Cambodia For Ony One Dollah

Get ready… for content! Yes, after a few weeks soaking up the warm, pleasing rays of a New York City winter, I’m finally ready to take us back in time. The photos are sorted and the bags unpacked, but I figure that I had better get back to the chronicle before the nostalgia sets in.

Let’s start with Cambodia. You may remember that we took the water passage across the border from Vietnam (an event already detailed in Claire’s Mishaps post, mishap #4). From there, we spent a night in Phnom Penh collecting pushy offers from tuk-tuk drivers, and then set out in the morning on an appropriately-priced $5 bus ride to Siem Reap. For you transport nuts out there, bussing in Cambodia proved to be akin to its Vietnamese and Chinese cousins, with a few extra perks thrown in, including drippy ceilings and squatting, side-of-the-road pee-pee stops.

Siem Reap is the home base for visiting the Angkor ruins, a network of temples and ancient cities from the Khmer empire, some over 1,000 years old. The city itself is a tourist construction, but the surrounding area can truly stir the imagination. We purchased a three-day temple pass and hired a tuk-tuk driver, and set out on our noisy, three-legged chariot the next day.

We were not disappointed by the scenery. We walked through a total of some 15 different temples in the three days, each sharing similarities with the others, but each also with its own feel and quirks. Many of the temples had been wonderfully restored with just the right amount of effort to show their years, but without asking us to believe that the ancient Khmer empire was responsible for the advent of plastic and concrete. Others were left in a state of disrepair, affording visitors the opportunity to reflect on the mismatch between humanity’s labors and the overwhelming force of nature.

We also were not disappointed by the quality of Cambodian hawking. The Cambodian government sequesters hawkers in designated areas a very short distance from each temple, so that visitors can enjoy the sites without being vigorously and repeatedly offered a pineapple. Of course, this means that entry and exit from each temple includes a stampede of loud, mobile and insistent vendors offering everything from produce to postcards, with tactics varying from foot-in-the-door to door-in-the-face, from pity to pushy. Perhaps most alarming is their often young age; while there were certainly adults, the average hawker at the temples was young, female, and about 8-12 years old. We were offered wares from children who were elaborately trained in world geography and numerical system appellations of many languages, learnings which they were eager to share with us quickly after dismounting from their training potties.

Should you ever visit the Angkor temples, I’ve devised a little coping mechanism for you to make the best of what can be a very irritating ordeal. Bring your card along, and count how many temples you visit before you can declare Cambodian Hawker BINGO!

That aside, there was so much to see and talk about that I’ve decided to just hit the highlights, a la the Kyoto post from earlier in the trip. So, here they are, the temple highlights, including wiki links for those who are interested in learning more:

Angkor Wat (wiki) – This is the one that most everyone has heard of, and is featured on the Cambodian flag. While its grounds aren’t the largest (Angkor Thom), the temple itself is unquestionably the most impressive, particularly the 4 lengthy, intricately carved bas-reliefs, each longer than a football field. The most famous of these is the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, which depicts the mythological churning of the ocean by devas and ashuras to acquire the nectar of immortality (wiki). It’s an image we would see later in several of the Khmer Temples, and also, large, tacky and plastic, in Bangkok’s international airport. It was just a bit out of place there, but in the Wat it was simply stunning. Highlights also included warriors with the visage of a goddess, and a monkey with the visage of Walter Matthau.

Angkor Thom (wiki) – The centerpiece of Angkor Thom, the capital city of the ancient Khmer empire, is the Bayon (wiki), a temple featuring 54 giant carved Buddha heads. Most of the heads are in groups of four, each occupying one directional side of a large stone column. It’s hard not to feel like the Buddha is just messing with you here.

Ta Prohm (wiki) – Probably our favorite temple. Its architectural style isn’t much different from the others, but unlike many of the other major temples its restoration has been minimal; it looks like it’s in the advanced stages of being eaten by the jungle. There are very few rules about where you’re allowed to walk, and that, combined with Ta Prohm’s natural state, made us feel as if we were discovering a previously untouched ruin.

Chau Say – More diminutive, and without a wiki page, Chau Say is a nice way to contextualize the whole temple experience. A basically ignored temple between the larger attractions of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, we only visited it because we happened to pass it on the road and pointed it out to our tuk-tuk driver, but it’s nonetheless a beautiful place to let your historical imagination wander. In other countries, you’d take a day trip to see this, jostling along with tourists of every stripe. Amidst the plenitude and plentitude of Angkor temples, you can have it all to yourself.

Ta Keo (wiki) – Big and blocky, steep and scary. It really wouldn’t be sightseeing in Asia without the fear of falling and breaking your face.

Banteay Srei (wiki) – A small, colorful temple, a bit of a distance from the other major sites. It was a quick walk, but featured perhaps the most fascinating and intricate carvings among the temples we visited.

Ta Som – A sprawling temple most notable for a gigantic Buddha head being consumed by a strangler fig, and for Claire being attacked by red ants (mishap #5).

This wasn’t it; believe me when I tell you that you can literally stumble over history in this region. You can get a bit too much temple, though; Claire and I were very tired by the end. No problem, though, since we were due to Bangkok, clearly one of the world’s most calm and relaxing crapstorms. Next!