First off, it’s crazy that we just happen to be in Siem Reap at the same time as on old friend from college. What are the chances? I met up with Rich, his significant other, Kathleen, and their daughter, Maxine for dinner, drinks, and a fish pedicure. Well, no drinks for Maxine, and Jesslyn was forced to stay home because she was sick. It was so great to catch up with Rich and meet his family.
Me and Rich
Oh, the fish pedicure you ask? You just dangle your feet in a large tank, and the small fish nibble at the skin on your feet. It cost $3 for as long as we wanted. It was actually difficult at first because it tickled so much, but after a while you get used to it. The tanks are communal, and I am not sure why, but I had 90% of the fish on my feet (not sure if that is good or bad). I would take them out periodically so the others could get a chance. I think it’s kind of a novelty thing since I didn’t really notice any difference in my feet afterward, but it was fun and worth the $3.
Me getting a fish pedicure
They really liked my feet
OK, how about some culture? Siem Reap is home to thousands of ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples, the most famous of which is Angkor Wat. With an area of over half a square mile or 17 million square feet, Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument. It was built by the Khmer empire in the 12th century and was originally a Hindu temple before becoming Buddhist. It was quite a construction project with an estimated 10 million blocks of sandstone averaging 1.5 tons each, which were quarried 25 miles away. Nearly every wall is covered with intricate carvings depicting scenes from Hindu mythology. I am always astounded by the amount of work that must have gone into such projects. The temple itself is inside the perfectly square walls and large moat that surround the former city of Angkor. Our tour guide told us the moat used to have many crocodiles which he called free security guards. The importance of this temple is recognized by the fact that it is depicted on the Cambodian flag.
Us in front of Angkor Wat
Carvings on the wall at Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat was quite a sight, but we actually found Bayon inside the city of Ankor Thom to be the coolest. What makes it so unique is that there are about 200 large smiling faces carved into the stone. Historians are not sure whose face it is, possibly the king or Buddha. It also had some unique reliefs carved into some of the walls of wacky looking characters dancing. It was very different than anything we had seen before and made for some great photos.
Smiling faces at Bayon
Wacky dancers carved into the stone at Bayon
Another cool temple was Ta Prohm, which is most famous for its appearance in the Tomb Raider movie. What sets this one apart is that it has purposely not been restored to the same extent as some of the others. This is because the large trees have managed to grow on top of the temple, with their roots snaking over and through the stone. It creates a really eerie feel, but visually stunning appearance.
One of the cool trees growing atop the temple of Ta Prohm
Another tree at Ta Prohm. I wasn't too happy the my pics there. These don't do it justice.
We visited two other temples that day, but they were not quite as impressive as the three mentioned above. If it is not clear, these are ruins of temples, not actual functioning buildings. The temples had been abandoned hundreds of years ago and overtaken by the surrounding jungle. They remained that way until colonial French found them and decided to start excavating and essentially stealing priceless artifacts, many of which can be seen in French museums today. More looting of the temples happened during the violent civil war and during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Today there are huge restoration and preservation efforts underway. Much of the money for this is coming from overseas. Some of the temples we visited were being restored by the United States, Japan, Germany, and India.
The temples are the biggest tourist draw in Cambodia, so Siem Reap is ripe with tourists, and Cambodians hoping to make a buck from them. When not at the temples, the tourists can be found on Pub Street which is lined with restaurants and bars. A kind of funny, and at times slightly annoying thing about southeast Asia is that you are constantly being offered rides in tuk tuks. There are T-shirts that say “No, I don’t want a tuk tuk”. However, I have not had so many offers as I have had in Siem Reap. There is even a hand gesture that accompanies the words “tuk tuk?”. It is raising both hands as if they are on the handlebars of a scooter and twisting the right hand as if to rev the throttle. Several times a man would walk along side or behind as he was offering, so he could get close enough offer his other services without being heard by others. The other services often included a “happy massage” or marijuana. Obviously, I declined those offers, Jesslyn was with me.
Tuk tuks are a cheap way to get around the city. They are ubiquitous in SE Asia, although slightly different in each city. In Bangkok, a tuk tuk is a three wheeled vehicle with a motorcycle front, and an integrated, forward looking bench in the back. In Ayutthaya, they are also three wheeled, but the front has an enclosed cabin, and the rear has two benches facing each other and sideways. In Koh Lanta, it is a typical motor scooter with a large sidecar that can fit four adults sitting in an “L” pattern. In Siem Reap, it also a motor scooter, but with a trailer with a large bench facing forward, and a smaller one facing to the rear. They are the same in Phnom Penh, except they have the addition of a wire screen around it for safety from bag snatchers. They don’t seem to be the safest things as the drivers dart in and out of the chaotic traffic. The only thing that give me any peace of mind is that most of them can’t go very fast.
A tuk tuk in Ayutthaya with the enclosed cabin
While in Siem Reap, we also went on a food tour. It was conducted by a nice Scottish fellow, who has been living in Cambodia for about a year and impressed us with his skill of the language, even though everyone he spoke to laughed at the way he talked. The tour was good, but not great. We had had better Cambodian food already. The nice part of the tour was that it took us out of downtown, and out of the tourist areas. At one of those places we ate duck soup, which contained not only chunks of duck meat, but also fertilized duck eggs. I was the only one of the 6 people on the tour to partake. It wasn’t bad. There were 2 bites; the first was basically just the yolk, and the second was the duck itself which was surrounded by a little of the egg white. It sort of tasted like a chunk of super tender, mild duck meat inside of a hard boiled egg white. It looked gross when it was cracked and put into the soup where it cooked. Jessiyn said she might have tried it if she hadn’t seen that part. We ended the food tour at the night market where we tried a few things including frogs which had their bodies stuffed with pork sausage. Those were actually really good. The body really just acted like a wrapper for the sausage. We also ate the legs which were much better than when I first tried them many years ago, which I remember having a fishy flavor. These were grilled over hot coals and didn’t taste of fish at all. We also had some fresh fruit, including jackfruit, which I did not eat since I learned recently that I am allergic to it. When I ate some on New Year’s Eve, my throat started to swell shortly after. I think I would have been OK without it, but I took some Benadryl and was fine.
We encountered other strange food; a street vendor on the touristy Pub Street sells various bugs, tarantulas, and small snakes for snack. Because of its location and the fact that it says you can take a picture if you buy something tells me it is more of a tourist gimmick than authentic. Bugs are definitely eaten though because we have seen them for sale a couple more times at places where we were the only tourists around. The last strange food we saw was also aimed at the tourists. We went to a highly rated burger place and noticed one of the burgers had an “eat at your own risk” and “adults only” label next to it. My first thought was that it had super hot chili peppers on it. Nope, the list of ingredients sounded normal. Then I noticed the name, it was called the Bob Marley burger.
We had been so lucky to have been in SE Asia for over two months with no significant sickness. That changed in Siem Reap. Jesslyn got it first. I will spare you the details, but she stayed in bed and didn’t eat for day. She was back at 100% in about 3 days, and just about when she was fully recovered, it hit me. We took the antibiotics the doctor at the travel clinic back home prescribed for us. We are very happy to report that we are both fully healthy once again.
Apart from the temple visits and food tour we didn’t do a lot in Siem Reap, partly because of our illness, but more because we spent our time planning New Zealand. We booked our camper van, campgrounds, ferries, sky diving, swimming with dolphins, swimming with seals, skin diving for lobster, fly fishing, an overnight cruise, overnight hikes, and a wine tour. We are going to be busy there, and cannot wait.
Just one more stop in this region (the Thai island of Ko Chang), then on to Hong Kong!
- Jake