Saturday, December 24, 2022
Siem Reap International Airport: អាកាសយានដ្ឋានអន្តរជាតិសៀមរាប
After an hour flight from Ho Chi Minh, we landed at the Siem Reap International Airport; this was easily the smallest international airport I’ve ever been to. I would compare it the Greenville regional airport, maybe just slightly larger. When we landed, we walked off the plane onto the tarmac and then straight into the immigration office.
So, if you remember back to our debacle with Cady’s Vietnam Visa, Katie discovered that I had made the same mistake on Cady's Cambodia visa. Fortunately, I was able to email the immigration office and have the issue corrected and her visa updated well before our arrival. This time, our immigration and customs experience was silky smooth. Praise God!
Upon leaving the airport, we were bombarded by numerous taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. If you’re wondering what a tuk-tuk is, it’s basically a three-wheeled motorcycle with a cart big enough to fit anywhere from two to four people in the back. Since we had three huge suitcases and our carry-on bags, a tuk-tuk definitely wouldn’t be an option for this journey to our hotel.
Being overly cautious, I was mildly worried about hiring a driver to get us to our hotel, especially since it was already dark in a third-world SE Asia country I had never been to before, so I booked us a Grab instead. For some reason, the Siem Reap Airport doesn’t allow Grabs to enter the parking lot of the facility, so we had to drag all of our bags out to the road to meet our driver.
Sarai Resort & Spa
After a rather uncomfortable 25-minute ride (Katie, Ryan and Cady had to ride with the suitcase in their lap because our Grab diver’s car was a four-door sedan), we finally made it to Sarai Resort & Spa, our home for the next three days! We were blown away at how beautiful and open the pool and lobby were; Katie really hit the jackpot with this hotel selection! I’ve definitely given her a hard time after our Airbnb fiasco in Malaysia and the sketchy alley we had to walk down to get to our hotel in Ho Chi Minh, so she definitely deserved some praise.
We thought the lobby was great, but the room was even cooler. When you walk in, on the first floor (yea, I said first floor of our hotel room) there is a bathroom and king-size bed, and on the second floor was a loft with two twin beds. Off the upstairs room was the best part: a huge outdoor balcony overlooking the pool. We were definitely looking forward to spending time on this beautiful balcony playing games and hanging out, but first, we had a scheduled couples massage.
Our masseuses came to our room and had us put on our massage robes. They took Cady and Ryan to a vacant room since the resort’s spa is currently being renovated, so we were all spread out for our relaxing massages. After an hour-long full-body traditional massage, we rejoined Cady and Ryan and made our way to the first floor to enjoy dinner at the hotel restaurant.
By the time we checked in and had our relaxing couples massages, it was already 8:30 pm, so we figured it was a bit late to go out and explore an unknown area. At the restaurant, we enjoyed a bottle of wine and some traditional Cambodian dishes (Katie of course ordered another pumpkin soup) before heading back up to the room to get some sleep before our early morning sunrise tour!
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Boy, did our 4:15 am pick-up time come early. While normal Christmas mornings noramally begin early, I don't think there's any other group of adults willingly waking up at 4 am on Christmas morning! It would’ve been early even if I had gotten a decent amount of sleep and hadn’t been going nonstop for five days already, but this morning's wake-up was the toughest of the trip! Good thing Ryan and Cady were in the same suite with us- there was no way they would oversleep their alarm.
I knew this was going to be worth it though because when you look up top things to do Asia, visiting Angkor Wat is near the top of the list. This is due mostly to it being the largest religious monument in the world, taking up over 400 acres of space!
Once in our tour bus, we picked up a few other travelers who would join our party and then we made it to the visitor center to purchase our tickets before 5:00 am. After a short 15-minute drive, our van driver pulled over and dropped our group off in total darkness to follow our tour guide to Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat: ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្ត
After a short walk over a moat (thank goodness we packed bug spray because no one wants to get malaria!) we finally made it to a crowd of people. It was still pitch black outside, but we assumed they were looking towards the temple. We waited about 30 to 45 minutes for the Sun to finally break across the horizon, but man was it worth it! Look at the awesome pictures we were able to grab of the temple reflecting off the pools!
