Traveling Cambodia: Siemp Reap & Angkor Wat

Siem Reap, Cambodia



 Straight off the plane, a lesson is learned
Try to haggle at the airport, you're gonna get burned.

In the markets, you can really work down the price

But the country is poor and fair prices are nice.

A girl named Oun sells sarongs by the street

I look for her every time, hoping we'll meet.

Her people have gone through a dark, scary past

But emerge with a happiness that I hope will last.

The town of Siem Reap is pretty and clean

With tourists abound - but it's not obscene.

The streets still got that cool, small town vibe

The place'll have you thinking, "It's good to be alive." 

The people have posts all along the street

Selling butterfly shirts and juices so sweet.
Spending all day at work, they are always amid
Doing business with tourists and raising their kids

Below is a picture that I took at sunset
Across the street from the hotel where we slept

Just as it had been in Thailand, there seemed to be
Little Bhuddists shrines in every nook and cranny

This is an example of one you might see

It's got figurines and decor, food, or coffee

Moving on now, let's talk about Angkor Wat
The world's largest religious monument  - it's quite a spot!
We got there at morning, arrived before dawn
Watched the temples come into focus from across the lawn.

Waiting quietly together for the sunset to come
You could hear little more than a gentle, anxious hum


As if what we would witness wouldn't be a place
Rather artwork anticipated but yet encased 

As the night washed away and the morning began
We all got our first glance at the temples and ran

Inside the grounds to explore all around
The old Khmer Empire capital. We were wowed.


 Over 400 acres in area Angkor Wat is
What's left of that 9-15th century biz

Originally built in the name of Hinduism. BUT...
It got mixed up with Buddhism - a kinda religious mutt.

Our our tuk tuk ride on the way out of town

We passed by the market. Guess who was around?

Lo and behold, there at work Oun was

Waving back when I called to her through the touristy buzz.

Well, that's all the rhyming I have in me now.
But below I've got pictures, so don't have a cow!

Dancing from Temple to Temple

Stones and Structures

 

The Green Stuff

The monkeys

T

Short Food Commerical Break

I did a ceramics class in the town one afternoon, and here's what I came up with. Pretty cool! Got to use the pottery wheel. The best part though? I got to spend upwards of an hour talking with a young Khmer man about 20 yrs. old who told me about his life in Cambodia. I originally went just to play with clay, but I left with much more than a ceramic cup or two. Although I can't remember his name now, he told me about education in Cambodia, about the people, about the government. He said little about the Khmer Rouge, but most of what is going on today has its roots in that regime. One thing he told me that I'll never forget was that public law protects tourists, not Cambodians. So, if someone were to steal from him or assault him - he wouldn't even both reporting it to the police. They don't care. Neither law or law enforcement works to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the Khmer people. However, tourists' interests are treated with the utmost care. It's comforting to hear this when you're traveling as a tourist in Cambodia, but it's disturbing once you realize what this means for the Khmer people. The prime minister *coughdictatorcough* ...sorry, something stuck in my throat...doesn't seem to put much thought into developing a sustainable economy or to into improving civilian living conditions. His efforts are focused on increasing tourism. So, the way to do that is to show tourists a good time. Aside from the moral hangups I have about this system, the big problem I foresee is the gradual destruction of tourist sites. There is currently little to no security at Angkor Wat. Tourists touch everything, stand on anything - it's not well-kept. And given that word is quickly spreading about how amazing a site it is, that gradual destruction will be coming sooner and sooner. Take heed, Prime Minister *coughdictatorcough* Oh, I really must warm some tea for this nagging cough.

Our Guide - we also learned a lot from him. He's hopes to continue his education and save enough money that he can open schools in Cambodia. Emerging educational reformist. I hope to read about his vision-come-to-life in the papers one day not too far in the future. 

Another Food Commercial Break. This is a traditional Khmer dish. 

Cambodian food definitely isn't as creative and delicious as Thai food. But, like I mentioned before, the country has its work cut out for it. Culinary innovation should perhaps not be a priority right now.

Indiana Jolie

I wrote this as an accident while I was absentmindedly trying to type Angelina Jolie and Indiana Jones. But I like it better this way. In fact I've since come up with a title even more fitting for the occasion: Indiana JolTree, eh? eh?

You might recognize these trees and this temple from Tomb Raider. 

There's even a cocktail in Angkor Watt named after Angelina Jolie. Apparently she went behind the bar and made her own drink, and now it's a cocktail all its own.

I'm THAT tourist. #TackyTourismNoRegrets

When it all went wrong...

The infamous rip of 2015.

I walked around the sacred grounds of Angkor Wat for 1 whole hour with a hole the size of Texas on my bottom. It wasn't until two older women selling fans on the side of the street called me over between their chuckles that my face turned redder than a strawberry.

