Siem Reap - Cambodia
6/3/05
On our first day in Siem Reap we just visited the city and spent a quiet day since we were still a bit tired from the trip of the day before.
The first thing we noticed is that the French baguette is a very common bread in Cambodia, they were available in every food stall along the streets.
The center of the city is full of bars aimed at western tourists. They sell burgers, pasta, pizzas, and steaks and only list the Cambodian and Khmer food at the end of the menu.
Many bars play the Buddha Lounge music and Project Gottham and the restaurants reminded me very much of the ones in NYC. They even had a Zanzibar.
In the center is the Old Market were we had lunch, but it is not really big, neither interesting.
Walking around, just few meters from the market, we found Akira Mine Action Gallery.
Aki Ra is a former Khmer Rouge conscripted child soldier who has now devoted his life to making Cambodia safe again in addition to providing assistance to his country's numerous landmine survivors through a number of humanitarian programs.
Indeed I have to say that we saw many of these poor innocent landmine victims begging on the streets. It really breaks your heart to see KIDS that lost their hands, or arms, feet and/or legs because they were playing on the fields and triggered a landmine. These mines make no distinction between a tank, a soldier, a peasant worker or a kid. Another terrible thing we learned about landmines is that they are not designed to kill, but to maim, because a wounded soldier costs MONEY to the enemy.
To add more to this depressing experience, we learned about the Mine Ban Treaty created in 1997 (www.icbl.org), which was signed by 122 countries. The treaty deals with everything from mine use, production and trade of mines, to victim assistance and mine clearance, and also destruction of stockpile. But 42 countries still refuse to join it; among them are the United States, China, India, Pakistan and Russia. Some of these countries still produce landmines and have huge stocks in warehouses ready to be placed in new location!!!
Cambodia still had conflicts until 1997; the country is freshly out of serious trouble and it is now trying to get back on track.
When we left the Akira's Gallery we met Udi on the street, another year-traveller that was on the same bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap. There were also two other girls with him and we went for a beer in one of the bars.
From the bar they went somewhere else to have dinner and Angie and I walked all the way back to the hotel.
At the hotel, at night, we met Udi again and we scheduled to visit Angor Wat the next day by bicycle.
6/4/05
Udi, Angie and I, left early at 7:15 A.M. on rented bikes. Angkor Archeological Park is just 8 kilometers north of Siem Reap; the road is good and the terrain is plain, perfect for a pleasant bike ride.
The site is designated a World Heritage by UNESCO and its artistic, archeological significance and visual impact is paired with the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.
This place was the capital city of the Khmer Empire that existed between the 9th and 12th centuries of the Christian Era.
We tackled our way to the temples and made a first stop on the south gate of the most famous construction, the apex of the Angorian existence, Angkor Wat, a massive three tiered pyramid crowned by five beehive-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. Nearly 2000 distinctively carvings adorn the walls describing stories and characters of from Hindu mythology.
The temple is the world's largest religious building with its external walls extending 1300x1200 meters. The temple itself is 1 km square. One can easily spend a whole day walking in its corridors.
We looked around, met a monk and witnessed a group of Korean tourists in a religious ceremony worshiping Buddha in the center most tower of the temple where from there is also a nice view of the surrounding forest.
But we had to move, so we took our bikes and pedaled to the next place, Ta Prohm Kel, a tiny temple, actually a chapel, but the most interesting thing was the little village behind it and a furious little monkey fighting a dog and attacking people; we had to keep one eye on it while visiting this place.
Then we moved on to Baksei Chamrong, a 12 meter-tall pyramid that we obviously climbed up. :D
Another 5 minutes of biking and we arrived at the south gate of Angkor Thom.
Even after looking at the map of this site I couldn't realize how big this place is. This one has a 3 km square wall surrounding a moated royal city. Inside there is a temple called Bayon with over 13.000 carvings.
From there we went to Preah Khan and then a long bike ride, 10 kilometers to Ta Prohm, the temple with one of the most famous postcard pictures of Angkor, where there are huge banyon trees growing over the walls.
On the way there was what seemed to be a school and the kids came for a greeting when we stopped to take a picture of the boy on the car pulled by oxes and offered us flowers.
By then it was close to the end of the day and we biked to Phnom Bakheng, a temple on the top of a hill where it is possible to have a nice view of the Tonle Sap Lake and the distant Angkor Wat in the middle of the jungle.
We saw so much but there was still a lot left unseen ... this place is amazing!
Some other unexpected things can also be quite amusing. Imagine a traffic sign like this in Manhattan.
The sun was gone and we had to bike back to the hotel in the dark. Before going to the hotel we stopped in a tour agency to by a boat trip to Battambang for the next morning.
On our first day in Siem Reap we just visited the city and spent a quiet day since we were still a bit tired from the trip of the day before.
The first thing we noticed is that the French baguette is a very common bread in Cambodia, they were available in every food stall along the streets.