After fighting the crowds and snapping some photos, we met back up with our tour guide, Kim, who informed us that the structure was originally built in the 12th Century as a temple dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. Later that century, Angkor Wat was converted into a Buddhist Temple, so historians describe it as a “Hindu-Buddhist” temple, which I thought was quite unique.
We also learned that the large structures on the outskirts of the temple were learning libraries, where regular people could go to learn and study religious texts. With the knowledge gained from the libraries, people would then "wash away their sins" by rinsing their bodies in the reflecting pools before entering the temple's formal grounds.
After entering Angkor Wat, we were taught that there are two "layers" to the temple. The outer layer was meant for meditation and reflection. The interior walls housed the king's burial site and was the most sacred area on the groups.
We finally made it to the temple after an almost coma-inducing lecture from our tour guide on the history and significance of Angkor Wat; I thought Katie signed us up for a tour, not a religious scholars' lecture. The inside of the temple was beautiful, with all of the intricately carved designs on the rock walls and the beautiful pillars lining the outskirts. We eventually worked our way to the center and highest part of the temple where we had amazing views of the grounds. It just left us in awe knowing that we are walking around, and getting to see with our own eyes, something that was built nearly 900 years ago! Talk about impressive!
After our Angkor Wat tour, we made a pit stop for breakfast at a traditional Cambodian restaurant. We only ordered drinks here because our hotel had pre-packaged boxed breakfasts for us to take with us on the tour.
After enjoying our breakfast, on our walk back to the van, we were bombarded by numerous Cambodian children trying to sell us knickknacks. From Katie's research and with reminders from our hotel and by our tour guide, we knew not to buy anything from Cambodian children. Cambodia has asked that tourists not buy from local children with the hopes of encouraging children to go to school, rather than beg for tourist dollars.
Ta Prohm Temple: ប្រាសាទ តាព្រហ្ម
Our next stop was Ta Prohm temple which was built in 1186 as a Buddhist monastery and university. Upon the fall of the Khmer Dynasty in the 15th century, Ta Prohm Temple was abandoned and neglected, only to be restored in the early 21st century. This temple was really cool because it felt like a bit of untouched history with numerous collapsed stone walls, and most famously, trees growing in, around, and over numerous structures throughout the monastery.
This temple is also famous for being one of the filming locations for the Angelina Jolie movie, Tomb Raider. This was definitely one of the most picturesque spots we have visited during our tour and it was really cool getting to walk within something that felt like it had gone untouched for nearly 600 years. Katie said this was her favorite temple from our tour because of its unexpected beauty and natural wonder.
Victory Gate: ខ្លោងទ្វារជ័យ (ខ្លោងទ្វារជ័យជំនះ)
On our way to our last stop of the tour, Bayon Temple, we drove through the Victory Gate, a huge stone gate with a large Buddha face carved into the top. If you look closely at the side of the gate, you can also pick out the trunks of elephants carved into the side! On the other side of the bridge were numerous stone statues carved to look like they were holding the bridge up over the moat. We were sure to stop and grab pictures and marvel over the fact that these giant stone structures were all carved BY HAND!
Also, take note of the 4-headed Buddha walkway and remember it for later! Katie and I bought a local artist's print of the Victory Gate.
Bayon Temple: ប្រាសាទបាយ័ន
The last stop of our temple tour landed us at Bayon Temple, which was built in the early 13th Century and is currently being restored by an integrated team with the Japanese Government! Bayon Temple was built by a king trying to appease several different religious groups at that time. Prior to this temple's construction, it was common for new kings to destroy or completely renovate old temples to reflect their chosen gods. Bayon Temple's king designed the temple to have four different entrances so people worshiping different gods could enter from different sides: Buddha, and the Hindu gods Shiva, Vishnu, and Ramanan. He did this with the hopes of keeping his legacy alive long after his death.
