I am writing description of my trip to Cambodia for two reasons. One,
I can. I bought a Smartphone recently with a small folding QWERTY
keyboard and it comes with a document processor and two, because I have
the time as I have decided to take a bus, as I will describe below.
I am writing description of my trip to Cambodia for two reasons. One,
I can. I bought a Smartphone recently with a small folding QWERTY
keyboard and it comes with a document processor and two, because I have
the time as I have decided to take a bus, as I will describe below.
I decided I wanted to go to Cambodia, mostly because the idea of
having Thanksgiving in Thailand was not appealing, especially after the
previous year’s Thanksgiving in Iraq. Also, leaving Thailand allowed me
to renew my Visa without question and mine was about to expire the
Saturday after Thanksgiving. Anyway, I decided on a package trip because
I had no idea what to expect. The trip was taking a bus all the way
from Bangkok to Angkor, Cambodia. I wanted to go there because I had read about the ancient ruins.
The bus trip was interesting. I had never been on a bus trip like
this anywhere in the world so it was a new experience in many ways (and
it gave me time to write this). The way to the Cambodian
border from Bangkok was uneventful; from there on is a different story.
At the border, we had to wait while our visas were processed. There I
was warned about Cambodian children being thieves, later I found out
they are also annoying beggars. "Beware of the children” became my
general theme for the trip.
At the border, Cambodia has established a gambling zone and there are
many casinos. From there, the road immediately turned to dirt and for
300 kilometers the road was bumpy as hell and the bus was hot. As
uncomfortable as it was I was glad I did it. I got to see the real
Cambodia and it was pretty grim. Most Cambodians live the way they did
for thousands of years, in simple wooden/grass thatched stilted houses,
catching fish from ditches along the road and working in rice patties.
There were rice patties pretty much the whole way, with the occasional
water buffalo to add flavor (to both the scenery as well as the rice
patties. Angkor is an oasis of civilization just as Las Vegas is in the
US, with the nice size airport and many hotels springing up out of
nowhere. This is all supported by the tourism brought in by the ruins.
The picture below is typical of the houses encountered on the way to
Angkor.
The ruins were amazing, some older than 1000 years. The ruins were
mostly built by some Khmer king in honor of either a Hindu god (mainly
Sewa) or Buddha and they were often used by both. Sewa is the god that
created the world and his symbol is the phallic, go figure. The other
predominant symbol is the Hindu angel, Upsorn (represented by a
beautiful woman). So, between the phallic and beautiful angel symbols
everywhere I doubt there was any governing happening at these palaces. Buddha images
are there as well, but not as prevalent as the Hindu icons. We visited 6
ruins, Phnom Bakeng, Banteay Srey, Banteay Samrei, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, Bayon, and Angkor Wat.
Three of these ruins impressed me the most and I will describe them below:
1. Angkor Wat was by far the most impressive and biggest with a
central spire that had steps at a 70 degree angle. I climbed the steps
on all fours and must have looked quite funny. There were thousands of
people there joining me on my journey up these steps.
2. Angkor Thom contains hundreds, possibly thousands, of stone face carvings. This structure was a stunning sight.
3. Ta Prohm was interesting in a different way. Trees have taken
over the ruins, which further instills the oldness of the area. This
area was used in the movie Tomb Raider.
Unfortunately, this is the area surrounding Angkor used by Pol Pot
for his Killing fields in the mid 1970s. The Cambodians have constructed
a monument for the millions who died during that time. The monument
contains human bones found in the surrounding fields and is pretty
gruesome. So the area is full of history, both old and new.
The trip was fun and a learning experience. The only times I felt
even remotely unsafe was both entering and leaving Cambodia and when I
read the sign in front of the Ankor Hospital warning of an outbreak of
dengue fever. I am glad I didn’t get it. Admittedly it took me a week
and a half to figure out how to get the file out of my phone
, which is why it is taken till now to get this description out to you.
, which is why it is taken till now to get this description out to you.
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