Last I was in Sukhothai working on my attitude. I left Sukhothai and spent a couple days getting back up to Chiang Mai to say goodbye to Roxanne and fly back to Bangkok. I have always had an emotional connection with my vehicles and feel gratitude for the freedom they give me; both in my livelihood and play time. It was bitter sweet to say goodbye, but it is time for Roxanne to find her next adventure partner. This also means I am entering my second leg of this journey.
This is where I was supposed to go to Vietnam and ride a loop that was highly suggested to me. After talking with a few people from northern Vietnam I learned it was a particularly cold wet winter and they suggested I might wait. I took this suggestion and made the decision to go to Cambodia instead.
I flew back to Bangkok and organized taking a bus to Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat. It is a 9 hour ride and I am actually looking forward to not having to pay attention from destination to destination. Immigration always makes me nervous and they walk you through the process so this is a bonus. I am always seeming to miss a certain piece of paper, or a stamp, or a photo.
This time I was prepared, or I thought…. By the time we got up to the front I had lost the crucial piece of paper needed to get my stamp. I went into a little bit of a panic; the fight, flight, or freeze mode. Your brain stops for a moment and things are not clear. I had to step out of line and no-one in the area spoke English. My group all entered Cambodia and I was left behind in Thailand. After I unfroze, with urgency, I went to each authoritative person and they did not understand my predicament. Eventually a Cambodian woman approached me and handed me another form to fill out along with a pen and scooted me in front of the very very long line. She welcomed me to Cambodia in broken English and took the wrath of all the others in line. I was so grateful for her kindness.
We arrived at the bus station and my phone no longer was working with the Thai sim card; I needed to get a Cambodian card. I feel so naked without my phone. It is my GPS, map, and Lonely Planet all in one. I asked one of my fellow travelers if they could plug in my hotel so I could start walking in the right direction. We were swarmed by aggressive Tuk Tuk drivers who were reaching for your backpack and telling you to come with them. I was adamant that I wanted to walk. I have been on a bus for 10 hours and I try to save a buck wherever I can. I had a driver ride on the side of me for a couple hundred yards yelling out discounted prices and saying,, “please, please” It is hard to deny them a wage but I had to move on.
As I got closer to town I found a phone place and was able to get a new sim card and plug in my coordinates. It is such a relief to have my phone working. I was very impressed with Siem Reap; it felt so modern. You could really feel the French colonial influence. On first impression it felt very cosmopolitan. The streets were clean and there was a lot of activity.
Getting closer to my hostel and the epicenter of tourists the Tuk Tuk drivers started making themselves known again. The food stalls, souvenir shops, restaurants, and bars were all quite vocal on trying to get your patronage. I haven’t experienced this much hocking on this trip and it made me uneasy. I had to tuck away in an alley and look up how to say ‘no, thank you’ in Khmer. I do not like to just ignore a first attempt at a sales opportunity, they are trying to do their job. And they often stop if you reply with a kind firm response in their language.
I unknowingly chose a hostel that is quite a party scene. There is a pool right out front with a wet bar and you get a free bucket of a cocktail of your choice upon arrival. Their were beautiful young westerners sunning in lounge chairs, on tubes in the pool, and playing beer pong and jamming to music. It was quite a contrast to what I have been experiencing but decided to embrace the energy and ordered a bucket of club soda with lime.
In order to experience Angkor Wat your best bet is to hire a Tuk-Tuk driver who will drive you around and wait for you at each temple. Angkor Wat covers an area of 200 acres plus other temples that are further away. People also rent bicycles but the idea of riding around in the thick heat and walking through the temples with no reprieve seems like torture. ( the humidity and temps have increased significantly, 95 degrees) The driver also has knowledge of different circuits to take for how many days you are visiting. This is so helpful because I got overwhelmed on short notice trying to plan out what to see with my 3 day ticket.
