Siem Reap, Soapboxes, and Sappy Sentimental Sayings

Since my last post I finally made the requisite “Cambodian tourist” trip to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. For those of you not in the know, Angkor was the former capital of Cambodia and is a massive area covered by all sorts of temples built by different Khmer rulers from 800AD to 1400AD. It’s essentially the leftovers of a 600 year pissing contest between all the rulers as they each strove to leave a more impressive legacy than the others. The result is a series of ruins that remain incredibly impressive centuries later to history lovers and generic tourists alike. The gem is of course Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in th world.

After a bus ride from Phnom Penh, I got settled into my guesthouse and grabbed a tuk tuk into Siem Reap. It’s a pretty awesome little town; much smaller (obviously) than Phnom Penh, but bustling with bars, restaurants, and tourists from every corner of the Western hemisphere. There’s an area called Pub Street that is closed off to automobile traffic so people can walk around; it reminded me a bit of Bourbon Street in New Orleans in that regard. Since I was going solo, I didn’t stay too long and, after dinner and a couple drinks, retreated to my guesthouse where I enjoyed the rare comforts of strong air conditioning and hot water.

It was good that I went home early too, because I had decided to get up at 4:30 to catch the much-recommended sunrise at Angkor Wat. Because Angkor Wat faces west, it’s considered a prime place to take in a sunset. Despite the insanely early hour, the place was mobbed with other tourists. The sunset was kind of disappointing, but I ended up being glad I got there early, if only to keep me out of the heat for most of the day.

I’m not going to go into all the details of the temples I saw; both because I don’t have my guidebook in front of me and because unless you’re standing in front of these ruins, the details of their construction are only interesting to history buffs (sorry Dad). I’ll try to add the details onto my Picasa page when I load it, but suffice it to say that all of Angkor is amazing, whether or not you’re huge into history. The reason for this is not that you’re seeing things you can’t see in the U.S.; I’m sure there are many museums all over the country that have relics from these times and places. The difference is that in these museums you have to look at a few samples from behind a velvet rope; it’s interesting to see but very sanitary and removed from its original environs. But here you can reach out and touch these carvings that were made centuries ago, you can climb all over them, you can stand in the middle of them just like the people who made and used them did. It’s incredible to take such a distant and exotic history and have a tactile interaction with it.

My first day I went all over the place. I hit up the big three “must sees”; Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm, as well as a few smaller temples and a long trip out of the area to do a three mile hike at Kbal Spean. Combine all of this with the heat and the fact that I’d been up since 4:30, and I was pretty much as tired and sweaty as I’ve ever been in my entire life. I managed to get back to the guesthouse to shower then grab dinner in Siem Reap.

The next morning I took a trip to tour the floating village; this is a fishing village just south of Siem Reap; the entire village floats to accommodate for the varying water levels between the wet and dry seasons. Although I was there when the wet season had begun, it’s takes a good deal of time for the water level to really reach its apex. As a result, the water levels were very low. I took a boat tour led by a 22 year old guy who was born and raised in the village. He spoke perhaps the best English I’ve heard a Cambodian speak, and he was really cool. He told me about how he has 9 siblings that he provides for because his father lost both legs to a landmine, and how he hopes one day to be a tour guide at Angkor Wat. This village clearly had a good deal of poverty that was tough to see. The boat ride went through the village and out onto the Tonle Sap lake, then back through the village.

