our able Cambodian driver
Feb. 15, 2009
Out of everywhere I’ve been, my experience of Cambodia was the most different from the United States. The road there was bumpy, literally. Most of the main highway there was red dirt and the driver was going about 50 kilometers per hour. Tom, Wipada and her two friends… and … and I were hanging on- Tom and the driver were in the front and there were four women in the backseat… We were told Cambodians often pack ten people into a car with no problem. I kept thinking the Toyota Camry we were in would suddenly fall apart, but it never did. We drove past banana fields and mango fields. Mostly though, it was acre upon acre of dry burnt land, some of it still simmering. I’m guessing they were controlled burns since none of the structures were scorched. The buildings were mostly wooden platforms with either a wood or stick frame. A lot of the roofs and some of the walls were made of thatched grasses. Many of the structures looked vacant. The “highway” was undergoing construction to become an up-to-par road so along either side were ditches for water drainage and every so often we’d see modern construction equipment building bridges. It was a shock. Most of what we were passing seemed to be in such poverty that a ditch digger seemed a bit out of place.
Cambodian road, photo by Tom Ellzey
Cambodian bridge in progress, photo by Tom Ellzey
We pressed on and after about two hours, give or take, we reached a paved road. We passed a town, or rather a strip of structures that had food for sale. We did pass several schools, which were the second best kept structures next to a few wats, or temple complexes, that we saw. Every so often we would see an expensive structure and then more frequently. Then there was a rapid progression from rural to, well, not rural. The buildings became more condensed, and built out of concrete instead of sticks. We started seeing hotels, then logically, foreigners, and lots of them from all over the world. We soon arrived at our hotel. It was a nice room for $20 a night. The bathroom was better than most Thai bathrooms. Tom said it was the first time he had seen a bathtub since he left the U.S. two years ago.
It’s ironic that rural Cambodia struck me as being so different from the States because Siem Reap, where our hotel was, uses U.S. currency. Everything was priced in U.S. dollars and the Cambodians spoke English very well. It was an odd switch for me to be quick at understanding the cost of things instead of Wipada, who always had to think about what it was in bhat. The exchange rate we received on baht to U.S. dollar was a ripoff. It was 40 baht to $1 instead of 33 baht to $1. Someone guessed that 40 to 1 was the rate five years ago and perhaps Cambodia never updated it. It seems like the country is just starting to right itself after years of being in a state of disarray. Wipada came four years ago and said none of the roads were paved and Cambodians never grew their own coconuts or mangoes. The Cambodians imported a lot from Thailand and I suppose they were never very happy about it. I got the impression that Thailand is looked at as being rich compared to Cambodia and there’s a bit of bitterness about it. Angkor Wat is part of the same Khmeng culture that spread into Eastern Thailand. Parts of the two countries share a similar history at times under the same rule. Now, the border between them is thick with land mines. I don’t know the history of Cambodia very well, but it’s clear that war has made a deep impact on country and that only in the last few years has it begun to invest in its infrastructure. It was an interesting role reversal to see Thai people considering safety and food in a more economically depressed place because that’s what I do as an American in Thailand. All of that said, we were surprisingly well received in Cambodia, probably because we were in a tourist area, but still…
After checking into the hotel we jumped back in the car and took a short ride to water… We hired a tourist boat to take us down a muddy canal to the lake. On the sides of the canals, people were wading or swimming in the water with nets, catching fish. Sometimes three or four of them were working together dragging the nets and closing in. The strip of land we departed from had houses built along it sometimes 15 feet in the air to stay above the high water during the wet season. We visited during the winter, or dry season, and the water level was perhaps near its lowest. As we emerged on the lake, we saw villages of floating houses. The were mostly Vietnemese people living there for the good fishing. It was like something out of waterworld. Everything existed in floating form, even cages for ducks and basketball courts. Structures were patchworked together with miscellaneous materials over a stick structure. There were a few legitimate frefab houses in the mix too.
our group on the tour boat... Tom, Wipada and friends
another tour boat like ours
house boat
fishing with nets
floating houses on Tonle Sap
floating basketball court
We were taken to a tourist trap- a floating restaurant a souvenir shop and pens of catfish and crocidiles. There was an attempt at a fish museum off to the one side with live examples of different types of fish labeled for tourists to see. One little girl saw me coming with my camera stuck her hand into a cage containing several very large boa constrictors. She wrapped it over her shoulders and posed for her picture, of course asking for money afterwards. I was happy to pay her for the photo opportunity and even showed her the pictures.
