On Tuesday June 9th I headed out on a solo trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was a long day of travel with a short layover in Shanghai before finally arriving at my hotel around midnight. I started off my trip on Wednesday by taking a tuk tuk to see numerous wats, or monastery temples, in and around Angkor, including the famous Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom. Angkor Wat was built in the twelfth century as a Hindu temple, but later was transformed into a Buddhist temple. It is the best preserved temple today, probably because it continued to be a significant religious center since its construction. It is one of the largest religious monuments on about a 500 acre site. When walking through it, it seems to go on forever with doors and passageways continuously leading back. It would take days to explore the entire site including all the temples in the Wat area (as there are a lot of them). Some of the temples have been overcome by the jungle and still even after the uncovering have trees growing right on top of them. I enjoyed watching some of the local children using these ancient sites as their daily playground. An interesting fact, both Tomb Raider and Indian Jones Temple of Doom were filmed here. After a full day of exploring temples, I got back to the hotel around 6pm and walked down the street to eat dinner at a local restaurant. I had heard that Pub Street was a great place for foreigners to stay because that is where all the good restaurants are located. The location is the only reason I picked the hotel that I did because it was located right off of Khmer Pub Street. Well it turns out the street that I wanted to stay on was called 8th Street (the nickname was Pub Street) and my hotel was actually a 30 minute walk from this, haha oops!
On Thursday, I enjoyed the hotel pool in the morning and then went downtown for lunch and dinner, explored the market, and got my first massage of the trip!
I woke up early on Friday to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I was supposed to be in the lobby at 4:45 am to catch my tuk tuk to the temple. When I got to the lobby a few minutes early, the workers at the front desk had been sleeping on the couch and were very confused when I came in. They said that it was only 3:45 am and that I had another hour to wait. It turns out Cambodia is one hour behind Taiwan and I did not realize it haha! I thought I had looked up the time difference, but I must have been mistaken! So I went back to bed for another hour already fully dressed for the day! When it was actually 4:45 am I took the tuk tuk to Angkor Wat and found a place to sit down and enjoy the sunrise. I got there when it was still pretty dark and it took until about 7 am until the sun was fully out. I took the rest of the morning to explore more temples in the Angkor area. I also went to Wat Thmey (a killing field near Siem Reap). There are killing fields all throughout Cambodia due to the Civil War in the mid 1960s to mid 1970s. It was sad, but interesting to read some of the accounts of people’s experiences during the genocide. In the afternoon, I ventured downtown Siem Reap to explore, get a massage, and eat at Hard Rock Cafe.
Saturday I started a good routine of doing yoga in the morning, having breakfast, reading by the pool, and going swimming. In the afternoon I headed downtown for a cooking class where I learned how to make a type of Khmer curry, shrimp spring rolls, and a dessert with mango and sweet rice. I went to see Phare, the Cambodian circus, in the evening. It was my first time going to the circus and it was very exciting! I met a very nice couple from the Philippines there who I talked to most of the evening. When I got back to my hotel I had a message from Mom and Dad that said to call them as soon as I got the message. They told me that Grandma Helen passed away around 2am on Saturday morning (2 pm my time). It was pretty hard to be alone after hearing this. I felt guilty about even coming to Cambodia because if I had gone straight home after school got out I could have seen her again. After thinking about it for awhile I think maybe Grandma wanted to go at that moment so that I would not have to see her suffer. I’ll make it back home just in time for the wake and funeral; it is as if she planned it that way. I think it was around 4 pm (before I knew that Grandma had passed away) during my cooking class when someone asked me what types of foods were special from Minnesota. I told them all about growing up as a kid and helping Grandma make lefse, strul, meatballs, and mashed potatoes. I think she came to visit me at that moment. I tried to make the most of the rest of my trip as I know she would want me to take advantage of the opportunity to travel, but kept Grandma very close in my heart.
On Sunday I did my normal routine of yoga, breakfast, reading, and the pool before spending the afternoon downtown and saw a modern day temple called Wat Preah Prom Rath. I went to a dinner show in the evening which was quite entertaining. I ate a buffet dinner and then watched several traditional Cambodian dances. Monday was my last day in Cambodia. I started with my normal morning routine before going downtown. In the afternoon I went to the Senteurs d’Angkor Workshop where I learned and watched how several local crafts are made including: candles, baskets made from palm leaves, incense, curry powder, etc. After this I had went to the spa for a three hour appointment where I got a massage, facial, and Cambodian body wrap. I felt so rejuvenated after this! After dinner I flew back to Shanghai where I had a long layover before finally landing in Taiwan midday Tuesday.
Here are some things that I noticed in Cambodia:
- Any time you need to go anywhere there are a million tuk tuks and scooters ready to take you…I got so sick of the phrase, “tuk tuk lady?”
- There were several Korean markets and restaurants including one that was called Pyongyang Restaurant. I thought this was strange until I remembered that Cambodia used to be a communist country and so they must have had close ties with Korea at one point.
- Personal shrines were everywhere; in almost every store and restaurant.
- Massages are very cheap!
- Cambodia is extremely hot!
- There are many poor people living here. I was asked twice to buy a meal for a woman’s baby. The first experience a 19 year old asked for me to buy here milk for her baby. I had my hands full at the moment and was kind of in a hurry so I just gave her some money. I reflected on this several times while I was there as I was not sure if giving her money was the right thing to do or not. First of all, the baby was sleeping and I saw the same girl go up to other tourists on a few different occasions throughout the rest of the trip. I am wondering if it is just the easiest way for her to make money as many tourists will see a baby and give her money. On my last day in Cambodia another woman with a kid around 2 years old was also holding a baby bottle and she asked me for milk for her baby too. I did not give her anything as the kid was clearly too old to be only drinking milk and thought it was just a tourist trap. This experience made me feel really guilty and then a few hours later I saw 2 more very young women with babies ask tourists for things. I asked a couple who was sitting next to me at the time if they’ve had this happen to them (they were a couple that were currently teaching in Cambodia) and they said that many times the actual parents send their older kids out with the young baby to ask tourists for money and food. I think I am more inclined to give money and help in any way I can if I see them trying somehow, such as making something and selling it or whatever it happens to be, but I find this is a hard topic to know the correct answer.
My trip to Cambodia was a great success! It was very relaxing and a nice way to end the year. Now on to a new adventure tomorrow morning as I move back home to Minnesota!!!
Rachel Belinda Gulbranson 