*SOAPBOX WARNING; IF YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR ME PROSELYTIZE ABOUT DEVELOPMENT, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH* Some of you may know that I’m doing my big graduate project on Community Based Tourism. In brief, this is the practice of ensuring that tourism practices A) are sustainable in a way that allows them to continue indefinitely (i.e. don’t pollute it so badly you can’t use it in 10 years) and B) that allows the communities that live there to benefit from the tourist dollars. Many developing countries are emerging as great tourist destinations, and effectively using tourism for economic development is very important. I have already had an academic interest in this subject, but this weekend has made me officially pissed off about it. To get into Angkor Wat, you have to pay $20 a day. This $20 goes straight to a Vietnamese oil company that runs the place. Yes, you read that right. Forget all the poor Cambodians who have Angkor Wat as their legacy, they’re relegated to trying to sell souvenirs and cold drinks while a freaking oil company from a developed country gets the admittance fees. Also, plans are underway for Angkor Wat to be outfitted with electric cars run by a Korean company. Why let the local moto and tuk tuk drivers make money off tourists when we can let those poor Koreans make a quick buck? And the icing on the cake; that quick little boat ride in the floating village cost an absurd $25. Did this money go to my tour guide supporting nine siblings and crippled father? No, it goes straight to the Cambodian government, a fiscal black hole if ever there was one. There was, however, one moment of useful tourism for me. My tour guide asked if I’d like to visit one of the schools at the floating village. I of course said yes, and he asked only that we stop by a market quickly to buy some school supplies to bring with us because the school needs them. So I dropped $10 and bought a bunch of notebooks and pens, and visited the school. It was fantastic, the kids were adorable and the teacher very nice. It’s where I managed to get what, so far, is my favorite picture of this summer:

See, this is smart tourism. They let me hop on the floating school and check things out, and as a sort of admission price, I bring donations. That was money that I was downright elated to spend, because I knew it went somewhere it should. I would have happily paid twice as much to get into Angkor Wat if I knew that it went towards helping locals to achieve economic development. Ostensibly it could or should; the money goes to the government of Cambodia who, I’m sure, has a lucrative deal with these companies. If they then turned around and spent the money for the locals then it would be fine. But again…fiscal black hole. OK, the rant is over.

After touring the village I headed back to Angkor to hit up a few more temples and take in a sunset. I ended up catching the sunset at Pre Rup, one of the more popular places to do so. Apparently it wasn’t THE place to do it, but THE place to do it is overrun with tourists, and I preferred my choice. Although the sunset wasn’t spectacular, it was a nice quiet way to end the day around a handful of other friendly tourists and a local who carried up cans of beer that he sold to us. Sitting on centuries-old ruins, drinking a can of Angkor beer, and watching the sunset; there are worse ways to end a day.

Not much more to mention after that; I caught a bus home the next day. I really liked Siem Reap, but quickly tired of how tenacious they were towards tourists. Any time you’re a Westerner people treat you like a big bag of money, but in Phnom Penh you only get that at the markets and big tourist spots. Since all Siem Reap is nothing but a big tourist spot, it’s pretty rough. Every driver asks if he can be your driver to go all around Angkor, the driver I did get gave me his card and repeatedly (and I do mean repeatedly, to the point of annoyance) asked me to please give it to my friends who were planning to visit. Kids are perpetually trying to sell you stuff at the temples. This isn’t different from Phnom Penh, except that in PP when you say no they stop trying, but at Angkor no apparently means “Why don’t you ask me 14 more times and we’ll see”. I remember thinking “please let me make it through the day without screaming at a little Cambodian girl.” You know in cartoons when a character is really hungry, and when they see another cartoon character that character suddenly transforms into a giant turkey leg? Well it’s like that, except white people become a huge dollar sign. Anytime a waitress chases you down with a menu asking you to eat at their place, it’s annoying. But I also understand that we’re their cash cow; it’s how it is. Maybe that would change if the tourist practices improve. Here’s hoping…

This weekend I’m going to Bangkok to see the city and visit my friend Alicia, next weekend is Ho Chi Minh City. Then my friend Diana visits Phnom Penh, and then Stephanie shows up and we take a vacation for a couple weeks. And then I go home. Man…really??? When I first got here I remember thinking, as I saw Phnom Penh for the first time and fought off a panic attack, that three and a half months was FOREVER. Now I’ve fallen in love with this country and it just doesn’t feel long enough. At the same time, I’m really excited to get home, to see all my family/friends, and to move into my new house and summarily drive Mike and Jessie (my new roomies) slowly insane. But I know the second I get home and rest up, I’m going to miss being here. Be here, miss home. Be home, miss here. Until I figure out a way to transport everyone I love and miss overseas with me, this will be a juxtaposition (that’s our word of the summer!!! AHHHHHH!!!!! ) I’ll have to deal with. I’m always missing something, no matter where I am. But I’m also starting to learn that having things to miss means that you’re doing something right with your life. And on that note so sappy and sweet every ant in my apartment (of which there are many) would swarm me, I’ll end it.