creatures
creatures in floating captivity
girl and snake
The sun was hot and we weren’t hungry, so we packed back into our boat for the return trip. I snapped plenty of photos of boats and fishermen at my aunt’s request for Mark McColgan, my uncle the charter boat captain in New Jersey. If you ever want to go fishing in Sea Bright, NJ, here’s a shameless plug for Longshot Charters. Mark is a true fishing captain and he has the cleanest boat on the Jersey shore. Anyway, the rest of the boat trip explains itself in photos. Like I said, I felt like I was in Waterworld, except everyone was Vietnemese and Bruce Willis was nowhere to be found. We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant (haha) and then retired to our hotel for the night.
Vietnamese floating village
fisherman
rice fields green from the water
stilt houses raised to the level of the water in high season, yes it gets that high
Thai restaurant in Cambodia, photo by Wipada
Just before 6 a.m. we were all loaded in the car again and on our way to see the sun rise at our main attraction, Angkor Wat. It was a brilliant idea because it was still cool and the sky was beautiful. I was surprised at how many tourists were already there at pre-dawn, although Tom was impressed there weren’t more. He said usually the inside of the temple is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people. My favorite memory was wandering into one of the libraries (smaller building off to the side) and finding a German woman with a singing bowl at dawn. The sound resonated within the building and created a magical moment that I will always cherish.
hotel before dawn
sunrise at Angkor Wat
German woman with singing bowl
people at dawn
Wipada and friends on steps to Angkor Wat temple
At this point I’ve seen many wats, both new and old. What impressed me about this one was the many rooms inside of it, as well as the height. The steps really are that steep. I also appreciated the detailing. Everything was carved and a lot of it was still fairly intact. Angkor means city and a Wat is a temple complex. Thus, Angkor Wat actually contained a city within its outermost limits. The temple sat in the center and the King’s palace sat somewhere within. It was built under the rule of Suryavarman II between 1112 to 1150 A.D.
ladies in a room in Angkor Wat temple
Tom
hallway
ladies
temple center
decorated Buddha
walk to leave Angkor Wat
outer wall of Angkor Wat
walk past moat
Next we saw Bayon, which was of particular interest to Tom, who is writing a novel and wanted to see it for reference. The first thing we saw at Bayon was a detailed carving telling a story of war, etc. Without hearing the whole description from a guide it was hard for me to appreciate it, except I liked all the fish (I know, random). The feature of Bayon is its many large face carvings. I also liked how the temple was more condensed. Spaces between towering heights were smaller and it felt more intense that way.
on the way to Bayon
elephant on the way to Bayon
the group
Bayon faces
Bayon
Our last stop was Ta Prohm, a temple-monastery from the late 12th to 13th centuries. The striking aspect of Ta Prohm is the many massive trees growing through the ruins. The site was selected to be left in its natural state as opposed to most of the temples, which have been and continue to be restored. It serves as an example of how Angkor looked when it was discovered in the 19th century. It has been maintained to keep this look, which is sometimes difficult since the temple is essentially collapsing. Still, this makes it one of the most inspiring to visit. The surroundings are thick with jungle, which you dare not enter because of the threat of land mines. (Victims who are missing legs and such perform as musicians at the entrance and exit to earn money and remind tourists of the dangers.) It is Ta Prohm that many people think of when imagining ruins in the jungle of Cambodia. The other structures, although striking, in their restored state are mostly free of vegetation and are hot and crowded. Ta Prohm was cool and green (and still crowded).
big tree 1
big tree 2
big tree 3
big tall tree
big tree 4
the people give an idea of the massive scale of these trees
another big tree
Wipada and friends
land mine musicians- These men are here to raise money and remind tourists about the dangers of land mines in the jungle around the temples.
At this point it was about noon. Our feet hurt. It was brutally hot. We were tired and ready to go. We packed ourselves back into the car, dodging the Cambodian kids, who aggressively crowd tourists in throngs to sell anything they have- guidebooks, postcards, bracelets, etc. The order was given, “Back to Thailand,” and off we went from whence we came, through lands of burning fields and red dirt roads to coconut rich Thailand.
Thailand border
