Travels by Bus
See the world on bus, ON foot & on my own.
CAMBODIA, KAMPUCHEA
Long weekend getaway to Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh.
(The photos were scanned in low resolution)
09/02 - 16/02/2002
08
days
Visa was obtainable upon arrival. It cost US$20, an application form and a photo. If you have forgotten a photo, you had to pay extra. The exchange rate was 4000 riel to US$1 but US dollars are widely used here.
The immigration officers were very friendly towards me, they asked where I came from and told me I'm beautiful which made me laugh as they did not speak much English but they learnt only the essential! Truth was, I found the Cambodian men better looking than Singaporean men.
Kampuchea was the old name used by the Khmers which was adapted from kambu-ja = those born of Kambu, a figure of Indian mythology. The change to Cambodia in 1989 was to disassociate from the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, whereas Siam Reap meant "Siamese defeated".
It was Chinese New Year and SilkAir had a good fare to Siam Reap so it was time to visit Angkor Wat. The direct flight from Singapore arrived at 10am. The small airport looked new as it still lacked signages. Even though I was one of the first to arrive into the arrival hall, I ended up the last out as I was standing in the wrong line.
The airport was 7km from town. It cost US$5 for a taxi or US$1 for a cyclocab (motorcycle cab). I didn't want to ride behind a motorbike thus I asked for taxi but was queried why I was spending so much money when I'm travelling on my own. Huh?! You can tell that Cambodians are thrifty people.
Siam Reap/Cambodia was only starting to open up to tourism. This "arch" was the gateway to Siam Reap town. The picture isn't very clear but the road was still red clay, not tarmac.
In the end, a taxi driver drove me to 2 guest houses which I didn't want to stay in but had no choice because he didn't want to bring me further down the road to Smiley's Guesthouse which was listed in the Lonely Planet as an "affordable and friendly" place to stay at US$3 per night. I ended up paying US$15 for a spartan air-conditioned room at a place whose name escaped my memory.
After putting down my bag, I went for a walk in town and visited a temple.
The picture on the left is a "shrine" of sort with skulls of the Khmer Rouge victims piled up in there. According to Wikipedia, the Cambodian civil war was a struggle between the Communist Party Khmer Rouge and their allies from northern Vietnam and the Viet Cong against the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia. After October 1970, the Khmer Republic was supported by the US and the Republic of Vietnam. It only ended when the Cambodia coup put a pro-American, anti-Vietnamese government in power but after 5 more years, the government was defeated by the Khmer Rouge which led to the Cambodian genocide led by Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979 where an estimated one and a half to three million people died.
When the communist Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, they tried to completely destroy Buddhism and very nearly succeeded. By the time of the Vietnamese invasion in 1979, nearly every monk and religious intellectual had been either murdered or driven into exile, and nearly every temple and Buddhist temple and library had been destroyed.
The Khmer Rouge policies towards Buddhism included the forcible disrobing of monks, the destruction of monasteries, and, ultimately, the execution of uncooperative monks which estimated between 65,000 and 80,000. Buddhism was only restored in the early 1980s.
The monks functions are to say prayers and give blessings, not to carry out rites or processions.
The monks in Singapore have to give up their materialistic possessions so I was rather amused to see that monks here talking on their mobile phones. I'd never have thought that Cambodia was so advanced in telecommunication but with a population widely spread out, I guess mobile communication is the only viable means, which explained that even monks had mobile phones.
I believe many Cambodians might have entered monkhood due to poverty at home as the monastery provided them lodging and education with English as one of the subjects. And the monks really enjoyed practising their English with us. They wanted to know our names, where we were from, what we do, how big are our families but their smiles showed their genuine interests to make friends which was touching. Like the Thais, monks here are allowed to leave the monastery and get married.
Well, that first night in Siam Reap was one of the worst nights in my life because there was a cockroach in my room. I ended up having the lights on the whole night. In a way, thanks to the cockroach or I wouldn't have woken up at 4am for a sunrise...
