Stories from Siem Reap: Part 2

As promised, here is my post on my visit to Angkor Wat. It's mostly going to be pictures since I literally took photos until my camera battery died, and I feel like this is one of those places that words just can't describe. Likewise, these pictures don't even come close to doing these temples justice, so I really encourage each and every one of you to make the trek to Cambodia yourselves. Despite the heat and the crowds, it simply blew away all my expectations.

So a little background on Angkor Wat: it is a world heritage site and the largest religious monument in the world. My program director assured me that you could spend a year in the area and still not be able to see everything. It's enormous. It was built in the 12th century during a period in Khmer history known as the Angkorian period (small wonder). It used to be a Hindu temple in honor of the god Vishnu (with tributes to the other main gods Shiva and Brahma), but it was converted to a Buddhist temple when Theravada Buddhism became popular in Southeast Asia.

Our tuk tuk driver picked us up at 8 o'clock and drove us the short distance out of town to Angkor Wat (the main temple) first. After getting our temple day passes we arrived at the outer entrance, the bridge across the water already swarming with tourists. I was amazed by the long outer wall and iconic three-towered silhouette, then realized this was just the entry to the main temple grounds. We took our time walking through, which made getting to the other side and seeing the temple itself all the more special.

We didn't have our own tour guide, which was OK because we could take in the temples at our own pace, but occasionally eavesdropped on the other tours. One guide recommended coming off the main walkway onto a side path to take a reflection picture, which turned out to be a great suggestion.

We had to take several flights of stairs to get up into the actual temple, some of which were so steep that they put up wooden stairs with handrails instead. It was a little scary but amazing how complex the architecture of the place is. It felt like you could keep going up, into niches, and down corridors forever. 

All set against the lush, green Cambodian landscape? Amazing. Once we felt like we had hit the highlights of Angkor Wat, our tuk tuk driver took us over to Bayon Temple, which actually turned out to be my favorite of all we saw that day.

I just loved how the old stones were colored by the years of weather, moss, and lichens. It was like walking into another world.

It also felt like there was as much to see as at Angkor Wat, just spread over a much smaller area so the sensation of wandering through an ancient labyrinth was amplified.

Bayon is home to the iconic faces peering out of every tower. It is not quite known whether they are supposed to be one of the Hindu gods, Buddha, or maybe one of the Khmer kings. I just thought they were mesmerizing with their idealized features and eternal smiles. Next up was Angkor Thom, just a short walk across the road.

Like Angkor Wat, we had to take a long walkway to get to the actual temple, then climb up several flights of steep stairs to get to the upper galleries.

We couldn't quite get to the tippy top (blocked off for safety), but what we did see was pretty stunning. Also, it wasn't nearly as crowded as the other temples, so it was nice to have some space to ourselves.

They had posted a few tourist traffic flow maps around the area, a route that took us through the jungle trees and then back out to the road where we could wander through another smaller ruin filled with rows and rows of statues. I thought they were just the coolest and took my time walking along the path between the narrow walls.

After a bit of a rest, a cold soda, and a hearty lunch, we felt up to one more temple before calling it a day. Ta Phrom is known for the trees growing in and around the temple and for its extensive, on-going restoration projects.

Ta Phrom was my second-favorite temple after Bayon. Everything is so beautiful, though, that picking favorites really isn't fair. 

The combination of the shady trees and a few afternoon clouds in anticipation of a little rain made walking through Ta Phrom a really nice experience.

Magnificent. Leaving Ta Phrom was a bit of an adventure, as our tuk tuk driver agreed to meet us "on the other side of the temple." Turns out he had dropped us off at the west gate and intended to meet us as the east gate, but we got a little turned around and ended up exiting via the south gate. Which turned out to be temporarily closed off with a rope strung between two trees and a sign apologizing for the inconvenience. 

Wanting to get our bearings, we ducked under the rope and wandered out to the road where we were approached by an Angkor Wat official. "Are you lost? Can I help you find somewhere?" he asked really politely. Once we sorted out where we needed to go, he actually sent us back the way we came through the roped off area. Whereas I imagine a park ranger in the US would have scolded us for going somewhere we weren't supposed to, I smile at the memory of his friendly conversation and patience with us silly American tourists.

We were pretty worn out by that time and so headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. We ate on the famous "Pub Street" of Siem Reap, which catered to the night-life needs of the tourist town, but opted for a Cambodian barbecue restaurant that we noticed was recommended by Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet. Turns out Cambodian barbecue is a do-it-yourself culinary adventure, where you are served a variety (and I do mean a variety) of raw meats and get to cook it right at your table on a round grill with a pot of coals underneath and a trough around the edge to hold a tasty vegetable and broth soup. 

I let my friends take care of the beef and chicken, but relied my pescetarianism (vegetarianism with the exception of fish and other seafood) to feed myself that night. The bar fish and shrimp were yummy enough, and it turns out that barracuda tastes pretty good too. I challenged myself to partake in the squid, even slurping up a few tentacles just for the heck of it, and got to sample crocodile for the second time in my life. The first time was at a Cajun restaurant in New Orleans and I still don't know where reptiles fall on the pescetarian spectrum. In case you were curious, it tastes kind of like chicken but a bit tougher.

Our final culinary experience of Siem Reap happened on the last day we were there, right before our afternoon bus to Phnom Penh. Our program director recommended Haven to us, as with the concern of marginalized youth in Cambodia there's a trend of social consciousness to address the issue. Haven is a training restaurant that educates and employs orphaned people that have aged out of the orphanage system and are looking to get job skills to be able to support themselves. It's funded by a Swiss organization called Dragonfly and offers Khmer, Asian, Western, and Swiss specialties. I opted for traditional Khmer Amok, a vegetarian version of a delectable curry, with a Swiss apple tart for dessert. Wish I could have eaten every meal there, it was so good. But it was so busy that we had made the lunch reservation two days beforehand.

It was the perfect end to our Siem Reap experience, and we were excited for what Phnom Penh would have in store!