Christmas in Cambodia -- Episode 5

Bookended in Saigon:

This was the second time to this buzzing city in the last two years and it remains crazy as ever. Mrs Long, who continues to top the hospitality ratings among travelers, was the obvious choice to stay in the old back-packers quarters. In that intervening period, she had expanded to a shiny five storey place with 15 rooms with wifi, more staff and a bigger setup from the humble beginnings of her tiny home-stay nearby. Despite the expansion, the hospitality remains warm as ever and to use a well-worn cliché, it remains a home away from home.

Saigon or Ho Chi Minh is brilliant. The street food is good and terribly cheap, you can bargain over hours on the shopping and the coffee superb.

As my flight to Siem Reap was via Vietnam both ways, I stayed for a night each at her place. On the onward trip, I went for a small stroll to the sprawling nearby park where you could watch myriad stuff from bunch of ladies doing tai chi, couples canoodling, pets running around followed by their harried owners or office goers catching their breath after a long day. I watched the traffic swing by, from the street-side, over a giant bowl of Pho and a plate of spring rolls.

On the return trip, I got to spend some more time in Saigon. Mr Long and I went for a great sea food meal in one of the winding alleys near the old quarter. To be sure, apart from prawns, I couldn’t recognize any of the other sea animals, but they were delicious.  More lovely coffee at a nearby bar followed, where we were the only ones having some non-alcoholic drinks. I was staying at the old guesthouse this time around, where the missus and I stayed the previous time and I had a lot of fond memories from that long trip.

Tried to locate, in vain, the guestbook, where I had penned a long rambling compliment to Mrs Long. After Mr Long dived into his romantic song collection on his headphones, I had a long lively chat with the only other dweller: Emily, an Australian who was teaching English in Saigon for a year. After exchanging coordinates and some interesting travel anecdotes – she had traveled extensively across India in the 1980s – we called it a night. After a lovely breakfast with Mr Long the following morning, I left for the airport. I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of sadness while parting who made me feel so much at home.

Christmas in Cambodia - Episode 4

Day 4: Indian Ocean in Angkoria

After a long relaxing breakfast and putting some precious miles on the Freakonomics book-o-meter, I set out late in the morning on Christmas Day to check out the city. Taking a bicycle, a not-so-good idea with the mercury hitting 30 degrees, I pedaled to the Psaar Chaa (Old market). Bought some souvenirs and took a few pics. Thought about checking some modern temple architecture by Cambodian standards and went to Wat Bo. While the temple itself was closed and deserted apart from some stragglers, it was not very impressive apart from the winding horizontal spires. Maybe I had got more demanding after Angkor.

It was getting too hot and I was aiming to get back to the temple in the late afternoon to catch the sunset. Lost my way again to the hotel, briefly, but nothing the trusty old map couldn’t fix. After some R and R, I headed back to the temples for one last time. With Indian Ocean playing on the my ipod and only the camera for company, I got some good shots, and more importantly, got to spend a few quality hours, perched on top of the temples, undisturbed by the milling Sunday tourist crowd.

Only later when I returned home and I was talking to a friend who asked me about the trip, I told him those few hours spent on Sunday afternoon was easily one of the high points of the trip. Unsurprised, he said,” sometimes, we need to dive into ourselves.”

Christmas in Cambodia - Episode 3

Day 3: Angkor WHAT

Compared to the previous day, left relatively later around 7 (damn, this is getting to be a habit) for Angkor Wat, this time. Mulled hiring a guide but decided against it. Was suitably rewarded after watching the belligerent male counterpart of a couple, Indian presumably, lecturing a guide on the finer points of one of the panels.

The sandstone temple is easily the better preserved among all the temples in the Angkor complex and many restoration teams are still working on it. Despite being built nearly a thousand years ago in the honour of Suryavarman 2 who ruled in the 12^th century, the details on the bas-relief and statues are intricate and beautiful. These depict scenes from Hindu mythologies and episodes from the King’s reign. Some of the work is so detailed that even I could make out the various Gods in the Hindu pantheon.  

As I made my way into the inner complex which housed the three main temples, with the middle temple symbolizing Mount Meru, an important temple in both Hindu and Buddhist literature, the apsaras and the learned sages carved in the walls became even more eye-catching. Most of the statues lining the inner corridor have been removed, hopefully to some museum, or at worst, some private collection with only a few headless ones remaining. Met a Korean engineer and we got along to see the remainder of the temples. Turned out to be a good decision as there was a knowledgeable Korean tour walking ahead of us, for a large part of that, and we could feed off them. 

Preah Khan (in Angkor Thom) was the last stop on what was turning out to be a very beautiful day, weather-wise. A bit off the beaten track, and therefore not heavily populated, this turned out to be a good choice. I would say in terms of atmosphere, this is even better than Ta Phrom, even though the latter gets most of the visits. Wilder and quieter with the temple itself falling in ruin, save for a middle corridor that runs for nearly a kilometer, with chambers flying off in each direction. I spent a good couple of hours here before walking out of the West exit to a picturesque tiny balcony overlooking the Siem Reap river. Hours can be spent there, happily and dreamily.

For lunch, went to a place highly recommended in LP called Viroth’s which is a bit of a high end place by Siem Reap standards. Splurging a fair amount of money in a town where decent meals can be had for a dollar can have the effect of making you feel guilty.