During this part of the tour, we also learned that 96% of Cambodians follow a combination of Buddhism and Hinduism, while only 2% are Christians and 2% are Muslims. One thing we all found interesting during these tours is how two separate religions have been merged over time to make one Cambodian religion with pieces from both Buddhism and Hinduism.
Like the Victory Gate, the Bayon Temple is famous for its pillars with many faces etched into the stone walls. These domes were built hundreds of years ago through the use of elephants (like all the previous temples we had visited thus far) and, depending on which way you are facing, you see the face of Buddha or you see the face of a Hindu god.
After a long eight hours, we jumped back in the van and were dropped off at our hotel. We decided to change into our bathing suits and relax by the pool for a few hours. After eating lunch poolside and letting Katie soak up as much sunshine as she could, we went back upstairs to play games on our large balcony before changing and heading off for our lakeside sunset dinner.
Local Lotus Flower Farm: ចម្ការផ្កាឈូកក្នុងស្រុក
We were picked up for our sunset dinner at 4:30 pm. On the way down to the lake, we made a pit stop by a lotus flower farm. Even though most of the flowers had been harvested, we were able to find a few flowers for Ryan and I to pick to share with our special ladies. Apparently, it is Cambodian tradition for men to get on one knee and profess their love before sharing the flower with their partner (which seems like foreshadowing for what’s to come later in the trip.)
Tonlé Sap: បឹងទន្លេសាប
After a short drive from the lotus flower field, we made it to the dock where we boarded a small boat to tour a fishing village on our way to our sunset dinner venue. Tonlé Sap is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and is home to many Vietnamese and Cambodian fishing families who live and work on the water.
Chong Khneas: Floating Village on Tonle Sap Lake
It was rather eye-opening to see how run down these homes were…they were essentially just floating wooden shacks with hammocks inside of them. It’s rather disheartening to know that we are staying in a lavish 5-star hotel and just a few miles down the road, while people here are barely making ends meet, living in hammocks with no running water and minimal electricity.
While heartbreaking to see, the people we passed were all smiles. This community has learned to survive and adapt with the tides. We even noticed floating supermarkets and small boats packed full of snacks, groceries and other small necessities that floated along as virtually boat convenience stores. At least the locals could purchase some of their creature comforts without ever leaving their homes.
Queen Tara Cruise Boat Restaurant
Following our quick trip through the fishing village, we made our way to the lake, which is so large you can’t even see land past the horizon.
On the edge of the lake was an old, rusty steamboat called the Tara Boat where we would enjoy a sunset dinner on the lake! Once we got onboard, we were greeted by a lovely Cambodian family who offered us unlimited drinks and a great spread of food. Katie, being the mother hen of the trip, required that everyone take a prophylactic shot of Pepto before digging into our dinner buffet!
After a great meal and experiencing a gorgeous sunset on the water, we boarded our transport boat to head back to the dock!
We ventured back through the fishing village and were able to see many of the families preparing to tuck in for the evening. One thing we noticed was that most of them used nets to keep themselves from being eaten alive by mosquitos throughout the night, so it reminded us to coat ourselves in bug spray before we suffered a similar fate.
Take a look at this quick video that shows a little taste of nightlife in Tonlé Sap Lake:
Once we made it back to the dock, we were bombarded by teenage girls trying to sell us small ceramic plates with our pictures printed on them. Prior to boarding the boat earlier that afternoon, I noticed a girl snapping our pictures with a small digital camera; of course, none of us looked or smiled at the camera, so none of the photos were appealing. We obviously did not purchase the plates, but it has me wondering how they managed to make them so quickly and what do they plan on doing with plates with our faces on them?
After a 30-minute ride back to our hotel, Katie made us pose for cute pictures before we hobbled up to our room and passed out. We literally went from before sunrise to well-after sunset on this Christmas Day!
