite lean to port! Nevertheless, we set off in the murky waters and enjoyed cruising past all the houseboats. The village has been here for about 300 years with over 1000 families living here, mainly making a living from fishing. Apparently the lake is one of the richest inland fishing grounds in the world. There were floating markets, schools, a kindergarten or two, clinics, a supermarket and a “DIY” shop all floating on the lake, some on basic wooden rafts tethered to oil drums, others a little sturdier. It was amazing drifting by watching life on the lake and the kids playing football on the banks. We stopped at a floating shop offering souvenirs which bizarrely also had a pen housing 9 crocodiles. I asked if they were from the lake, but Jim said that they were from olden times when they used to be in the lake, wasn’t quite sure of that answer but was hopeful we wouldn’t be getting tossed out of that old boat into the murky waters anytime soon! The channel widened and we cruised up to an old cargo boat, the Queen Tara, now converted into a floating restaurant and bar. Ben and I embarked and were delighted to find that once again, it was just the two of us and the crew and we had the whole boat to ourselves, along with a free bar and any food we wanted. We got ourselves a couple of drinks and spent the next 90 minutes sitting in different parts of the boat, including a lounge in a hammock for me, watching the village life and plenty of fishing boats whizzing by us and the sun slowly setting, before we headed back down the channel and to the dock and back to our tuk tuk.
Ben requested that Jim drop us off at the famous Pub Street in the city centre. It had gotten dark by the time we reached it and was the perfect time to visit. Its official title is Street 8, and it is located in the Old French Quarter of the city. With bright coloured neon lighting and packed with bars and shops it is home to a legendary nightlife scene and is known as the best party destination in Cambodia. We got a table in the Red Piano Restaurant, one of the most famous in the Street – this is because when Angelina Jolie was making Tomb Raider in 2001, all the film crew used to hang out here as it was pretty much the only establishment on the street. It didn’t take long until other clubs and rooftop restaurants moved in and then the street was paved and made into a pedestrian street only. It was really fun and such a great atmosphere and of course I had to order the Tomb Raider cocktail – delicious, I think it’s really another name for a White Lady! We followed this with the most delightful dinner at Olive, an authentic French Restaurant in a colonial-era building which offers cuisine of the season. Three courses each, beer and wine and all of it worthy of a restaurant in Paris – and the bill came to $59.00!
We’ve had a great couple of days here and as usual, fitted in a lot of interesting experiences, made very easy by the wonderful sweet, helpful, kind and very respectful nature of the Cambodians. You are now reading my penultimate blog, tomorrow we’re off to Phnom Penh where we have another list of must do’s and must see’s. Watch out for my final blog before I head home to Auckland after this 10 week trip!