The Original Harmony

The title comes from a sign on the mini-fridge in our current hotel; an interesting choice of words.

Well….a lot has gone on in the past three days, a lot to write about.

First of all, no one needs to worry if you don’t see a post for a few days. Sometimes it’s just too difficult to get to an internet café to make a post, and sometimes we are just busy. I would put the limit at about a week between posts (after that it may be time to be a little concerned…except when we are in Laos, where it will be impossible for us to get to computers for most of the time).

Last I posted I was feeling a bit sick from my medicine. It was giving me chest pain and causing some difficulty swallowing. Well, as my dad said, that night I decided to switch malaria medicines. The one I am taking now costs quite a bit more (almost $5 per pill, and I need to take one every day) but it has far fewer side-effects. I am feeling a lot better, but swallowing is still a little painful.

Well, because of these problems we were a day late coming to Siem Reap, but we still made it. We had to catch the bus at 6:30 in the morning (actually for the $9 ticket, they caught us and brought us to the bus). The ride was about 6 hours long with a 30 minute stop. We went through three provinces, several cities, a bunch of towns, and even more villages. One of the towns was called “Spider Town” because the local delicacy there is a special type of spider. We also passed some historical places, places used by Pol Pot, places used to sign treaties, and 11th century bridges. Also, it is the dry season here with an average of 1cm of rain for the month of January. Well, knowing this I was a bit surprised when we entered part of Cambodia that looked like it had rained all night long; deep puddles, and lots of mud on the roads.

Well, when we finally arrived in Siem Reap, we had no idea what we were in for. As soon as we got off the bus the Tuk-Tuk (a trailer towed behind a motorcycle) drivers were yelling and waving signs, trying to get customers (you will see why in a below). They were incredibily aggressive here, grabbing bags or arms and pulling them into the crowds. They were so aggressive, they had to be beaten back with a stick (literally). There was one policeman, who was whacking the drivers in the legs or hands whenever they got too close to people’s bags. Well, I saw little hope of walking out of there unscathed since the policeman was only guarding the bags, so I started looking for the most sane driver I could, and I found one. He had worked his way around the police, and the bags, and everyone else (I’m not sure how) and was trying to get Kelly’s attention. He clearly spoke English, but he was much quieter than the rest, smiling, and seemed very nice. I gave him the nod, and he escorted us through the gang of moto drivers to his Tuk Tuk.

He was willing to take us wherever we wanted to go. The first place we requested was not to our liking, but coincidently the host was a guy from his village. He recommended a place down the street to us, and our driver took us there. It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped but large, and had all the creature comforts (this is the place with the drinks we are supposed to join). While Kelly was paying I went to pay our driver. -- At this point I knew what was coming, as I had realized why the drivers were so aggressive, why the prices quoted were so cheap, and why he wasn’t working on commission from hotels-- As soon as I approached he said he needed to talk to me about something. As a Tuk-Tuk driver he makes all his money taking tourists to the temples of Angkor. As he explained this to me he said he would like to be our driver for the duration of our stay. Since we needed one and he seemed nice, I decided to hear him out. He told us where he would take us each day, but was reluctant to quote a price. Finally, after he had made it through his whole sale, he said it would be $60 for our four days here. This is probably a little high, but we agreed.

He asked us if we wanted to go anywhere right away, but I just felt like resting. He agreed this was good, but told us we should buy our temple tickets that day, and that we could also see the sunset. So, he left us until 4:30. When he came back he took us straight to Angkor (I’ll explain this a bit more later, but Angkor is a very large area, containing many temples from the 1100s to the 1300s). It took only a few minutes to buy our passes, and then we were taken to a mountain temple adjacent to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. It was a little cloudy, but there was enough of a clearing to see some brilliant reds, oranges and pinks as the sun dipped behind a mountain in the distance.

We were accompanied by many tourists for this show (really too many) and they crawled all over the temple. They seemed to care very little for the significance of where they were (in more ways than one) as they stood on broken statues, and crumbling walls. I say more was then one because one of the best seats in the house was a fairly high statue with very little surrounding it. What the ladies that climbed atop this statue failed to realize (at least they seemed oblivious) was that this statue was a very large stone phallic symbol. Although it is a recurring theme throughout many of the temples, most people who go to see the sunset are there for their first day, so they are unlikely to know what it is. Regardless, several people who were in the know (including Kelly and I) were able to share a laugh.

During the ride back into town, we got to see all the resorts lit up. It is actually quite striking to see these gigantic multi-million dollar resorts, in a country as poor as Cambodia. They are giant structures, with beautiful landscaping, well manicured lawns, water features, sculptures, and brilliant looking lobbies. I can’t imagine how much some of the rooms in these places must cost, but they are certainly the nicest hotels I have seen on the trip, and possibly some of the nicest hotels I have seen on my life (even on TV).

