The Cambodian People

Some of my very favorite parts about Cambodia were the people there. Not just the people that I met, but also the people that I saw. I love people watching, and I especially love people watching in places where the people do interesting things. Cambodia was certainly one of those places.

One of the most interesting things about people watching in Cambodia, is the number of people that are selling things everywhere you go. There are street vendors on every street, selling almost anything you can imagine. There are, of course, food vendors, but there are also people selling brooms, plastic balls, badminton sets, stepping stools, and all sorts of random stuff that didn't make much sense. Some of the food from the street vendors ended up being my favorite treats (Milo... fruit shakes... fried bananas...). Some of the food from the street vendors did not end up being my favorite (grasshoppers... millipedes... tarantulas...).
Along with all of the people that I just watched and interacted with briefly, I met some of the most fantastic people I've ever met. Most of them didn't speak any English, but as it turns out, language isn't all that important.

Pretty much every night was spent hanging out in the hair salon next door, playing in the street with the kids, or visiting the night market. The kids were fantastic. So funny, so weird, so crazy, and so happy. The family that owns the hair salon ended up being some of our very best friends there. It started when I got addicted to getting my hair washed, and eventually we spent almost every night hanging out there. We also got invited to a family picnic/birthday party. The cake was ok... the pig intestines and frogs were not my favorite.

The hairdressing family (and yes... that is what we called them since we had no idea how to ask their last name) was one of my very favorite memories from Cambodia. They were always fun (often drunk), always kind, always funny, and they absolutely made us feel like we were part of the family. Not only was I lucky enough to have the greatest host family in the world, I kind of had two host families... and that was pretty great.

Angkor Wat

If you don't know about Angkor Wat, stop reading this right now and start doing your research. Short version, Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world, it's dedicated to the god Vishnu, and it has been under both Hindu and Buddhist control at various points. There's the short version. While we were in Siem Reap, we were able to explore Angkor Wat, and the other temples in the Angkor region for a few days. This was, by far, my favorite thing in Cambodia.

The first night that we were there, we hiked up Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. The hike was lovely, the ruins at the top of the hill were incredible, the sunset was beautiful, and I got to spend the evening with about a million Asian tourists. I probably took more pictures that evening than Melanie and Tessa have the entire summer... and that's not an exaggeration. The next morning we woke up at 4 (yikes) to go watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The sunrise was not particularly striking that day, but getting there before the crowds and the heat was the best decision so far this summer.

I don't really know how to describe everything that we saw. I may have taken more pictures that day than I took for the rest of the summer combined. We spent the first few hours at Angkor Wat, exploring the main temple there. The main temple was huge, and it was interesting to see everything, but it was way more crowded and regulated than the other temples that we visited. After visiting the main temple we went to The Bayon, which is another temple in the Angkor complex. This temple is famous for the many faces carved into the stone towers of the temple.

While walking through the temple, it kind of felt like I was in line for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland (I hope that isn't too blasphemous or anything), but it was incredible. Of all of the temples that we visited, the Bayon was my favorite. The faces that were carved there were absolutely beautiful, and so wonderfully preserved. We also got there before the crowds, so it was nice to explore a bit without being swarmed. After the Bayon, we visited Baphuon, which was another temple close to the Bayon. We walked through the Terrace of the Elephants before heading to Ta Prohm, which was the temple they used when filming Tomb Raider.

Having never seen that movie, I have no idea how prominent it is or how often it is used, but it is quite famous for that reason. They even sell pirated copies of Tomb Raider near the entrance and exit. That was one of the most uniquely Cambodian moments for me. On the one hand I was standing at the entrance to a thousand year old Angkor temple, and on the other, I was being bombarded by bargaining street vendors. All of this in the heat and humidity pretty much rounded out the entire Cambodian experience in a single moment.

Besides being famous for Tomb Raider (which then made Angelina Jolie fall in love with Cambodia, buy a ton of land in Cambodia, and adopt a Cambodian baby, all of which was highly publicized), Ta Prohm is also really famous and popular because of the trees (mostly silk-cotton trees) that grow up through and on top of the ruins. The trees are enormous, and the roots completely cover parts of the temple.
After our long day of walking, climbing, and photographing, we went back to the hotel for a nap, food, and swim. Siem Reap has a fun area (basically one street) called Pub Street, and we ate all of our meals there while in Siem Reap. There was good food, a fun atmosphere, and a lot of entertainment.

The nights that we spent in Siem Reap were all spent at the Night Market. Phnom Penh also has a sizable night market, but the one in Siem Reap is a little more organized, and had more interesting things. At the night market we also found a guy with the best fresh fruit shakes, a place to have your feet nibbled on by fish, and wonderful inexpensive massages from blind people.

The next morning we woke up early again, and went to one of the temples (Banteay Srei) that is a bit further away. Banteay Srei is the temple of the Hindu God Shiva, and it was built in 967 A.D. We were lucky to be some of the first people there, so we were literally the only people walking through it when we got there. It's a beautiful red sandstone temple, with very intricate carvings on pretty much every surface. Apparently they don't let people walk right up to the temple walks anymore, you are supposed to just walk on a roped off path around the outside of the temple. Luckily, it only takes a one dollar bill to convince the guards to take down the rope, and give you a pretty decent guided tour in addition to being your personal photographer.

Next we went on a hike in the jungle fairly close to the Thai border, to see ancient carvings (Kbal Spean) in a river bed and waterfall. More commonly, it is known as the "river of a thousand lingas", or basically it is famous for being covered in phallic symbols. For being the "river of a thousand phallic symbols", I certainly didn't notice a thousand phallic symbols.The scenery during the hike was absolutely spectacular though, and the river and waterfall at the end were pretty spectacular as well.

It was also nice to be a bit off of the beaten path of tourism. Unfortunately, it was not the ideal activity for a torn ACL, but it went better than I thought it would. On our way back into Siem Reap, we stopped at the landmine museum. It was small, but it was pretty interesting. It was especially interesting to hear things from a point of view that was not only not American, but was very often UN-American. It was really humbling and informative. After visiting the night market one last time that night, we took the 7 hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh the next day. I found Siem Reap and Angkor Wat to be absolutely enchanting. I easily could have spent another week there, and I easily could've filled a few more memory cards.