Wats, War Stories and Dance Parties
Siem Reap, Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
We had two options: a 14-hour bus journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia, or a $200 flight. For many of you reading this, it sounds like a no-brainer. But frankly $400 goes a long way in SE Asia, and we’re not in any hurry. Once we found out half of the bus journey would not involve aircon or paved roads, shelling out the cash was the only sane option.
We arrived in Siem Reap Sunday afternoon, calm and rested as opposed to sweaty, swearing and irate. Thanks to the French who colonised Cambodia from 1863 to 1953, the architecture and open-air cafes of this little town made us realize what we were missing in Bangkok. Its adorable, charming and much more than we expected.
Monday morning we set out for Angkor Wat in the tuk-tuk of a local 32-year old named Sokhorn. His English was impressive, and he drove us through the countryside to some of the distant untouristed temple ruins. Some of these ancient sites were empty, and we were left to explore mazes of stone structures built mostly in the 11-13th centuries alone.
The second day we visited Angkor Wat, the famous Tomb Raider temple and some others with our guide Sam, a 47-year old former school teacher. He was only 11 when the Khymer Rouge fighting began. With his life experiences and expertise in ancient Cambodian history, Sam was a good story-teller, and spending the day with him brought the stone buildings to life.
The Khymer Rouge is a ripe memory for those who endured the time here in Cambodia–and it was incredible when someone shared a personal story. You can’t exactly go around asking people “So, tell me about where you were during the savage genocide of the Rouge.”
Sam was given a rifle to defend the elementary school where he taught. Eventually he was forced to leave Siem Reap–with thousands of people who paraded out of the city under the cattle-prodding Khymer forces, forced to walk 120 kilometers to the jungle, where they lived for an extended period of time. Sam didn’t specify how long, but did make several ‘When I lived in the jungle’ references, indicating it wasn’t just a long weekend.
Another story came from Wade, who worked at our guesthouse. He is our age, and was quite young during the war. He was from a village nearby Siem Reap, and recalled burying his books in the ground, so soldiers wouldn’t find them. “They’d steal anything- from radios and televisions to pigs and cattle” he said. His books were unearthed, and pages ripped out and used for rolling cigarettes.
Our time in Siem Reap wasn’t all history and war stories. We accepted the invitation from our tuk tuk driver for a night on the town. We ended up at a beer garden, with his tuk-tuk-driving buddies and a few of their girlfriends. We were served a soup made with wild boar, which is fine, except that I think I heard the words pig’s blood in the list of ingredients (but chose to deny myself further clarification). We drank Angkor draft beer with ice cubes and followed the crowd for approximately 58 clinking-of-glasses “cheers”.
Then the dancing started. Cambodian pop music. A scene created for YouTube. The entire time all I could think about was how I wished for a video camera. Cambodian dancing is quite modest, there isn’t any touching involved…kind of like the first school dance in 6th grade when everyone is really self-concious. Feeling extremely foriegn, I just copied the dance moves of everyone else: a slight back and forth sway accompanied by some flexed-hand movements. Not a jig for those suffering from carpal tunnel.
After every song a girl in a blue shirt (who had been staring at me the entire night, and addressed me as “Teacher” for some odd reason) would bow and embrace me. Her post-song ritual gained momentum, and eventually included cheek kisses and a few neck kisses. Ahem. Needless to say, I was a bit uncomfortable, but couldn’t figure out if she was following a cultural custom or invading my personal space. A surreal evening.
Next stop: Laos.
Tags: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Siem Reap, Travel
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