As soon as it was possible to, I moved to Smiley's.
The owner of Smiley's has 2 other establishment: Mummy's I and II which meant that he must be rather wealthy. The staff tried to push the newer and more expensive rooms to be but I got the ensuite with a double bed and fan for only US$3. A steal!
It was here that I met Jeff, Bill and Chad - 3 Canadians teaching English in Taiwan. This was the 1st time I'm travelling with Westerners who shared a "secret" language with me - Mandarin!
The guys had already hired a car with a driver, Phaan so they invited me to join in. Back then, it cost US$20 per day to hire a car with a driver, or US$6 for a motorbike-driver. It was great to be able to go on a tour with other fellow tourists. The driver, Phann was a nice and young family man. Unfortunately, he didn't go around the temples with us to explain the history behind them but he would answer any questions we had.
That's Jeff, Phaan, Bill and me in the photo.
To see the temples of Angkor Wat, foreigners are required to buy a pass (while it is free to Cambodians). There were many checkpoint at each temple. Some times they did not ask me for my pass perhaps because I looked Cambodian to them, so they said.
You can get the one-day pass (US$20), 3-day pass (US$40) and a 5-day pass. If you bought the pass after 4 p.m. a day earlier, you can still use it the next day. Thus, we decided that it is better for me to wait until 4 p.m.
Finally when we went to the main entry gate/ticket booth to get me a 3-day pass, I was amused by the Mandarin-speaking photographer. He must have picked up the language from the number of Chinese tourists. I also bumped into Simon, a friend of Stimo. I was happy to see him but I think Stimo's name was not a good idea... I bumped into him again the next day at Angkor Wat but he seemed to be in a rush as well. Maybe he has a crush on me. Oh well.
To buy time, we visited the crocodile farm which was a rip-off at US$2 entrance because all we saw were crocodiles lying in the sun. The most fascinating, however, was the cage that kept mutilated - chopped tail, crooked jaws etc.
ANGKOR WAT, HERE WE COME!
The Temples of Angkor, according to the guide book, was an architectural wonder of the world. It was built between the 9th and 14th centuries - the Angkor period - when Khmer civilisation was at the height of its creativity. The kings of the Khmer Empire ruled over what is now the southern Vietnam northward to Yunnan in China and westward to the Bay of Bengal. And the Angkor period begins with the rule of Jayavarman II who proclaimed himself the god/universal king whose all-reaching power expressed the godlike qualities of Shiva whose dwelling place is the mythical Mt Meru. Thus, the temple mountain at Phnom Kulen for him.
Angkor covered 100 or so temples including administrative and religious centre. Houses, public building and palaces were constructed of wood while brick/stone was reserved for the gods.
The temples of Angkor were lost after the Thais sacked Angkor in 1351 and in 1431. Angkor was then left to be consumed by jungle; with most of it made of sandstone meant that it started to dissolve in prolonged contact with dampness. Pilfering of the sculptures and cut stones meant that much of the temples have started to collapse and was going to. Luckily the French "discoverers" came in 1860s, otherwise we may not be able to see the wonders of Angkor today.
Someone asked if the temples were built before the jungle or the other way round. The answer is, the jungle tends to grow back as soon as it was cleared, making Ta Phrom and the likes, with its "natural" setting our favourite sites.
TA PHROM!
The first temple we visited together and my favourite.
Ta Phrom was built in 1186 as a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of Jayavarman VII. It is the only temple in the Angkor region where inscription provided information about the temple's dependents and inhabitants:
Close to 80,000 people were required to maintain or attend to the temple. Among them were more than 2700 officials and 615 dancers.
It is a temple of towers, close courtyards and narrow corridors. Most of the towers have fallen or looked like it's waiting for the unlucky tourist.
I was most amazed by the roots which showed the age of the trees. Many bas-reliefs were covered by lichen, moss and creeping plants.
The main attraction of Phnom Bakheng is the sunset over Angkor Wat.