Monday, December 26, 2022
After a very long, very eventful day yesterday, we decided that today would be a little bit slower with not as much planned. After enjoying breakfast at the hotel and jumping into a tuk-tuk, we were on our way to a 9:30 am tour at APOPO.
APOPO - Humanitarian Demining: APOPO - ការដោះមីនមនុស្សធម៌
APOPO is a non-profit organization that utilizes dogs and rats to help detect and neutralize landmines. Cambodia has the highest rate of amputees per capita in the world, largely due to landmine accidents. These landmines were left from the Vietnam War, where the Viet Cong used Cambodia, Laos, and southern Vietnam to fight American soldiers. Then, during the 1970s, Cambodia underwent its own civil war, during which the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime planted landmines throughout the country as well, leaving the countryside a dangerous place to farm, raise families, and make a living.
APOPO has chosen rats to help detect landmines because of their lightweight and keen sense of smell. It takes approximately 3-5 kg of pressure to trigger a landmine, and these rats only get up to 1.5 kg in mass, making them light enough to detect a landmine without setting it off. They’re also capable of smelling 1 trillionth of a gram of TNT up to one meter deep underground and one meter away, so they make the ultimate landmine detection device for Cambodia.
During our tour, we were informed that it takes around one year and $6,000 to train these giant African rats. The APOPO team, which is originally based out of Belgium, has a staff of over 100 trainers, mine detectors, vets, and volunteers, and has 62 rats at their facility. Five of their rats are retired and will live out the rest of their lives at the facility outside of Siem Reap, five are currently being used to demonstrate how they detect mines for tour groups, and 52 of them are broken up into three separate teams working in the fields around Cambodia.
The typical lifespan of these rats is eight years. They train for the first year of their lives, work four-to-five years in the field, and then enjoy their last two years of life in luxurious retirement. Rats are nocturnal animals, so they will work about three hours in the early morning and then take the rest of the day off. These rats are well taken care of and treated just like any other service animal; they receive annual vaccines and are rubbed down in sunscreen to protect their snouts and tails from the brutal Cambodian sunshine.
During our tour, they demonstrated how they utilize rats to detect landmines. They begin the process by bringing bomb-sniffing dogs to suspected landmine areas. The dogs then signal to their trainers once they smell TNT within a 100-meter area. Then, the land is carefully cleared of bushes and grass using really long weed whackers.
Next, they use metal detectors to clear two parallel lanes for the APOPO field workers to safely transit back and forth. Once the two lanes are created, the workers will leash a TNT-sniffing rat to a long leash and guide the rat along the suspected area in a grid-like pattern. The rat will then walk back and forth the length of the plot, scratching the ground where they smell TNT. The field workers will then have a second rat go through the plot, and if that rat scratches at the same spot, they know that there is actually a bomb there. After this three-hour shift with the rat is completed, the APOPO workers send in a team to safely dig up and remove the landmine.
During our tour, we met Zefania, a five-years-old female who demonstrated the TNT-sniffing grid search. We even had the opportunity to hold one of these amazing creatures, Sofia, who was 4-years-old!
We were so impressed by the staff and by the rats that the four of us decided to sponsor a rat named Ronin! By sponsoring $100, we will receive monthly emails as Ronin completes his one-year training to become a Cambodian landmine-sniffing rat! While we can't do much about the Cambodian landmine tragedy, we were able to make a small difference in the future of the APOPO nonprofit. What a unique idea to use rats to help save lives and what a great start to our day!
Pub Street 08: ផ្លូវលេខ ០៨
During Katie’s research, she had read that Pub Street was a hot spot to visit in Siem Reap for food and drinks, so after our visit at APOPO, we jumped in another tuk-tuk and made our way downtown.
Dr. Fish Spa
Before finding food, Ryan and Katie wanted to take a few minutes to experience a fish foot massage. So they took off their shoes and allowed the fish to clean all of the sweat and dead skin off of their feet! From their faces, Cady and I knew it tickled, but neither of us were brave enough to stick our feet in! Leave it to the Kimbles.