You can hire someone through your hotel or you can go out and search for one yourself. This is much cheaper and you can decide for yourself if this person is a match. However; the experience I just had with the desperation of the drivers made me hesitant. I was tired from travel and was not sure the right questions to ask. I decided to get some food and on my walk back keep my eyes open and ask for guidance to the right driver.
On my way to get food I passed a younger driver who looked up at me, made brief eye contact but did not say anything. I told myself if he was there on my way back I would approach him. On my way back he was still there but getting ready to leave; I approached him and asked if he did Angkor Wat tours. He said ‘Yes’ and did not follow it up with anything else. He was waiting for me to speak. I asked how much he charged and what tour he suggested. He spoke very good English and gave me an excellent price and made some suggestions. He was patient and humble with me; I told him I wanted to start early and end around noon to beat the heat. We exchanged numbers and agreed on the time and place.
Tna arrived early in the morning before sunrise, we stopped for coffees and started our tour at Angkor Wat. He dropped me at the entrance and told me where he would be waiting for me. Because I did not do a lot of research before coming to Angkor I really didn’t have any expectations. Most people for sunrise stand outside for the epic picture. I wanted to be inside when the colors hit the walls and it was quiet. For the first hour I walked around mostly by myself in complete awe of how I was feeling and what I was seeing. Reading the stories on the walls and imagining what it must have been like and how the hell did they build this?
Angkor Wat was built by a Khmer King almost 900 years ago in the 12th century. It took 30 years and 300,000 laborers. The sandstone blocks that built Angkor Wat were quarried from more than 30 miles away and floated down the Siem Reap river on rafts. At Angkors height it was home to 700,000-900,000 people. They believe Angkor was conquered by mother nature herself. Prolonged drought followed by heavy monsoon seasons undermined her structure and she started to collapse.
Hidden for centuries in the middle of the jungle until the year 1860 when a French naturalist made the ‘discovery’. In the early 1900’s during the French colonial rule over Cambodia, a commission to restore the site for tourism purposes was established. Major efforts at the site began in the 60’s when Cambodia was moving towards constitutional monarchy.
Civil war broke out in the 70’s with the takeover of the Khmer Rouge and all efforts came to a halt. An estimated 1.8 million Cambodians perished and among them were the scholars and caretakers of Angkor. Less than a dozen Khmer custodians survived. Cambodia remained socially and economically isolated from the rest of the world for more than a decade and during this time no work was done at Angkor.
Without getting to deep into the politics of who was involved in 1989 an evaluation of the damage the park had sustained in the 20 years of strife was documented. From here a conservation, training, and education program was formed to help the Khmer rebuild and maintain one of the most significant historic complexes in the world. The training of young Khmer architects, engineers, and archeologists are the keystone of the work at Angkor, which is the main driver of tourism in Cambodia. Angkor is their gem.
Did I google these wonderful facts? A few of them; but, mostly I stand at the edge of tour groups and listen to their guide until I have got what I need and move on. I love all the information they have but I need my quiet time to absorb what I am seeing and hearing. I always feel for the people that are bored stiff and glazed over.
After a couple hours at Angkor I was pretty sweaty and ready to move on. Tna was waiting for me with cold water and a big smile and a plan. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy the cooling ride. Each temple we visited Tna would give me some information, ask if I had water, make sure I didn’t get run over exiting the Tuk Tuk, and tell me where he would be to pick me up. Every time I came back he listened to my enthusiastic chatter and he would share more information. I was like a little kid and he didn’t seem to mind. As a solo traveler to have someone to express my excitement to was so meaningful. We ended the day around noon and made plans for the next day as well. We were going to travel to the farthest temple first thing in the morning and work our way back.
The following day is probably one of my favorites. I was picked up before sunrise and we started our ride out to ‘Lady Temple’ This drive took us about 45 minutes out into the rice fields and different villages. I love seeing the day to day life of others unravel, especially in the morning. We stopped for coffee and watched the sunrise over the Kings swimming pool, a man made reservoir the king used as a pool to do laps.