Phnom Bakheng is a natural stone mountain built from 9C - 10C by Jacovarman I. It is a 5-tiered temple mountain with 7 levels, including the base and the summit. The numbers are of symbolic significance - 7 representing the 7 Hindu heavens while the total number of towers is 108 correlating to the lunar calendar.
We finally drove on to Phnom Bakheng to see the sunset. People came up here to see sunset over Angkor Wat but we were all apparently facing the wrong direction.
To get to the top, we had to tackle the steep slope of the hill, sometimes grabbing tree roots, on all fours, similar to rock climbing. Then climb the last steep and narrow steps of the temple, and with many people climbing it at the same time. I have scanned my photos poorly but you can still make out the crowd from the photos.
SUNSET AT PHNOM BAKHENG
With all these efforts, if you ask me, sunset was disappointing! The only "entertainment" was the Japanese tourists posing for pictures after pictures and how the women get picked up by locals or Western men. And of course our Mandarin jibes with each other.
SUNRISE WITH ANGKOR WAT
None of us are early risers but since we'll probably be here once in our lifetime, we had to do a sunrise, and since Chad was taking the ferry to Phnom Penh to see his Cambodian girl and had to wake up at 4am anyway, plus thanks to a cockroach in my room again! I was forced to sleep with the lights on and not able to go into deep sleep so sunrise with Angkor Wat was a good decision.
Well, sunrise turned out to be a very pleasant experience actually. The morning air was fresh and even a little chilly which was good to keep us awake.
We plunged ourselves onto the river bank facing Angkor Wat. It was pitched dark at 6am and not a tourist in sight because everyone else was headed for Bayon.
I had a hard time taking dark shots so this photo with Bill was a lucky one.
Angkor Wat is the largest temple, the best preserved and the most breathtaking. It was constructed as a funerary temple for Suryavarman II who ruled from 1112 - 52 to honour Vishnu, the Hindu deity who the King identified with.
At the same time since it faces west which symbolised the direction of death which many scholars thus believed it to be a tomb.
The bas-relief were designed to be viewed anti-clockwise which again, is a practice in Hindu funerary rites.
And a documentary on TV showed that the temples were built in line with the solar eclipse i.e. during the solar eclipse, the sun will be in line with the tip of the temple.
Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat 1.5km by 1.3km and is 190m wide. As it's still water, these workers were harvesting kelp/algae in the moat.
To visit Angkor Wat, we had to walk a sandstone causeway to reach the temple, "an avenue 475m long and 9.5m wide lined with naga balustrades, passing between 2 graceful libraries and 2 pools. The spatial dimensions of Angkor Wat is to parallel the lengths of the 4 ages or Yuga, of classical Hindu thought." Thus, by walking the causeway to the main entrance and through the courtyards to the final main towers, which once contained a statue of Vishnu, is metaphorically travelling back in time to the first age of creation of the universe.
Angkor Wat is again surrounded by another rectangular outer wall which measured 1025m by 800m with a gate on each side but the main entrance has a 235m-wide porch richly decorated with carvings and sculptures. At the gate tower, there is Vishnu 3.25m in height with 8 arms holding a mace, a spear, a disk, a conch amongst other items.
INSIDE ANGKOR WAT
As mentioned before, since Angkor Wat faced West, it is best to be visited at sunset but our driver's great advice for us to visit at sunrise to reverse the crowds' choice gave us great photo opportunities with no tourists in our pictures.
The central temple complex consisted of 3 storeys, each made of latente, which enclose a square surrounded by intricately interlinked galleries with carvings of dancers/half-naked women.
We think that the monks have been polishing some parts of the sculptures.
The corners are marked by towers each with pointed cupolas. And once again, to reach the top, it involves climbing up a very steep flight of steps but you will be rewarded with a very nice view. It was so nice and peaceful there that a few people were just sitting there writing their journals or reading. Bill and I ended up chatting for a while, waiting for Jeff to catch up.
