Siem Reap & Phnom Penh

My last blog left off at Sisophon, the city we drove to after crossing the Thai/Cambodian border. After I wrote it there was a massive thunderstorm in the area and our hotel flooded in the middle of the night. Each floor had a section open to the outdoors and soon there were a bunch of hotel workers in their pajamas running up and down the floor to wipe it up. The lightning was incredible to watch and the thunder rocked our hotel throughout the night.

The next day we left by bus to Siem Reap, the city near all the Angkor temples. The bus ride was only a few hours and the driver was booking it too. We got pulled over on the highway for speeding and our ticket was 10,000 riel. That sounds like a lot, but in US dollars that's only $2.50. The riel is weak by itself and Cambodia uses it with the Thai baht and US dollar. It is confusing to use three different currencies because you pay with American and Thai bills and get back change in riel. They do not accept or use any coins and the riel bills start at 100, which is less than three cents. These quickly fill up the wallet but I found they can be lifesavers as emergency toilet paper.

The Angkor temples were probably my favorite part of the trip. They are the remains of the Khmer Empire that lasted between the 9th and 14th centuries. A lot of them are in the same area, which was the largest pre-industrial city in the world. I can't even describe how beautiful everything was. Our group visited Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple, and Ta Phrom. Afterward, I stuck around with a couple guys and we visited Ta Keo and a few others I don't remember the names of. It was really fun getting off the tourist trail and exploring these lesser known places. We hiked, crawled through broken rocks, and climbed steps that were over a foot high and only a few inches long. We even had our pictures taken with monks we met on the trail. We found a tuk tuk driver to drive us around and bring us back to our hotel for $10.

In Siam Reap we also visited a giant culture center which Lauren lovingly referred to as the "Disneyland of Cambodia." There weren't any rides, but there was amazing scenery and interactive exhibits that included housing complexes and an underground museum of horrors. There were also a lot of dramas that took audience participation to a new level. One guy on our trip was married in a traditional Cambodian wedding, another guy went courting and danced around in his underwear, and another pulled a bow out of stone and became king. These were really amusing to watch.

The food in Cambodia is slightly different. It is like a combination between Thai and Vietnamese food and it is a lot less spicy. There are still a lot of soups, rice, and noodle dishes, but there are also plenty of weird options as well. One interesting delicacy is the fried tarantula. I was skeptical to try one at first but they aren't bad. They have a nice crispy and chewy texture that is really juicy. I ate three of them for a snack, but Lauren wouldn't let me sit next to her afterward. My "spider breath" made her gag so it took a piece of gum and some convincing to get my seat back. Insects are popular here too. I tried grasshoppers, crickets, and silkworms, but none were as good as the tarantula. The silkworm is chewy and gross tasting.

Another thing I noticed in Cambodia is how intense the street vendors were. They all know English and follow tourists around like zombies. They wait by buses and will hound people to purchase anything from handicrafts to fruit. In the most touristy of places there are a lot of kids that beg you to buy from them in repeated, broken English. The vendors in the markets were less intense and the prices were cheaper than in Thailand. I knew pirated movies and music were commonly sold, but I never knew you could pirate books. Guidebooks and other types of reading are sold on the street for cheap, wrapped in plastic to disguise their poor quality. Another thing common in Cambodia are bands of land mine victims that sell music CDs.

The last city we visited in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh. Here we did some last minute market shopping and visited two genocide areas. Cambodia experienced a period of genocide between 1975 and 1979 under the regime of Pol Pot, and two million people died in the killing fields. We started at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Known as S-21, this was a high school that was turned into an interrogation center and prison. Next we visited Choeng Ek, a killing field just outside of the city. There are lots of mass graves and the rain is constantly washing up more bones and fragments of clothing. This was by far the most impacting part of the trip.

Update: Friday, May 27

We got back to Oregon this week after three flights and layovers in Taiwan and Seattle. The weather seems freezing cold here, but it is welcomed after weeks of uncomfortably hot and humid weather. I also got back to my island last night. It's hard to believe our trip is over. Three weeks is plenty of time to travel and experience new cultures but I wanted to keep going. Nevertheless, going to Southeast Asia was a great way to start the summer! I will upload pictures from the trip soon.