Siem Reap, Cambodia

Statue in front of our hotel

“Siem Reap“ translates to “Siam Defeated” – which makes me wonder, what do the Thai people think of that?  Even more strange is that Thailand defeated Cambodia and controlled Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat area from 1794-1907.  It seems like they should have changed the name then when they had the chance!

After a very long bus ride from Kratie we were happy to arrive in Siem Reap.  It seemed like a big city at first, but as we got more familiar with the area it began to feel like a small town.  We stayed in the touristy area, which was nice because it had lots of western-style bars and restaurants mixed in with the local places to eat.  There must have been a tuk tuk driver for every tourist in town, and were they ever hungry for business!  No matter where we went, we always heard “tuk tuk madam?” “tuk tuk sir?”  At least they’re polite – in Thailand we were “hey you!”  If we took a tuk tuk a short distance across town, they always wanted to take us to the ruins “later,” or “for the sunset, “or “tomorrow.”  The ruins of Angkor Wat are about five miles outside of town, and are the big money-maker for the tuk tuk drivers.  Despite their persistence (for which I can’t blame them), they were very nice and always smiled.  The Cambodians in general have been very friendly and congenial to us – it would be hard not to like them.

One of the more stylish tuk tuks in town

The glut of tourists and money being spent here attracts all kinds of local characters trying to separate you from your wallet.  If we thought we had “ATM” stamped on our foreheads in Thailand, here in Cambodia it is written with fluorescent paint surrounded by flashing lights!  Tons of children made the rounds every evening trying to sell postcards to tourists.  There are also the victims of landmines who are missing limbs and trying to sell books; the blind people being led around by their children so they can beg; women carrying babies asking for money; and last but not least the regular beggars with their hands out. We almost got taken in by one scam – a lady with a baby walked up to us and asked us to buy her some milk for her baby.  We felt bad for her so we went into the minimart we just happened to be in front of (clue number one) and she pointed out what she wanted – a gigantic tin of powdered milk.  Daron took it up to the cashier to ask how much it was – it was $15!  Something didn’t feel quite right, so we turned her down and walked out.  Later on I found out that it’s a scam – they get tourists to buy the milk, then they return it to the store and split the money with the cashier.  The constant sales/begging got tiresome and annoying after a while. 

Apsara dancer

Books were cheap here, as they are copies of the original book, made on a copy machine.  I don’t know how they do it, but just about every Lonely Planet travel book you could want is on sale here for about $4.  We bought one for Cambodia and one for Vietnam, hopefully making up the outrageous price we paid for our last travel book in New Zealand ($50!). We also bought books about Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge, as we wanted to learn more about that time period. 

One evening we were hanging out in town, trying not to make eye-contact with the beggars, when a storm rolled in.  It wasn’t just any storm – the rain came down in sheets, along with loud thunder, and tons of lightning.  At one point we saw lightning strike fairly close to us – we all saw sparks and it sounded like a cannon went off right next to us.  I joked that it looked like it was in the area of our hotel – and it turned out it was!  When we went back the electricity had been knocked out of the whole area.  After spending so much time in Laos with iffy or no electric, we knew the drill – just grabbed our headlamps and made due.  To their credit, the electric came back on only a couple of hours later.  A few days later we read in the paper that lightning had hit the countryside and killed a bunch of cows as well as six people.  Yikes!

More Apsara dancers

The front desk staff at our hotel seemed to be some sort of strange hotel mafia.  You could only extend your stay if they liked you.  We had reserved a room online before our arrival for two nights, and decided we liked the place enough to stay longer.  The night before we were due to check out we asked the clerk and he said they were booked for the next night, so we would have to leave in the morning.  Hmmm, the place didn’t seem very busy to be booked, so in the morning we checked again, this time with a nice gal at the front desk, who let us stay no problem, and even reduced our rate!  Luckily she liked us, or we would’ve been out on the street.  We ended up extending again later in the week, and made sure to talk to the same nice gal.  She told us we could stay, even after we just heard her telling another guy that they were booked and he’d have to leave that morning.   It pays to be nice to your front desk staff!   

Celebrating Daron's birthday, margarita-style!

All in all we spent ten days in Siem Reap.  We spent three days exploring Angkor Wat (more on that in my next post), while the rest of the time we wandered around town, enjoying the good food and cheap beer.  We celebrated Daron’s birthday at a restaurant serving Cambodia’s version of Mexican food, margaritas and all!  During our stay we found one excellent coffee shop that had normal coffee instead of the super strong stuff, and even had warm chocolate chip cookies!  Yum!  We went to the night market a few times, with both of us buying $2 t-shirts (our first t-shirt purchase on this trip!), and Daron even splurged on a $3 foot massage.  One evening we had a tuk tuk driver just joyride us around town – he was very funny, and showed us where the ladyboys hang out as well as the best place to buy cooked bugs at night (I guess they go good with beer, as they’re very salty).  One evening we watched a show with Apsara dancers, which reminded us a lot of the Thai dancing we saw while in Thailand.  In the 15^th century the Thais sacked Angkor Wat and made off with thousands of intellectuals, artisans, and dancers from the royal court.  They incorporated much of Cambodian dance into their culture, where it remains to this day. 

It was tough to pull ourselves away from Siem Reap, as it had all the comforts of the Western world mixed in with great history and local flavor!