The Marvels and Murders of Cambodia

Arriving in Siem Reap, we checked into the Sydney Angkor Hotel, and, after cleaning the red dust from every exposed part of our bodies (you should've seen the q-tips!) we decided to walk to the main tourist draw, "Pub Street" to get some dinner. Right away we got the impression that Cambodians are much more aggressive than the Lao, bombarding us with their constant "Hey mister/lady, you want tuk-tuk?" We quickly tired of saying no every minute, and started ignoring them. Nonetheless, we made it to the restaurants without a tuk-tuk, and decided to try a two-person traditional Khmer meal at Cambodian Soup. The fish amok and Khmer curry were excellent!

We decided we wanted to be nearer the action, so we checked into a different hotel the next day, the Heart of Angkor, which was also cheaper and had free internet (when it was working). Then it was off to hunt for the perfect tuk-tuk driver to shuttle us around the temples of Angkor for the next 3 days. We found a guy, and settled on $35 for 3 days of wheels (after some hard bargaining, of course). Then, we were off, with the first stop to buy our $40 3-day passes to the temples.

Our first temple was the famed Angkor Wat - surrounded by a massive moat, you get the impression that you're about to be impressed before you even see the thing! But, before we could even get out of our tuk-tuk, kids swarmed around selling all sorts of guide books. Ryan caved in and bought one, which ended up being a good purchase.



We spent about an hour and a half exploring the massive complex before heading to the next temple. The temple of Bayon was much smaller and more unique than Angkor Wat with all of its nooks and giant faces on the towering pillars.



The heat of the day was getting to us so we took a break for lunch and tried to cool off. After lunch we visited the less impressive yet still awe-inspiring Terrace of Elephants and Chan Say Thevada.

Lastly we made the hike up to Phnom Bakheng with every other tourist to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the clouds got in the way and we never really saw the sun, so we left a little early to beat the mad dash back down the hill.

Later that night we had a $3 dinner (including some of the best fruit shakes yet) at one of the food stalls across the street from our guesthouse. Before heading back to our room, we toured the local night market where we each bought a traditional checkered krama. These can come in handy for everything; a scarf, headwrap, dust mask, sweatband, etc.

It was back out to the temples again early the next morning to try and beat the heat. We first headed to Preah Khan and then to Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup and finally Ta Prohm (made famous by the Tomb Raider movie).




By noon we were already hot, exhausted, and templed-out so we returned to Siem Reap for a lunch of pizza and beer, a little slice of home!

We woke up at 4:30 am the next morning to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We almost crawled back into bed when we discovered it was pouring rain. However, we put on our brave-faces, donned our rain jackets, and headed out in the dark to meet our driver. He seemed optimistic and sure enough, within 15 minutes the rain let up. Although the sunrise wasn't anything special, there is something about the calm, dim light of early morning at Angkor Wat that makes it quite spectacular.

Once dawn was complete, we grabbed some breakfast, then started on a 30 minute drive to Banteay Srei. Although this temples is quite small compared to the others, it is the best preserved of any, and the meticulous sandstone carvings are amazing.


On our way back toward Angkor Wat, we stopped to sample some of the exotic fruits being sold all along the road, along with some palm sugar candy that locals everywhere make themselves. We made a quick stop at our final temple, Banteay Kdei before heading back to our hotel for an afternoon siesta.


We spent the following day relaxing and enjoying Siem Reap. For dinner, we found a Mexican food restaurant that served up good tacos, nachos, and margaritas. Talk about satisfying a craving. Us Californians can't go long without a Mexican food fix! So far, Siem Reap has definitely had the best and most options of Western food than any other place in SE Asia. Of course, this is probably due to the huge numbers of tourists that flock to the temples, but we didn't mind!

The next morning, we took an uneventful 6-hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. Getting off the bus in the middle of the city, we were bombarded by the worst group of touts that we'd encountered yet. They were literally between us and our bags that had been unceremonoiusly tossed off the bus. Somehow we made it out of there by ourselves, and walked to an area of the city that Lonely Planet deemed a "hotel area" for tourists. Yeah right. We didn't have many options once there, so we took a fan room at an average hotel.

The next day was going to be a hard one, mentally. It was time to visit the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng museum, both outposts for horrid things the Khmer Rouge inflicted on people they believed were traitors. It's hard to believe that these atrocities were done in the lifetime of some the younger people we know. From 1975-77, hundreds of thousands of people were killed. This 4-story monument holds thousands of skulls unearthed during the excavations of the mass graves at the Killing Fields:

These rooms at Tuol Sleng were once school classrooms, turned into holding cells and torture rooms:


We were a bit down in our moods after these experiences, so a pick-me-up was definitely needed. We discovered sugar cane juice. They pass the sugar cane stalks through a press several times, then add some sugar and a bit of lime to make a wonderful concoction.


Next up: Good morning Vietnam!