Travel Songs

They said Cambodia was completely flooded. News reports featuring pictures of men in water up to their waist, reading the newspaper or eating ice cream. For a moment I almost decided against making the trip to Siem Reap, but I just couldn’t. My decision to come to South East Asia was made almost completely on basis of eventually going to Cambodia, to get to Siem Reap, and finally – to Angkor Wat. So, I made up my mind and boarded a bus to Bangkok. From Bangkok, I got my ticket for a ride to the border, and then to Siem Reap afterwards. The van we took was comfortable, there were 9 of us, and the view was amazing as we drove along. Driving towards the Cambodian boarder from Bangkok I was able to see terrain slightly different then what I was used to in Rayong and Bangkok. Huge open fields of farmland, growing cassava, raising cattle, and generally just looking just as I would have imagined farms in Thailand to look. I was asleep for the first part of the journey, but as we got closer to the border I began to wake up as the rest of the passengers were discussing VISA issues and border problems. As I keyed in on what was being said, I began to realize that our van had consisted of two groups of people, people that had made this border crossing many times, and people (like myself) who had no idea what to expect. According to what I remembered from my travels in South America, I just assumed that we would get to the border, someone would slap me a high five, and say ‘come on in Zach, welcome to Cambodia’. Well – I was wrong, it was actually much different. First things first, I needed to buy a VISA, not only that, but I needed a picture of myself to accompany the VISA. The whole process would cost about 25 USD – in my wallet I had about 30 BAHT (1 dollar US). Next, the van takes us to a station in the middle of nowhere, where nicely dressed, professional (professional in this part of the world just means you actually have shoes on and your shirt is tucked in) looking men told us that the visa would be 50 USD. Thankfully, a nice young Khmer girl came to my rescue and told me to follow her, ‘do not buy the VISA’s from these men’ she told me, ‘they are rip offs’. Anyway, after getting over the fact that the bus company I paid to take me to Cambodia, was basically trying to rip me off on the border, I continued to the next checkpoint. The lands between Thailand and Cambodia are like a scene out of a movie: men with no legs coming to you asking for money, children holding babies asking for food, people dragging huge carts of covered goods to checkpoints. I felt as if I had traveled back in time, to a land with no laws, no developed system of what one can and cannot do - a borderland. Anyway, after waiting in line for about 2 hours, my Khmer friend helped me afford my VISA, and we got onto another bus to head towards Siem Reap.

The view out the window as the bus traveled through Cambodia was amazing. I remember thinking prior to this trip that since Thailand and Cambodia were so close to each other, they would be very similar – but I was couldn’t have been more wrong. The entire trip to Siem Reap was rice fields. Flat land, as far as I could see, with nothing but rice fields, flooded, with the occasional child swimming in them. Within the first hour I could see that Cambodia was much less developed (in a western sense of development) then Thailand. The small villages we passed through were very quaint, with houses on stilts just barely escaping the floods, and men wading through the water to catch fish or tend to the rice fields. It took about 3 hours from the boarder to get to Siem Reap, and we arrived by night. I checked in to my guesthouse, payed 2 USD for my room, and went to sleep. It had been a long day.

The next day I went out to explore Siem Reap. Immediately I found myself thinking that I was in the middle of the jungle. It was so different then Thailand, and Bangkok. It WAS flooded, but it had a much more relaxed feel to it, and the people seemed so much humbler. The Khmer person looks much different then the Thai. It almost seemed as if the Khmer looks like a Thai mixed with an Indian (from India, duh). Faces rounder, generally hairier, lips smaller; it became easy to tell a Khmer apart from a Thai. Anyhow, I spent some time in Siem Reap, eating Khmer food, getting a fish massage, and visiting the artesian market, all the while preparing myself for what I came here to do – Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the oldest functioning Buddhist temple in the world, and while Angkor Wat itself is a single temple complex, Angkor Wat is alost the term used to describe a whole group of temples buried deep within the jungle of Siem Reap. Because of the beauty of these temples, Siem Reap has become a popular tourist destination. I would say that as I find Angkor Wat to be the Machu Picchu of the east, I find Siem Reap to be the Cusco.

