When a friend and I decided to travel to the country of
Angkor Wat temple, the only thing I knew about the country was....well, Angkor
Wat temple! And of course I had read about Angelina Jolie bringing the country
some fame by famously adopting a child from the region. But this limited
knowledge proved to be a boon for me. Free from any sort of prejudices or
expectations, I landed into the ‘not so famous’ yet as I discovered a very
charming country called 'Cambodia'.
First agenda in Siem Reap was to visit the Angkor temple ruins. So we were up at 4.30 in the morning and ready to catch the sunrise from the temple. Most tourists do this, so don't be surprised when you see thousands of people at 5 in the morning heading to the temple. I have to mention Richard, who was our tuk tuk driver for the day, taking us through various temple ruins and also partly playing the role of our guide. He was a very sweet man with an innocent smile stuck on his face, helpful and even providing us with his umbrella on a 45 degree hot Cambodian afternoon. Its people like him that makes Cambodia such a warm (pun unintended) place to visit. I also need to mention Sky, who is a boy of 6-7 yrs of age who I met while having breakfast near the temples. He was an incredibly sharp and smart kid and I was very impressed with his sales skill. After initial objection, I finally gave in to his coaxing power and brought some Cambodian postcards for $1 from him (and NO, I did not bargain with him!). We also tried the famous and fun 'fish massage' in Siem Reap and I must confess that this was the tickliest one hour of my life! These fishes are hungry and they will go bonkers nibbling on you toes. All you can do is drink your wine (it is complimentary), put your feet down and let the fishes eat their dinner!
The rest of the days in Siem Reap were spent exploring the famous ‘Pub Street’ (famous becoz Angelina Jolie filmed parts of her movie ‘Lara Croft’ here) and as the name suggests, has many pubs on the street. Next, we visited the floating village in Tonle Sap lake and spent time in the floating school of the village. A floating school is nothing but a school on a boat. This school was filled with Vietnamese immigrant kids. It was a memorable trip, as watching those happy faces of the kids while they played hopscotch is something that will be etched in my mind forever. Not only were they blissfully content in their world, but blissfully unaware of so many other problems around them. They don't stress about not having an IPod or a mobile phone, but worried about stuff like high tides as that would mean the school has to sail away to a new location. That marked the end of our wonderful stay in Siem Reap.
Next stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh - the
capital of the country. We met my friend’s cousin there who played the role of an
unofficial guide to us and took us around the city for a few days. He
took us to a lot of fun places in Phnom Penh including a rifle shooting range.
I never thought I would be as petrified about gun shooting in a controlled environment. Maybe it's becoz I have never really shot from a real gun before (I dont recall the name of the gun) or heard the massive sound that comes when a bullet is fired so close to my ears. Whatever it was, it did take a lot out of me to shoot the bullets (good news as it means I am not a born criminal!). We also went go-karting and I had a silly driving accident there that left the other drivers and myself a bit injured. But of course also added to a lot of 'Lol' moments. We avoided the genocide places in Phnom Penh coz I didn’t
want to see the horrible, brutal and violent history of a country that I was now
beginning to fall in love with.
 |
| Angkor Wat Temple |
We started our journey into the 'land of the unknown' via
Bangkok. It took us 6 hours by a bus to reach the Thai-Cambodia border, one hour at land border visa office trying to get the visa stamped and another 3 hours bus journey from the Cambodian
border to get to the city Siem Reap. So after almost 10 hours of lugging our suitcases from one mode of transport to another, we finally set foot on Angkor land.
My 1st reaction to Cambodia was, "WOW, Its Cheap!" and here's why. When we tried to exchange a mere $100, we
were given an astonishing figure of 2,12,000 Cambodian Riels!!! Yes, that's right...I got Two Lakh and Twelve Thousand Riels. But the negative bit about this really huge exchange rate difference is that when in Cambodia you ask for a bottle of water, you are asked to shell out around Forty Thousand Riels. At first you will be shocked, but after you do the math, you realize you are shelling out less than $1. So if you are
not an American like me, you will go nuts trying to constantly convert 3 currencies in
your mind - Cambodian to American, American to Indian. Best thing to do is pay up in Dollars as Cambodia accepts US Dollars.
