14th
January 14 - Angkor Wat - Siem Reap
We locked up Baraka and headed to Phuket Airport. Our flight was delayed but the hardworking clerk booked us onto another that got us to Bangkok in time to connect for Siem Reap. The Cashew Nut had arranged pickup, and our driver promptly delivered us to the guesthouse. Very nice - our spotless double ensuite room (air con, wifi, bfast included) is $18 a night, a preview of how far the tourist dollar stretches in Cambodia. Best of all, Alan, the proprietor, sat down with us and mapped out a plan to see the ruins, and arranged our tuk-tuk driver.
Our first day was dedicated to orientation. We enjoyed the excellent national museum to get some perspective on the ruins, and trekked around town a bit. Day 2, we got serious, making an all-day circuit of some of the “lesser” ruins, though they seemed plenty impressive, each distinctive. Anchor Wat describes the entire park, and also a single complex within the park, which is somewhat confusing. So Angkor What? Or maybe Angkor Which? Day 3 we started with a great one-hour trek up a river to a small (in this dry season), somewhat ho-hum falls. Just beyond were the delights that make the hike worthwhile, The river bed was dotted with thousands of carved lingas - penis symbols of Vishnu’s power, which make the river waters potent and holy. Tucked around them were carved figures, only visible in this dry season. Cool! We treked back down to the tuk-tuk, and drive to Banteay Srei, the jewelbox ruin, known for exquisite carvings, covering every surface. The Khmer carved here in a hard pink sandstone which has survived amazingly intact eight centuries of weather and war.
To learn about more recent Khmer history, we visited the nearby landmine museum. In almost 20 years of war, mines were laid in many areas, and are still being found the hard way. This museum is most sobering, and shows the heart-wrenching human cost of warfare. A mine costs about a dollar to make, and a thousand dollars to find and diffuse. The US is one of the few major nations which has not banned landmines, on the grounds they are needed to keep the Korean DMZ. I’d like our congressmen to visit this museum and see the peglegs fashioned for children out of bamboo sections.
To round out the day we attended an evening one-man cello concert / pitch for donations. Dr. Beat (Beatocello) Richner is a Swiss national who served as a pediatrician in Cambodia until driven out by the Khmer Rouge. He was invited to return almost 20 years ago, and has since built 5 children’s hospitals in Cambodia. The policy is that no child will be turned away. A half million children are treated annually, and the needs are huge - a legacy of Cambodia’s recent history. It’s a fantastic story, and anyone reading this, I would urge you to find out more about his work and consider contributing.
Day 4 in Siem Reap. We hit the big ones - Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, including the Bayon. When I get home to the boat I’ll post some pictures, as words can’t do justice. This is why we travel - to learn about the great civilizations of the past, especially when they leave behind magnificent structures, and to learn about the culture today, the people, customs, economy, foods…
We have been to many poor countries - some more than here, though Cambodia’s story seems the saddest. Yet the people are testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.