Pizzeria Villaggio: ភីហ្
For lunch, we grabbed a couple of pizzas and a cooler of some cranberry mixed drink that was quite good. We had been warned not to drink any drinks with ice in it, because the tap water could potentially get us sick. When we asked the wait staff, they said that the ice was made with purified water, so we just went with it! The food was good, the drinks were great, and fortunately, none of us had tummy issues afterward!
Made in Cambodia Market: ផលិតនៅទីផ្សារកម្ពុជា។
After lunch, we headed to the Made in Cambodia Market, where local artists, jewelers and crafters sell handmade things. Ryan and Cady bought a beautiful elephant painting where they got to meet the artist’s aunt and learn more about his story; apparently, he sells his art in order to fund his college education down in Phnom Phem, Cambodia’s capital.
Katie bought a bracelet that was created from bullet shell casings that have been found around Cambodia and the two of us bought a painting of Victory Gate, which we visited the day before. This Made in Cambodia Market was amazing because we were able to sit and watch the artists' work and Katie & I were blessed to have our artist sign our artwork right there! This little art hub was an amazing place to shop and meet local artists, while also experiencing their craft in person.
House Healing SPA
Following our walk through the market and a quick pit stop at a Starbucks (unfortunately no Cambodia travel mug here), we stopped by House Healing Spa. Ryan and I got one-hour foot massages, basically just to kill time, while Cady got a pedicure and Katie got a manicure & pedicure. In total it costs us less than $40 for our whole hour-long excursion. Cady enlightened us that $40 wouldn't have even covered one pedi in the states, so we drove a killer bargain!
Phare, The Cambodian Circus: ហ្វារ សៀកកម្ពុជា។
After our massages and another short stint of relaxing at the hotel, we headed to Phare, The Cambodian Circus. Before the show, they offered many local street food options and small pre-show experiences where children from the local area did traditional dances. We shared plates of noodles, fried rice, fried spring rolls and curry, while Ryan enjoyed chicken and French fries (the kid really needs to expand his palate).
After dinner, we funneled into the big top where we were treated to an amazing show with high ropes, juggling, balancing acts, and many crazy acrobatics! We had a great time, spending a lot of it on the edge of our seats, as the actors and actresses completed their crazy stunts!
Here's a short little video Katie put together of some of the crazy stunts we witnessed during Phare:
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
The following morning, we packed our bags and rolled them downstairs for the front desk to hold for our flight that afternoon; but first, we had a traditional Buddhist water blessing.
Banteaychey Market: ទីផ្សារក្នុងស្រុក
We met our tour guide, Sokha, and jumped into two separate tuk-tuks that took off toward the Banteaychey neighborhood. Prior to touring the monastery, we made a pit stop at a local food market. This market was definitely off the beaten path, and we could tell that there aren’t many tourists who visit this area because of the number of stares we received. Kids were even running up to us to high-five us or shake our hands.
The market sold many different types of fish (most of them still flopping around as their heads are being cut off- talk about fresh!), whole chickens, pig heads, many different cuts of meat, and the most unappealing thing: blood curds. It was legit just a mound of blood that looked like it had the consistency of a Jell-O mold; it was pretty gross looking. The smell in the market was so strong of fish, that Ryan said he felt nauseous throughout most of it. Fortunately, we made it out, with breakfast still in our stomachs and Ryan having a whole new appreciation for grocery stores back home, as we headed back towards the Buddhist monastery.
Our guide explained that most families don't trust banks in Cambodia; instead, they store their money in gold. At the front of the market was a gold shop filled with jewels, gold bracelets and rings. According to our guide, families sell their fresh fish, meat or veggies and then cash in their local currency to buy gold to store in safe places at home.
Wat Po Banteaychey: វត្តពោធិ៍បន្ទាយជ័យ
As we entered the Wat Po Banteaychey monastery, Sokha informed us that the area's high priest and numerous monks live there. We learned that almost every neighborhood has its own temple housed with monks who educate the community and guide the people in religious customs.