The beauty of the place, though, is it’s located in the picturesque Wat Bo district across which the Stung Siem Reap flows. Beautiful wrought iron benches in some nicely landscaped gardens give it a European-esque feeling and before I nearly decided to take a nap on one of those benches, I met my Korean friend. We decided to go a nearly cultural center but avoided it after it gave vibes of being an expensive tourist trap. Plus, we had a long day and we were looking to catch up with some other folks in the evening.

As a concept, couch surfers is brilliant when I heard it first from Ankur and then Steven, and I became sold on that after meeting up with some assorted folks at Angkor What. A Mexican finishing his thesis in Barcelona, an American who has been on the road for the last ten months, a Kiwi girl backpacking, couple of banker movie folks. Very motley and very refreshing! The music got better as the night rolled on and the bar is the only action in town. The best Christmas I had and wound back home at 2 in the morning for some restful sleep. 

Christmas in Cambodia - Episode 2

Day 2: The Temple Diaries

I pride myself on being an early starter. So when my tuk tuk driver told me the previous evening that we have to get to the temple complex by 5 a.m. to get a vantage point to see the sun rise behind the West facing temples, I was fairly confident that I would be among the rare lunatics to wake up at that ungodly hour on a holiday. Suffice to say, I was horribly wrong.  

A army of tourists having had the same idea had descended upon the temples and managing to find a place in those teeming throngs reminded me of wrestling with rush hour traffic back home. But, it was worth it.

While distances between temple complexes are not huge, they are not close either and unless you are a bicycle enthusiast, hiring a tuk-tuk for the day is a good idea. 13-20 USD is what it would cost you.

The Angkor Thom complex which is a few minutes ride away from Angkor Wat is a sprawling mass of jungles with the ruins of temples sprinkled all across. The amazing Bayon was my first stop.

Resembling a pile of rubble from the distance, as you get closer, you start noticing the carvings and the FACES. About 216 faces of Jayavarman VII are carved on the 54 towers. It is only when you get to the third level of the temple, that you start experiencing the full impact of those sculptures, as everywhere you look, you find a face smiling at you in that eerie manner.

Baphuon, the Royal Enclosure and the Phimenakeas (Celestial Palace) are nearby. Many of these temples have monks worshipping inside the complexes. While guides could be hired for 3 to 4 USD for a day, the usual books like Lonely Planet do a decent job. Of course, if you want to dig deeper, there are always cheap books to be grabbed from hawkers.  

One point: Many of these temples have guards/urchins loitering around willing to double up as guides and if you plan to hire them, negotiate well in advance. After doing the usual touristy thing such as buying trinkets, I decided to postpone one of the highlights: Ta Phrom, after I saw a few busloads of Chinese and Korean tourists descend upon the temple.  

Watching the menacing roots of the silk cotton trees break through stone and cutting through the temples is quite something. Even though much of that temple has been reduced to rubble, you could see the doorways and sculptures. Of course, Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider) has also done her bit to promote the popularity of this temple. Met a pair of Indian archaeologists carrying on restoration work inside the temple, we chatted about the difference in attitudes of people in different countries towards their history. An early dinner at Pub Street, (fish Amoy what else), and a few good hours of reading to wind up what had been a very beautiful day.

Christmas in Cambodia - Episode 1

Trip Itinerary: Hong Kong – Saigon – Siem Reap – Saigon – Hong Kong
Travel Dates: 21^st – 27^th December 2011

Day 1:
 After a short one hour flight from Saigon to Siem Reap, I was all excited on my Cambodia trip. I have always wanted to see the historic Angkor Wat temples for a long time ever since I started reading about it a few years back. Of course, the first time I ever heard about it was in my childhood days when we used to studiously hoard a set of ugly yellow-covered books called the Children Knowledge’s Bank series.

 As I wound my way via immigration, the official asked me for a tip for processing my e-visa: e-visa which took a few million stamps and endless finger prints to validate. While the naïve me succumbed to this tiny money-making operation, my Korean friend didn't. (But more about him later) After a short tuk-tuk ride, about 20 minutes from the airport, I was at the Motherhome Inn  Located about 15 mins away from the main markets, this place has clean rooms,  friendly staff and prompt service.  Highly recommended

After a delicious fish amok (fish cooked in coconut curry in Khmer style served in a leaf bowl with steam rice) I made my way to the Angkor Wat temples to collect my pass. Tip: siem reap specializes in river fish being close to the Stung Siem Reap it is delicious. Angkor temple complex passes for the next day to a week are handed out from 4:45 p.m. and I managed to get mine, just in time to catch the last embers of daylight flickering over the temple complex. While the price is a chunky $40 for a three day and $20 for a single-day pass, I don’t object considering the ludicrous amounts you have to cough up to pay up to visit some of the British churches and castles. What I do feel is the tiny slice the temple restoration authorities receive of this pie. LP has a small section on this

The road to the temples winds through some dense jungles and on my trip back to town I  began thinking about the early French explorers who stumbled across the ruins in the 19th century after lying virtually hidden for centuries. I headed out to the buzzing pub street for some dinner which is pretty much the town has to offer by way of night life. All establishments accept the USD and it is more widely acceptable than the local kriel. 4000 Cambodian Kriel = 1 USD. I thought Vietnam was a heavily dollarized economy, but I think Cambodia beats its neigbour handily here. Having a drink at a place catchily called Angkor What, I realize I have stumbled into the most happening joint  in Siem Reap where the action picks up after 10 pm. After a quick dinner and a leisurely stroll where I managed to miss my hotel, I was ready to turn in. An early start beckons tomorrow.