I was the only one at Lady Temple and arrived when the sun was starting to warm the rocks with its orange glow and a flock of parrots were flying about in the tall trees making a welcome racket. It really added to the feeling of being in the middle of the jungle. I pulled out my chair and sat in the middle of the temple grounds taking in all the different sounds, smells, and soft warm breeze. All my senses were in complete pleasure mode.
After Lady Temple we slowly made our way back visiting other temples, eating food, drinking water and getting to know each other. The Cambodian people have this underlying grounded humility and resilience. I asked a lot of questions of Tna about his life, family, and work. He was open with me and shared his struggles and victories, and his light hearted sense of humor.
Tna is 33 years old and a middle child of 10 children in a village about 45 minutes from the center of Siem Reap. He is a husband and father of 3 and stays most of the time in the center to make money. He describes his village as very poor, their is no industry or opportunity except for the growing of rice.
He has learned English through Youtube and chatting with his clients. He watches English movies, and listens to English music. One of his favorite artists next to Bob Marley is Eric Clapton. He taught himself how to beautifully and perfectly sing ‘ Lay Lady Lay’ and shared a video of him singing it for the first time out in public. I was impressed. I can not imagine learning how to perfectly sing a song on Khmer. A lot of dedication and discipline. Along with learning English on YouTube he has taught himself how to do fine woodworking; making tables, windows, doors, signs etc. He is a great example of someone who uses the internet as a means to better his life in ways that make a difference.
His ambition is driven by giving his children a better life. More than anything he wants them to have an education and learn English. This has been a common thread amongst talking with other Cambodians. They believe learning English is one of the greatest gifts they can give their children. I can see where they are coming from. The English speaking have much more opportunity. They have more opportunity in the work force and the school system. Not just the Cambodians but the Thai as well; however, there is less learning materials written in Khmer and they are still pretty removed from the native English speakers and teachers. I have so many thoughts on this but will save it for a future conversation.
What I can say is because of this awareness my life is following the path it is meant to. I have been so moved by Tna and the people I have met here in Siem Reap that I want to help. As some of you know I have been looking for some sort of volunteer work that happens organically and not through some organization. This is it! It happened just the way I hoped it would.
I am motivated to try and help to teach English to Tna’s family and village. They have limited resources and it costs a lot of money to learn to speak english. They do have a teacher but learn on paper with limited conversation. I have this natural gift of the English language that I can offer. We are going to work on ways to make this happen. I do not know yet what this looks like but I am going to connect with the kids teacher when I get home and see how we can work together. I am also praying for the endurance and fortitude to see this through.
Okay, back to Siem Reap and my last couple days. I prebooked my flight out and gave myself only four days here; I thought I was going to be happy with this short stay. I don’t ever like to say I have regret; but, I regret not having more time in Cambodia. I will just have to return.
On the 3rd day of my temple tour I decided I wanted to go to one of the temples for sunset. Tna suggested a temple that you had to hike up to and had a view of Angkor Wat in the distance. It was impressive to see Angkor Wat with its four towers poking through the jungle as we watched the sky turn colors. It gave you perspective of how large this kingdom was at one time. Getting back to my hostel I felt so grateful for having met Tna and felt a little sad that this part of the trip was over. Angkor Wat was absolutely incredible but nothing compares to human connection.
Not only did I make a connection with Tna I learned about the other ‘aggressive’ drivers and their lives. I connected with the food stall cooks and women giving massages. They had such a similiar story and humility; I have become more curious about their history and culture. I look forward to learning more.
The next morning Tna picked me up to take me to the airport not in his Tuk Tuk but in his van. It was beautiful and I felt so proud of him, like he was my kin. We shared the sentiment and commented on how many similarities we had even though we were from different walks of life. We each had something to offer the other and I felt very fortunate. He invited me to return to his village, have food, and meet his family and I hope to take him up on this in the future. But, for the present I am grateful for the seeds he planted for me. I hope we can combine our visions and fertilize the minds of others. Cambodia, you have taken root in my heart and mind.