While the town at first glance seems to be a traveler’s paradise, with everything you would need to complete your backpacker’s trek through SE ASIA, after a while you start to see a different side of things. And just as I did in Cusco, I began to see this side. The notion of selling culture as a commodity has been something that haunts me wherever I go. It essentially ruins my ability to ignorantly enjoy traveling and forces me to look deeper into these places I go. In Siem Reap, I felt the sadness of the people. In a country, in a town, where the economy is based on rice and tourism, the people have no choice but to sell their history. Trips to Angkor Wat, paintings of Angkor Wat, Ankor Wat t shirts, Angkor Wat baseball caps, Angkor Wat toothbrush,The Angkor Wat burger (ok that last one isn’t real – but come on!); all of a sudden, this beautiful temple that defines such a big part of their culture and history, becomes a sales pitch. It becomes cheapened. I never expect to feel that I am doing something authentic when I go to a place like this. I know that the temple tours, and the traditional dance shows, and all these wonderful attractions are just a show; and when all of the tourists and travelers go to sleep, are the Khmer people still going to Angkor Wat and dancing, or is their shift over? Once the people because accustomed to selling this culture, when it comes back around, is it still something they enjoy? Is it still theirs? Is it something that they are still proud of as a ‘Khmer’ town with a ‘Khmer’ temple? I asked my driver what he thought about Angkor Wat, about the beauty of the temple and what it means to him. ‘I don’t care’ he said, ‘I see this everyday, it is nothing to me now’. So, I paid him 20 USD asked him to pick me up at 530 am the next day. I had to see it.

-
Angkor Wat = Machu Picchu + mosquitoes + Legends of the Hidden Temple + monkeys. There is not much I can say about the temples themselves, simply because I do not think words (or pictures for that matter) can adequately describe how amazing they are. I met my tuk tuk driver at 530, watched the sun rise as I drove into the temple complex, and spent the day traversing flooded temples and ancient complexes. Angkor Wat was everything that I had hoped it would be, everything that I expected, and well worth my trip to Asia. Please enjoy the photos below.

Football court at my guesthouse

Siem Reap 1day prior to complete flooding

Market at Siem Reap

My accomodations

Apsara Dance show

Today is Monday, September 26, 2011 and not less then 2 weeks ago I was sitting on the toilet of my guesthouse bathroom feeling like a demon was trying to exit my body. They say that during the rainy season here in Thailand, flood water causes sewage to mix with cooking water, the result being - everyone gets violently sick. Yet, there I was, piecing together a disguise to wear for when I go to the same restaurant I just left 2 hours ago, to order the same exact meal I had just eaten 2 hours ago. I wasn't hungry. I wasn't hungry the first time I went to the restaurant, and yet there I was, asking the British couple down the hall "do you think they'll recognize me like this?" The moral of the story - the food here is delicious; and it makes you act crazy. So, there I was, walking into this restaurant for the 2nd time in one night and the 9th time in one week, to order the same thing I order every time. I was hoping that my disguise (a baseball hat) would be good enough as to not have to face up to the embarrassment of revisiting the same restaurant twice within 3 hours, but, (of course) they recognized me... This is probably because I'm one of twenty westerners in this town and I'm at the restaurant everyday. Anyhow, they know what I want, and all it takes is a nod of the head and the chef/waitress is in the kitchen (which is visible from my seat) whipping up my meal. And here comes my favorite part about this restaurant (aside from the food of course). The chef can see me, I can see the chef, I know that the chef knows that I can see her, and yet - she eats my food while she is cooking it. I don't mean tasting it, I mean she literally is putting large spoonfuls of my soon to be meal into her mouth while preparing it. Normally I could see how this would be off putting to someone, but to me I find this to be comforting. I like this for two reasons: 1. it means the food is safe - obviously she is not going to poison herself by eating bad meat or rotten coconut water, and 2. it means the food is good - good enough to blatantly eat in front of the customer who is paying you to make it for them. Anyway, within 10 minutes my meal is ready and sitting in front of me. Yellow Curry with chicken, or prawns, or a little bit of whatever the person before me ordered. Sometimes I drink a coke, sometimes I drink a beer, I always eat ice cream after, and I always proclaim upon completion that it was the best meal I have ever had.

This happens a lot around here. The food is dirt cheap, delicious, and and eating is a fun way to pass the time between class, or work, or just chilling. Below you will find photos of a few of the different meals I have experienced in Thailand. Enjoy.