SUNSET AT ANGKOR WAT
The guidebook suggested sunset at Angkor Wat but there was not much of it on the day we were there so we ended up sitting around and chatting. Jeff gave some sweets to the Cambodian children which made them hyper, running around and laughing; with the sweets, he also made new friends with four Israeli girls and the monks. Our snake charmer.
THE LITTLE CIRCUIT AROUND
The little circuit, 17km in total consists of Angkor Wat, Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei & Sras Srang, Ta Keo, Angkor Thom and the entire Baphuon.
This is the Victory Gate of the circuit.
We drove onto to Prasat Kravan which was built for Hindu worship in 921. There was nothing much of the place to remember by except that Jeff bought a pair of pants with elephant print for Chad for US$1. The first sale of the day is deemed good luck for the Cambodians thus the bargain!
Next, we drove to Banteay Kdei & Sras Srang.
Banteay Kdei is a massive Buddhist temple of the 2nd half of the 12th Century while Sras Srang (Pool of Ablutions) which measured 800m by 400m has a tiny island in the middle which once bore a wooden temple but only the stone base remained today. Once again, nothing impressive about this place except for the little girl I spoke to.
Like all the children we met, she wanted me to buy some bangles. My famous response is always "Don't want" in a Singaporean accent. (I've learnt never to say "Maybe later" as I was hounded by a girl when I said that!) Anyway, my little friend exclaimed, "I think you Cambodian".
I was really amused so I chatted with her, asked her her age. She's 10 but looked more like 7. We talked about school and her eyes lit up. She goes there everyday in the afternoon after work.
She is learning Cambodian but it's difficult she said. After some time, she remembered that she has to sell me something. When I still didn't want to buy the bangles, she asked if I wanted water. She was so happy when I said yes and she ran away & got me a bottle of cold water, and was really happy when I paid. Till today, I think about her & wondered how she is...
I spoke to a Canadian back at Smiley's Guesthouse one evening. He said he met a 10 year old girl who rattled on the facts about Canada - Ottawa is the capital, the population etc which impressed even himself. I could see why some tourists would consider adopting Cambodian children.
They led a hard life which would eventually turn them to be great entrepreneurs which Singapore government want our pampered nation to become but despite the hard life they lead, they are so happy, like a group of musicians we met singing on top of their voices! They wore old and dirty clothes and most didn't have any footwear. I feel so ashamed that we have food, money and many more things than them, yet we often complain!
TA KEO
Built by Jayavarman V, it was dedicated to Shiva and was the first Angkorian monument built entirely of sandstone.
The summit of Ta Keo is surrounded by 4 lower towers with a central tower more than 50m high.
At the entrance of this temple, Jeff & Bill met the Taiwanese girls who were on the same ferry as them so we stood there & chatted. In Singapore, we have the SPG - girls who go for Western men. Here, Jeff & Bill are Western men who like Asian girls. Even when we met attractive Western women, they were not interested in them at all. They weren't even interested in me because I'm a "banana": yellow skin but white inside (mentality). Quite funny.
Before I set out for Cambodia, every guidebook warned that we should stay on path and not stray even if we need to relief ourselves as there are still mines in this country. I was a little worried as I definitely do not want to lose a limp so it didn't help that it was Chinese New Year when I arrived, there were firecrackers everywhere, the sound of which made me nervous because I thought it could be an explosive.
The HunSen government is working hard to improve tourism. He said to have 1 million Chinese visitors would be better than having 10,000 illegal Chinese immigrants. Now, I wonder what other government have been thinking of but there was an article in the papers the other day saying that Angkor temples would not be able to support the influx of tourists when the new Siam Reap airport is completed. The temples are likely to give way due to the weight of tourists. They are thinking of restricting the temple visits to only 200 - 300 persons per day, and only for a few hours each so that it can also reduce traffic congestion which we have witnessed especially after sunset at Bakheng.
Mr HunSen also said he would like Cambodians to travel more. I'm glad that I'm Asian as I have more "access" to local Cambodians as they felt a connection to me and talked openly about their "personal" life. I spoke quite a fair bit with the staff at Smiley's Guesthouse. They told me that it cost them US$1,000 to have a passport. With an average wage of about US$50 for the road sweeper, it would take them years to afford a passport, without which, they remain forever in Cambodia.