Fast facts:

·      Capital = Phnom Penh

·      Currency = Riel ( 1 USD = ~4000 Riel)

·      Language

o   Khmer (spoken by 95%)

o   English = most studied. Chinese close behind. French = colonized language.

·      Population

o   15 million

o   Official statistics state that 96% ethnic Khmers, making it the most homogeneous country in Southeast Asia

o   But in reality 10-20% is of Cham, Chinese, or Vietnamese origin.

·      Lifestyle

o   For older Cambodians, life = faith, family, and food.

o   Generational gap now, like a 60’s swing, younger kids more stable, fun life

o   Corruption is still a way of life in Cambodia (g’ment, economy, police...)

·      Religion

o   The majority of Khmers follows the Theravada branch of Buddhism.

§  This branch incorporates many cultural traditions from Hinduism for ceremonies.

o   Under the Khmer Rouge, the majority of Cambodia’s Buddhist monks were murdered and nearly all wats (temples) were destroyed. In late 1980s, Buddhism once again became the state religion.

o   Islam is also practiced (by the Cham community)

o   Animism (among the hill trives)

o   Christianity (starting to be a thing because of missionaries)

·      Food

o   Amok = fish baked with coconut and lemon grass in banana leaves

o   Prahoc = fermented fish paste

o   Kyteow = rice-noodle soup

o   Bobor = rice porridge (best with fresh fish and a dash of ginger)

o   Tukaloks = fruit shakes (mixed with milk, sugar and sometimes a raw egg.

History and background

·                             1. Funan & Chenla

o Indianization of Cambodia began in 1^st century AD. Traders from the Bay of Bengal to southern China brought Indian ideas and technologies to what is now southern Vietnam. As the Chinese call it, Funan was the largest nascent kingdom from that era. From the 500s-700s, Cambodia seems to have been ruled by a collection of competing kingdowns. Chinese annals refer to what is now Cambodia as Chenla.

·          2. Angkorian era

o   AD 802-1432

o   Lots of conquest, turmoil, productivity.

o   In 802, Jayavarman II reigned and proclaimed himself a devaraja (god-king). He rose against Javanese domination of southern Cambodia and became the first monarch to rule what is now Cambodia.

o   The capital was moved to Angkor and Yasovarman I commissed the construction of Angkor Wat.

o   But since the 1200s, ascendant neighbors steadily chipped away at Cambodian territory. Thais even sacked Angkor in 1251 and again in 1432. They took a lot of the intellectuals, artisans and dancers, so Thai culture has a lot of Cambodian influence.

o   From 1600 – 1864 (the French conquest), Cambodia was ruled by a series of weak kings. A lot of them were Thai or Vietnamese.

·             3. The French conquest (1864 -1953)

o   The French presence really did protect the country at a time when it was in danger of being swallowed by its more powerful neighbours. They pressured Thiland into returning the territories they had stolen (i.e. Battambang and Siem Rieap and Angkor).

·              4. Independence from France in 1953

o   This was under King Norodom Sihanouk

o   There was prosperity and peace for a while.

o   Until the neighboring Vietnam War broke out. The North Vietnamese and Veit Cong were using Cambodian territory in their battle against South Vietnam and the US forces, prompting devastating American bombing and a land invasion into eastern Cambodia.

o   In March 1970, Sihanouk (now serving as a prime minister) was overthrown by General Lon Nol and took up residence in Beijing. Here he set up a government in exile that allied itself with an indigenous Cambodian recolutionary movement that Sihanouk had dubbed the Khmer Rouge…

·              5. Civil War (1975-79)

o   The country saw a brutal civil war that culminated in the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge.

o   Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on 1975 and restructured society. Its goal was to transform Cambodia (renamed Democratic Kampuchea) into a giant peasant-dominated agrarian cooperative, untainted by anything that had come before.

o   The advent of Khmer Rouge rule was proclaimed Year Zero. Everyone from Phnom Penh and provincial towns were marched into the countryside to work as slaves. Intellectuals were wiped out and brutally murdered.

o   Leading the Khmer Rouge was Saloth Sar (AKA Pol Pot).

o   Khmer Rouge rule was brought to an end by the Vietnamese, who intervened and liberated Phnom Penh. They still kept protesting and waging civil war after, but were finally defeated in 1998 by the Cambodia government.

6. Current Prime Minister, Hun Sen

o   The Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has dominated politics since 1979 when the party was installed in power by the Vietnamese. There's relative peace, but the people see him and his party as tyrannical, and have not produced a successful revolution because the CPP is backed by the military.

·              7. Political forecast uncertain

o   However, the 2013 national election saw the united opposition make significant gains in the national assembly. There were some election irregularities, so there were some protests regarding the voting results. The united opposition to the CPP is the CNRP (Cambodia National Rescue Party). Politics could change a lot in the coming years.

Check out this resource for info on history

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cambodia/history

Thanks for reading. Besos a todos!