The center of the city is full of bars aimed at western tourists. They sell burgers, pasta, pizzas, and steaks and only list the Cambodian and Khmer food at the end of the menu.
Many bars play the Buddha Lounge music and Project Gottham and the restaurants reminded me very much of the ones in NYC. They even had a Zanzibar.
In the center is the Old Market were we had lunch, but it is not really big, neither interesting.
Walking around, just few meters from the market, we found Akira Mine Action Gallery.
Aki Ra is a former Khmer Rouge conscripted child soldier who has now devoted his life to making Cambodia safe again in addition to providing assistance to his country's numerous landmine survivors through a number of humanitarian programs.
Indeed I have to say that we saw many of these poor innocent landmine victims begging on the streets. It really breaks your heart to see KIDS that lost their hands, or arms, feet and/or legs because they were playing on the fields and triggered a landmine. These mines make no distinction between a tank, a soldier, a peasant worker or a kid. Another terrible thing we learned about landmines is that they are not designed to kill, but to maim, because a wounded soldier costs MONEY to the enemy.
To add more to this depressing experience, we learned about the Mine Ban Treaty created in 1997 (www.icbl.org), which was signed by 122 countries. The treaty deals with everything from mine use, production and trade of mines, to victim assistance and mine clearance, and also destruction of stockpile. But 42 countries still refuse to join it; among them are the United States, China, India, Pakistan and Russia. Some of these countries still produce landmines and have huge stocks in warehouses ready to be placed in new location!!!
Cambodia still had conflicts until 1997; the country is freshly out of serious trouble and it is now trying to get back on track.
When we left the Akira's Gallery we met Udi on the street, another year-traveller that was on the same bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap. There were also two other girls with him and we went for a beer in one of the bars.
From the bar they went somewhere else to have dinner and Angie and I walked all the way back to the hotel.
At the hotel, at night, we met Udi again and we scheduled to visit Angor Wat the next day by bicycle.
6/4/05
Udi, Angie and I, left early at 7:15 A.M. on rented bikes. Angkor Archeological Park is just 8 kilometers north of Siem Reap; the road is good and the terrain is plain, perfect for a pleasant bike ride.
The site is designated a World Heritage by UNESCO and its artistic, archeological significance and visual impact is paired with the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.
This place was the capital city of the Khmer Empire that existed between the 9th and 12th centuries of the Christian Era.
We tackled our way to the temples and made a first stop on the south gate of the most famous construction, the apex of the Angorian existence, Angkor Wat, a massive three tiered pyramid crowned by five beehive-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. Nearly 2000 distinctively carvings adorn the walls describing stories and characters of from Hindu mythology.
The temple is the world's largest religious building with its external walls extending 1300x1200 meters. The temple itself is 1 km square. One can easily spend a whole day walking in its corridors.
We looked around, met a monk and witnessed a group of Korean tourists in a religious ceremony worshiping Buddha in the center most tower of the temple where from there is also a nice view of the surrounding forest.
But we had to move, so we took our bikes and pedaled to the next place, Ta Prohm Kel, a tiny temple, actually a chapel, but the most interesting thing was the little village behind it and a furious little monkey fighting a dog and attacking people; we had to keep one eye on it while visiting this place.
Then we moved on to Baksei Chamrong, a 12 meter-tall pyramid that we obviously climbed up. :D
Another 5 minutes of biking and we arrived at the south gate of Angkor Thom.
Even after looking at the map of this site I couldn't realize how big this place is. This one has a 3 km square wall surrounding a moated royal city. Inside there is a temple called Bayon with over 13.000 carvings.
From there we went to Preah Khan and then a long bike ride, 10 kilometers to Ta Prohm, the temple with one of the most famous postcard pictures of Angkor, where there are huge banyon trees growing over the walls.
On the way there was what seemed to be a school and the kids came for a greeting when we stopped to take a picture of the boy on the car pulled by oxes and offered us flowers.
By then it was close to the end of the day and we biked to Phnom Bakheng, a temple on the top of a hill where it is possible to have a nice view of the Tonle Sap Lake and the distant Angkor Wat in the middle of the jungle.
We saw so much but there was still a lot left unseen ... this place is amazing!
Some other unexpected things can also be quite amusing. Imagine a traffic sign like this in Manhattan.
The sun was gone and we had to bike back to the hotel in the dark. Before going to the hotel we stopped in a tour agency to by a boat trip to Battambang for the next morning.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 3:27 AM
2 Comments:
Good stuff guys, more pictures,and less writing please. I so envy your experience. Can't wait to see you in Peru and to listen to all your fascinating experience over a couple drink of pisco sour.
Angie & Adriano, Angkor Vat, what a marvel, I am sure you would have liked to stay longer ! Lucky you ! But why could a civilisation capable of building up so highly religious monuments, destroy itself like they did with the Khmer Rouge. I have the same unsolvable question when I listen to Bach, and I see the concentration camps. Maybe your world trip will help you find the answer ? Jean-Pierre
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