PREAH KHAN
Meaning Sacred Sword, Preah Khan is a good counterpart to Ta Phrom. Built by Jayavarman VII with towered enclosures and shoulder-hugging corridors like Ta Phrom but in better condition. Preah Khan is very large but the temple itself is enclosed by a wall 700m by 800m.
Preah Khan is used as a centre for worship and learning. The temple was supposed to have been dedicated to 515 divinities thus you can see quite a number of carving of celestial dancers and such. Major festivals took place here thus the Angkor Conservation is housed here as it requires a large team just to maintain the place.
It's been a long day since we woke up for sunrise thus, we went for a nap after lunch back at Smiley's Guesthouse before heading out to Preah Khan. Most of the temple is shaded by trees thus, it was rather pleasant to walk through in the afternoon, making it one of our favourites too.
ANGKOR THOM
Angkor Thom is about 10 sq km built by king Jayavarman VII.
Centred on the Baphuon, Angkor Thom is enclosed by a square wall 8m high and 12km in length and encircled by a moat 100m wide, said to be inhabited by fierce crocodiles.
There are gates of 20m high on each side of the city and decorated on either side with stone elephant trunks and crowned by 4 gargantuan faces of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara facing the cardinal directions.
In front of each gate stood statues of 54 gods (to the left) and 54 demons (to the right of the causeway).
In the centre of the walled enclosure are the city's most important monuments including Bayon, the Baphuon, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas and the Terrace of Elephants.
BAYON
After going around the temples for 1.5 days continuously, I decided to take a break and head to Phnom Penh with Jeff & Bill and return the next day to continue the tour of the temple with a wish to see only Bayon as I have heard raving reports from fellow travellers and I wanted to pay "Smiley" a visit...
This is one place I wished I had a tour guide to tell me the story according to the carvings.
This was the only place where nuns were collecting money for incence as offering and children asking for money to have their pictures taken.
What I termed as "Smiley" is actually the gargantuan faces of Avalokiteshvara. There are about 200 in Bayon itself. Everywhere you turned, someone is smiling at you!
I also liked the unique passageway which looks symmetrical.
The number of bas-relief at Bayon is over 11,000 figures.
The famous carvings on the outer wall of the first level depicted vivid scenes of everyday life in 12 Century Cambodia.
The one on the left showed Khmer soldiers marching off to battle with elephants and ox carts.
The 2nd level showed coffins being carried from the battlefield and on the 3rd, Jayavarman VII on horseback followed by concubines.
THE BAPHUON
Baphuon is a pyramidal representation of mythical Mt Meru constructed by Udayadityavarman II and marked the centre of the city that existed before the construction of Angkor Thom.
The picture on the right shows the 200m elevated walkway made of sandstone leading to Baphuon.
The central structure of the Baphuon is 43m high but the summit has collapsed which may be restored. Now, the place is closed for renovation.
I passed by the Royal Enclosure & Phimeanakas rather quickly as there wasn't much to see, I only wanted to see the Terrace of Elephants because every time we passed by in the car, I was amazed by it so I was really excited that I'm finally having some photographs of it taken!
The 350m long Terrace of Elephants was used as a giant viewing stand for public ceremonies which had horse-drawn chariots and elephants parading across the Central Square in a colourful procession thus, it served as a base for the King's grand audience hall.
On the north of it is the Terrace of the Leper King which has a platform 7 meters high. On top of it stood a nude, sexless statue. It could be the statue of Yama which is the god of death as the royal crematorium is housed here.
The wall carving here shows seated apsara with kings in pointed diadems, armed with short double-edged swords and accompanied by the court and princesses who are adorned with rows of pearls.
Yet another early day because we have to catch the ferry to Phnom Penh on the Tonle Sap which is a photo-op of this sunrise shot over padi fields but from a moving car.