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. We had dinner in town at a nice place called the Khmer Kitchen. I had a Cambodian soup that was very similar to my Thai favorite Tom Yam Soup (but without so much chili). Kelly enjoyed a curry that was like a cross between Indian and Thai styles.

The next day our driver took us straight to the temples. When we got there we realized we would be utterly lost without a guide so we made our way back to the road hoping to find one. Unfortunately, if you want a guide you are supposed to get one in town, before you go to Angkor. Luckily, though, our driver knew someone who was a guide for one of the fancy hotels on the way the temples. Everyone who heard who we were getting said the same thing; he is very young, but very good.

I guess we had interrupted his breakfast, but he wasn’t busy that day and his only plans were to wash his motorbike. He made his way out as quickly as he could, and met us in front of the temples. He suggested that we leave Angkor Wat (the most famous temple, the largest in Cambodia, and probably the most impressive in the world, a true wonder) and see some of the other temples first. We drove a few miles up to and started exploring. He was in fact very knowledgeable, and had great spoken English. He explained the historical, cultural, and religious significance of the most important features, and accompanied the information with the ancient stories that go along with it. The first half of the day was quite long but we saw a bunch of temples, including the one where they shot part of the Tomb Raider movie. Another one of the recurring themes throughout all of these temples was the fusion of the Buddhist and Hindu faiths. The Hindus were here first, and for much of the time held most of the power. However, Buddhism gained quite a bit of popularity in the region as well. In order to stay in good faith with the people, when kings commissioned the temples, they were careful to include both faiths, in very unique ways. (For example, sacred elephant’s trunks –hindu—that rest upon lotus flowers –Buddhist).

We took a break for lunch across the way from Angkor Wat, which we spent the second half of the day exploring. NOTE: this is getting quite long, so I’m glossing over this part quite a bit…I guess it will leave for good stoires when we get home. The temple was absolutely breathtaking, even with all the tourists and people trying to sell stuff to the tourists. We were taken around the stone galleries first, looking at the Hindu carvings that told the stories of creation, heaven, hell, and daily life. Throughout Angkor Wat there are statues of Shiva and Buddha, again the intermixing of Buddhism and Hinduism. After the galleries, we took the 65 meter climb up the super steep stairs (almost like a ladder) to the top of the temple. There were stone pools up there (now and forever empty for safety concerns, but I can imagine how beautiful it once was) and a fantastic view of Angkor Wat’s five towers and the surrounding area. One of the funny things that happened while we were exploring; a Chinese kid saw me walking around and was for some reason quite impressed. He tried to have his picture taken with me without me realizing, but when his friend didn’t get the shot they asked Kelly and I to pose with him.

That concluded our day at the temples, but our guide took us to get tickets for the buffet and dinner show in town. The buffet was mostly Khmer food, with a few Chinese and European dishes. The show as Apsara dancing, once reserved for the king and other important officials, now a nightly show for tourists to enjoy. Regardless of its almost Vegas like appearance, the show as still quite traditional and gave a good idea of Khmer culture. The music that accompanied the dancing was also all traditional, and quite nice.

Our second day (today) was comparatively less full. We saw several other temples, most of them purely Hindu. Our guide entertained us with more stories, and also had some regular conversations with us. Apparently, he is 23, and in his fourth day of Spanish lessons. He said he always wanted to be a Tuk Tuk driver, but when he finally became one, he wanted to be a tour guide. As a bilingual tour guide (actually trilingual if you include his native language) he could make as much money as a doctor in Cambodia, about $1000 a month. He asked us what we did at home, and what we wanted to be. He seemed to not entirely understand us, but was still interested. After this he asked us if we thought Spanish was a good choice for him, or if French would be better and easier. We both encouraged him to continue working on Spanish, and he told us he would make more money that way anyway.

We had another good lunch the went to a few shops and the market. The girls in the shops were quite impressed with Kelly, and they especially liked her eyes; they said they had never seen green ones like hers before.
The brings us to the end of the day. Since today was the last day with our tour guide, and he seemed interested in America, we took him inside to see pictures of Boston and Massachusetts. He was really quite impressed. He wondered if the snow was nice to sleep in, asked if the water in the Charles was as wonderful it looked in the picture, commented on how nice the lights look at night, and said he wanted to see all the European (Americans included) people walking around in their markets when he saw a picture titled Fanuel Hall Market.

Well that concludes this very long post.

I’ll be posting again probably on Friday or Saturday.

Still no pictures, thanks to the horrible connection here.

Kelly says hi.

-Tim

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at 5:00 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.