Another plus point about this country was that unlike the European countries, there is very little language barrier that you face. Most locals (even the kids) speak and understand basic English. So don't take print outs of Khymer language and save the money as you can get away with English in most parts of the Cambodia.
Another plus point about this country was that unlike the European countries, there is very little language barrier that you face. Most locals (even the kids) speak and understand basic English. So don't take print outs of Khymer language and save the money as you can get away with English in most parts of the Cambodia.
 |
| Sky |
First agenda in Siem Reap was to visit the Angkor temple ruins. So we were up at 4.30 in the morning and ready to catch the sunrise from the temple. Most tourists do this, so don't be surprised when you see thousands of people at 5 in the morning heading to the temple. I have to mention Richard, who was our tuk tuk driver for the day, taking us through various temple ruins and also partly playing the role of our guide. He was a very sweet man with an innocent smile stuck on his face, helpful and even providing us with his umbrella on a 45 degree hot Cambodian afternoon. Its people like him that makes Cambodia such a warm (pun unintended) place to visit. I also need to mention Sky, who is a boy of 6-7 yrs of age who I met while having breakfast near the temples. He was an incredibly sharp and smart kid and I was very impressed with his sales skill. After initial objection, I finally gave in to his coaxing power and brought some Cambodian postcards for $1 from him (and NO, I did not bargain with him!). We also tried the famous and fun 'fish massage' in Siem Reap and I must confess that this was the tickliest one hour of my life! These fishes are hungry and they will go bonkers nibbling on you toes. All you can do is drink your wine (it is complimentary), put your feet down and let the fishes eat their dinner!
The rest of the days in Siem Reap were spent exploring the famous ‘Pub Street’ (famous becoz Angelina Jolie filmed parts of her movie ‘Lara Croft’ here) and as the name suggests, has many pubs on the street. Next, we visited the floating village in Tonle Sap lake and spent time in the floating school of the village. A floating school is nothing but a school on a boat. This school was filled with Vietnamese immigrant kids. It was a memorable trip, as watching those happy faces of the kids while they played hopscotch is something that will be etched in my mind forever. Not only were they blissfully content in their world, but blissfully unaware of so many other problems around them. They don't stress about not having an IPod or a mobile phone, but worried about stuff like high tides as that would mean the school has to sail away to a new location. That marked the end of our wonderful stay in Siem Reap.
Next stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh - the
capital of the country. We met my friend’s cousin there who played the role of an
unofficial guide to us and took us around the city for a few days. He
took us to a lot of fun places in Phnom Penh including a rifle shooting range.
I never thought I would be as petrified about gun shooting in a controlled environment. Maybe it's becoz I have never really shot from a real gun before (I dont recall the name of the gun) or heard the massive sound that comes when a bullet is fired so close to my ears. Whatever it was, it did take a lot out of me to shoot the bullets (good news as it means I am not a born criminal!). We also went go-karting and I had a silly driving accident there that left the other drivers and myself a bit injured. But of course also added to a lot of 'Lol' moments. We avoided the genocide places in Phnom Penh coz I didn’t
want to see the horrible, brutal and violent history of a country that I was now
beginning to fall in love with.
A trip to Cambodia is a must, may not be a life altering trip, but it will definitely be a soul searching trip.
Things to know about Cambodia:
- Everything is really cheap!! Cambodia can be called the ‘Under 10$ Country’ as most stuff including food can be brought for under 10$.
- A line you will hear often while travelling in Cambodia is ‘Hello Lady’ (if you are a lady that is!). This is a standard welcome line that every Khymer person who wants to sell something to you will say. And if you bargain too hard, you will hear a response like ‘Me no make profit, give me better price lady’ and then they will go on to compliment you about anything from you hair to earrings.
- The food is really yummy. The sort of cuisine that I had never tasted before, although it does have major influence of Thai food. For $1.5, you can have rice, a chicken dish and lemonade.
- When in Cambodia, do pick up beautiful Buddha paintings, silk shawls and crocodile wallets (all original).
- Though a conservative country, Cambodia does not stop tourists from wearing revealing clothes. However, when in temples, do respect the culture and cover up.
- The Apsara dance is really famous in Cambodia. Do catch one performance as the costumes and style of the dancers is worth seeing.