As we continued on with our tour, we noticed numerous pyramid-like structures throughout the ground; apparently these are called stupahs, or tombs. In Cambodia, when someone dies, the village will mourn them for three days, in which they will basically parade the casket through the village to the crematory (located next door to the monastery) where the body will be cremated and blessed by a monk. The ashes are then placed in these stupahs located around the monastery.
We also learned that the Khmer New Year is on April 14, during which the stupahs are cleaned by families of those who have gone before, and Phcumben is a two-week period in mid-September where people will remember their ancestors and bring offerings to place onto the stupahs.
After our short tour of the monastery, we were led to the monk's temple area. We greeted the monk by bowing three times to show respect. Then, our tour guide pulled out a bag of gifts that we placed in a golden bowl and handed to the monk as an offering. After he blessed our offering, we each stuck out our wrists so the monk could chant over us as he tied a red bracelet to our hands. We were told that once the red bracelets fall off, we should tie it to a tree so the blessing is returned to nature.
Here's a little video of what the monk's chanting sounded link as he blessed us:
Then it was time for what we came for: the Buddhist Water Blessing.
We changed into traditional robes that our guide provided for us and then met our monk outside the temple. The four of us took a seat on some stone steps outside of the temple and, as the monk begins his prayer, BAM! We were doused in cold water.
He continues to dump buckets full of freezing cold water over our heads, and the entire time I'm thinking "I thought this was going to be a one-and-done kind of deal! That's when I hear the crying.
I look over and Katie seems to be doing fine, just struggling to find her breath after being covered in the water of the Arctic. That's when I notice that Cady is crying…I wasn’t sure if she was overwhelmed by the experience, moved by the monk's chanting, or if she got something in her eye, but the girl was bawling.
Katie, Ryan, and I are some of the worst empaths because we were trying to contain our laughter. Katie even began hysterically laughing because this water blessing was more like baptism by ice water and it was NOT what we were expecting!
Come to find out later on after our waterboarding session, Cady just can't handle cold water, so much so that it made her cry. Sorry Cady, but you’re definitely not going to live that one down!
Even though we aren’t Buddhist, it was really cool getting to immerse ourselves (literally) in such a cool (also literally) experience and it was definitely a unique way to end our Cambodian adventure.
Old Market Siem Reap: ស្ពានផ្សារចាស់ (សៀមរាប)
We changed out of our soaking wet bathing suits before heading back towards downtown, where we requested a drop-off at the Old Market district of Siem Reap. We walked around many different stalls where Ryan was able to buy an elephant shirt. After being overwhelmed by the tight aisles and underwhelmed with the items most of the stalls were selling, we decided it was time for lunch.
វីវ៉ា (I Viva)
One thing we discovered: it was rather difficult to find something that everyone wanted to eat; Ryan can be pretty picky (even though he did do good trying some new things) and Cady was sometimes scared because of her earlier bought with food poisoning (also understandable).
So after a few minutes of no one making a decision, we landed on a Mexican-style restaurant near Pub Street. Katie and I enjoyed strawberry margaritas while Ryan and Cady had traditional lime margaritas with lunch. After a good meal, we headed back to the hotel to collect our luggage before heading to the airport.
Siem Reap International Airport: អាកាសយានដ្ឋានអន្តរជាតិសៀមរាប
After a 30-minute cab ride back to the airport, we checked in, dropped our bags off and made our way through security and immigration (thank goodness we had no more issues). We found a Dairy Queen where we each enjoyed a Blizzard and a few games of Euchre and Hearts (where Ryan got his butt kicked again).
We walked out onto the tarmac and boarded our flight to Bangkok around 4:30 pm. Cambodia is a wonderful country full of rich culture and kind people, and it was definitely a major highlight of the tour so far!
Stick around to hear about our adventures in Thailand!
Yours,
Bryan
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