The government is just starting to build a road leading to the "pier" thus, the road was still covered in red clay which meant that everything along this road is covered in red - houses, trees etc. We were lucky to have a car to take us to the pier. When I came back on my own, I had to take a motorbike and I did not dare to look at my face in the mirror after the ride.
JOURNEY TO PHNOM PENH
The pier at the Floating Village hardly existed!
At 7 a.m., there were 3 ferries leaving for Phnom Penh. It cost US$25 per person but half for Cambodians, that's why our driver was keen to help us buy our ferry tickets.
Each of these ferries were over-crowded.
If you had bought the tickets at the pier, you would be without any seat. That's what happened to most backpackers who would then take the roof, to get a tan and in case the ferry capsizes?!
We had seats assigned to our tickets but we didn't realise this and were waved on to an overcrowded ferry which didn't even have room on the roof.
Luckily, I was attractive i.e. female Asian looking like a Cambodian, the crew let us jump onto another ferry that wasn't too crowded.
We plonked ourselves down on the seats nearest to the entrance and soon, Bill was sound asleep while Jeff was rather melancholic and me? I found myself in the company of a group of young and lively Australians!
We passed by the Floating Village. All the children waved at us when we passed by. Can you imagine this to be a daily affair?! I am most amused by the sight of a floating church but it's good to know that the missionaries do not forget the people here.
The ferry ride took 5 hours but time passed very quickly as my conversation with John, a Chinese-Australian kept me company. There was his cousin, a Swede and a couple in the group and they were playing games. I also met a Cambodian-British in his early 40s. When we first spoke, I thought he was rather proud when he claimed to be British although, like me, he looked Cambodian. After the initial "skepticism" wore off, he told me his family had fled during the war. His father was a Vietnamese but he spoke no Vietnamese as his father was never home. He spoke some Cambodian as the family do not converse much in that either. I felt that for someone who claimed English as his only means of communication, his English is really not up to the standard of someone who had grown up in Britain. On the other hand, his son who looked Eurasion, spoke with a distinct British accent.
PHNOM PENH
Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia since the mid-15th Century when Angkor was abandoned. It is situated at Quartre Bras ("4 arms" in French) - the confluence of Mekong, the Bassac and the Tonle Sap rivers.
As soon as we left the pier, we went to Happy Herb's for lunch. Jeff & Bill ordered a happy pizza which was truly "happy". When we got a room which cost us only US$2 each, they fell soundly asleep. To think that we had great plans to see the Killing Fields and the Russian market that day. Oh well, the Russian market was closed for the Chinese New Year so I would have missed it anyway.
At dinner, we befriended Patel from UK who was really cool; the young Swedish girls - one was an actress who was casted for "Sophie's World" but didn't get it because she was too old at 21 because Sophie is a 14 years old character in the story; and a young Australian couple.
After dinner, we walked to Blue Elephant for drinks. The streets were rather alive with little stalls selling cigarettes and porn video; many noisy karaoke bars but the sight I can never erase from my memory is the Cambodians sleeping on the pavement. They lined themselves up neatly in a row and slept in the open. Some were fortunate enough to have "mosquito nets" which looked like those we used to cover food on our dining table. With so many poor people out here, we were never once threatened with robbery or harassment, only when we left Sharky's at 3 a.m., a woman in filthy clothes carrying a toddler begged for money. It was very sad.
Sharky's pub was a place with Cambodian hostesses. Jeff & Bill found it entertaining while I was disgusted by the old Caucasian men flirting with petite, young Cambodian hostesses.
Jeff & I partnered to play pool against a Brit with his Cambodian girl. He told Jeff that he liked playing pool with the girl so that he can look at her butt whenever she bent over, and many more bedroom details Jeff didn't reveal.
And it is a known fact that Cambodia have the highest number of AIDS-infected women... Funnily, the Brit told me that he likes Cambodia as it's less sleazy than Phuket. Boy, even disinfectant could not remove his stinking touch when he rested his hand on my waist.