The important symbolism of Angkor Wat to Cambodia is apparent everywhere, from the flag to the immigration card to the mass-produced souvenirs to the beer.
We touched down at the Siem Reap International Airport at about 7am Cambodian time, via JetStar. We like promotional prices. There was a point of time before the trip though when I wondered if we'd even reach this far. One day Xueling asked if I wanna go to Siem Reap with them, them being the people whom I know from the Krabi trip and I must admit I had forgotten who Alvin was by then. We met up once to fix a date for the trip and that was the last I saw of them till the departure day itself. All I had was the Lonely Planet book to guide me through those dark period of uncertainties.
At the airport exit we located the guy holding a sign for the semi-fictional Miss Shermin Ng for our free pick up service to our guesthouse, Bou Savy.
The four of us shared a room like the cheapos that we are. At USD$18 a night, the room was pretty decent and resembles more like a 2-3 star hotel. They however complained of some rather mysterious itchy insect bites of which I was spared from. The kind girls even bravely saved me from any mosquito bites.
Over breakfast we decided to leave the temples till Day 2 and check out the floating village and Kampong Phluk via a boat ride across the Tonle Sap river instead. We were told a Tuk Tuk could only legally carry two passengers but we talked our way into squeezing all four butts into a single vehicle and were introduced to Ra our tuk tuk driver. Wasn't much of a squeeze as it turn out.
The floating school of the floating village which was towed along the river by a boat. The place is basically a community dwelling at one end of Tonle Sap and which wasn't that interesting
One of the young river peddlers bailing water out of her little wooden boat. They would paddle to wherever you are and offer plates of bananas for One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar! One dollar!
Mr. Ra. we all like him.
Moving on from there, the boat ride to Kampong Phluk, known for its flooded forest, took over an hour. Along the way there was absolutely nothing to see except for the murky muddy waters and unless monstrous dragonflies interests you.
looks like a descendant of the dinosaur era who will eat up its Singaporean counterpart for tea.
When we eventually arrived at the place, we found out that it was well worth the journey. The boat turned into a narrow opening and we caught sight of the locals fishing. Their looks that fell upon us revealed that it's not a place where tourists frequent. Indeed, during that couple hours, we only saw a handful others. It was the first time there for Ra as well, and that really says something.
For those who tire of the overly commercialised mood in Siem Reap's town and temple area, Kampong Phluk would be a welcomed relief. The evil lure of money haven't yet pervade this simple kampong spirit. We met three little angels at the temple who delighted themselves by asking for our names even though they couldn't really speak english. We in turn communicate with hand gestures and the handful of Cambodian words that we mastered, namely, hello, handsome/pretty and bye bye. From my memory, their names read something like Linda, Gaia and Tria. Damn nice kids.
As we were leaving, these two kids came running after us. Girl on the left was showing off her nail polish though i think i can do a better job of it. At the muddy river bank, I unfortunately slipped and landed on my butts. Still, that did not dampen their enthusiasm for us. The sight of them trying to handle the wooden boat and the over-sized oars while trying to follow ours was both heart warming and touching, hence leaving the deepest impression on me of Cambodia. I must also mention that according to my travel mates, as I slipped I landed gracefully while still holding my camera up in the air to keep it from the mud. Quite brilliant I must say.
On the way back, stormy conditions turned the Tonle Sap river into a rampaging sea. Our boat was tossed about mercilessly and her brave occupants were soaked to the skin.
Next up was the War Museum which was much slated in all the travel guides that I had read. Nothing but a collection of war junk, that was the general consensus, so I was somewhat reluctant to head there but for the fact that there didn't seem to be much other places within convenient distance. The 'museum' is operated by the 'Ministry of National Defend' as printed on the US$3 admission ticket. We opted to take the free guided tour. True to its reputation, the museum housed nothing but rusty weapons and army stuff salvaged from the brutal civil and not so civil war.
The only redeeming factor was our museum guide who was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime. Having fought in the war and amazingly survived 6 landmines; he walks with a prosthetic leg and is blind in an eye, and has several shrapnels still embedded in his body which can be clearly felt through the skin, he let us, the guide provides that bit of real life experience that is missing from the museum. He was like a walking encyclopedia of all the war machineries whom readily provided detailed information of the weapons, a tad too much for our interest in fact. At the end of the tour, it was revealed that he was going for an eye operation soon and solicited a small donation. We hence gave him USD$5.
Tips and donations are sometimes tricky affair. How much is enough, how to not look like a complete miser or an overly philanthropic soul when I can barely afford to? There's obviously no clear answer to that, so just give whatever is comfortable within your conscience and ability, that's what I feel. In poverty stricken Cambodia where the tourist dollars doesn't reach the majority of the civilians, it doesn't hurt to be a bit more generous if i can help it. Put in local context, a bowl of noodles cost about 1500 riels. 1 USD = 4000 riels. By giving US$5, he can effectively buy 13 bowls of noodles with change to spare. That's loosely equivalent to donating S$26 if we go by the noodles analogy in Singapore economics, each bowl costing S$2. So is that too much a donation? I don't think so. If US$5 or S$8 can buy a comparatively poor person 13 bowls of noodles, I think that's inflation put to good use for once.
That said, we made Ra bring us to somewhere nice and cheap for dinner where we can exercise the power of a higher currency as theorized.
Socheata Khmer Food Restaurant. The food here rocks. We paid only about US$3 per head for a sumptuous meal. The national dish called 'amoc' is a must try, as well as their green curry and.. oh everything else. Socheata is located in the Psar Cha (Old Market) area, down the street that houses Le Grand Cafe and runs parallel to the river that looks like a drain.
Finally, that's how dirty our face was at the end of the day, from all the dust riding along the road. Wearing face masks here won't make one look like an idiot.
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