Travelogue-- Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Christmas 2007 (just found this, which it is why it is out of sequence)
Cambodia has low ceilings. I’ve smacked my head on a bunch of door jams and boats. My noggin is knottier than pine at the moment. We went out on the water today. The largest fresh water lake in Asia, Tonle Sap Lake, gathers water from the Himalayan runoff and feeds the Mekong River as it winds its way south through Phnom Penn to the delta in Vietnam that connotes so much sadness for those of us of a certain age. Frankly, I thought Cambodia would evoke those feelings in general, but it has not. It is long ago and far way, that war, and weall of us, the Vietnamese, the Thais, the Cambodiansare different. Anyway, It all spills into the South China Sea, and a whole population lives on the lake and the surrounding lowlands. They are mainly Vietnamese refugees whose communities move up and down river about 5 km a year as the rainy season changes places with the dry season. They fish or farm rice, depending on how deep the water is. The fish get sold to Thailand. The rice goes all over Asia. There is also a subset who live off the tourist traffic on the water. Little boys and girls in their parents’ canoes glide up next to the tourist boats and jump aboard, repeating the incantation, “one dollah, one dollah.” To them it seems magical because dollars appear in exchange for the cold Cokes and bananas they offer. Then they jump ship, and are back home in the family craft. It’s like a marine lemonade stand.
It’s been a week since I’ve heard or seen aircraft of any type. That’s plenty weird. Off the beaten civil and commercial aircraft path, apparently.
Yesterday we finally went to the granddaddy of all temples, Angkor Wat. It’s one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Tons of carvings. The whole thing is one hundred thousand square kilometers. A moat surrounds it. There are three levels of ancient security in the form of masonry walls. Inside the third wall is the temple itself. Each of the four sides of that wall has a story from Hinduism carved into the walls. The story of Hanaman, the monkey saving Sita the queen from the demons, plays longer than a medium par three. The temple is oriented East-West, so the story of Heaven and Hell is even longer than Sita’s North-South tale of rescue. It is replete with demons meting out their punishments as the Judge sends scores to Hell. Heaven is less well represented. I assume the artists had more experience with the former than the latter.
The outside is also riddled with bullet holes. After we left Indochina in the seventies, the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Cambodian government and was ruthless by every modern-day standard. They cared little for people and less for art. On an oddly related note, the temples are primarily of Hindu origin. The Buddhist temples that preceded them were all defaced by the Hindus when they arrived. The Hindus left the bodies, but chiseled out the faces of the Buddha statuary, not unlike the Taliban blowing up the Buddhas in (what passes for) modern Afghanistan. Buddhism has no gods, just the trip to enlightenment on earth. Obviously, that really pisses off both the mono- and polytheists who insist their deities reign supreme.
Last night we went into the town of Siem Reap (we are in the province, but not in the town proper). It only takes ten minutes and one millennium. Actually, it is quite modern in places where the French colonized. There is a beautiful French Quarter and loads of food that runs the gamut from dirt-floor local restaurant to chic fusion and Continental cuisine. We settled for feeding seven hungry stomachs for $46. Not exactly five star, but not dirt-floor either.
On the way back, we and I hired a tuk-tuk-that’s a traditional taxi. Not long ago they were man-powered rickshaws. Now, they’re little Honda 110 Dream Cycles with a carriage attached to the seat via trailer hitch. We drove along the Siem Reap River, first past the great colonial wealth, then the newer indigenous wealth, and ultimately past double and triple cots with the cool blue light of television glowing through mosquito netting. I’m realizing this is not just Asian, it’s the same economic diversity we have in Mississippi and West Virginia. The haves and have-nots aren’t bound by political borders.
Crazy hot, and this is the cool season, so pool will be popular, as will the beach when we get to the island of Koh Samui. Meanwhile, I’m just blown away by how my expectations were so out of line with the reality of Thailand, and so far Cambodia. First, the people are extremely friendly. The economies are driven by tourism. Many more speak English than I would have imagined. Infrastructure is modern and growing quickly. Also noteworthy is the fact that they are stylish and the women, in particular, are beautiful.
We spent the first week in Bangkok exploring the old temples and palaces and the canals that make it the Venice of the Far East. There are a billion cars and motorbikes and seem to be no rules of the road. I am taken aback by their technical and economic prowess and the huge dichotomy as past meets present. There’s no zoning in Bangkok, so beautiful new high rises shadow squalid old shanties. All told though, the momentum is decidedly toward progress and everyone has a cell phone. Satellite dishes bloom like madness in the spring (apologies to Ian Anderson). The malls are modern and teeming with consumers.
Southeast Asia is an awakening giant. The infrastructure is new and gleaming. The people are cheerful and glad to help. The service reminds me of the U.S. twenty years ago. We’d better watch out because they are innovative, on the rise and waiting their century.