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| Roadside stall en-route to Siem Reap |
Today we are leaving Battambang in Cambodia, headed to Siem Reap.
We had intended to leave Battambang in a boat across Tonle Sap Lake.
However, a drought had so reduced the lake's water
levels that a boat was not possible.
So here we are on a Mekong Express mini-bus,
travelling by road instead. Which is cool, as we get to see the rural villages on the way.
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| A lovely place to stay, the Moon Boutique Hotel |
The drought has also had a negative effect
on the villages.
Most of the villages we passed through, have dirt roads and look tired and worn-out, and everything is dry, and covered in red dust.
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| Us at Angkor Wat |
Just over four hours later, we were at our
accommodation, The Moon Boutique Hotel in Phum Wat Bo Street.
Siem Reap is in northern Cambodia.
The town,
with a population now of around 135,000, has been described as a cluster of
small villages along the Siem Reap River, that were originally developed around
Buddhist wats (temples).
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| Angkor Wat - huge |
These days, the town is the main starting
point to see some of the famous wats in the area, which is what we’ve come to
see.
The morning after we arrived, we wasted no
time in getting a remork (tuktuk) to Angkor Wat.
The original area of Angkor served as the
capital of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th centuries.
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| Angkor Wat building - Extensively carved |
Within Angkor is Angkor Wat (City of Temples).
This was once a Buddhist temple complex, and is now a ruin and a UNESCO World Heritage
site.
Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century
by a Khmer king, and is the largest religious monument in the world at 162.6
hectares.
Built in classic Khmer style, the main
building blocks are sandstone.
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| Angkor Thom entrance |
But the material used to bind the bricks and
blocks together has never been identified, and is quite unique.
It is said that 5-10 million sandstone blocks
were used, much more stone than in all of the Egyptian pyramids combined.
One of Angor Wat’s claims to fame is the huge
number of carved panels and murals throughout each building in the complex.
Almost all of the surfaces, columns, lintels
and even roofs, are carved.
Ruins of a thousand temples can be found
scattered over farm lands and rice fields around Angkor Wat, so we also visited
a few of these.
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| Bayon Temple-54 giant faces carved in stone |
One was Angkor Thom. This is supposedly the
best-preserved of the Angkorean temples.
It is believed that it was built in the first
half of the 12th century.
We thought that the Bayon Temple at Angkor
Thom was amazing.
The central shrine is surrounded by 54 towers
all featuring a gigantic stone face.
The faces are in the image of Jayavarman VII,
a king of the Khmer Empire.
Another set of ruins we visited was Ta Prohm,
also UNESCO site.
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| The amazing banyan trees at Ta Prohm |
Built in 1186, Ta Prohm was a Buddhist temple
dedicated to the mother of King Jayavarman VII.
Apparently, at one stage the site was home to
over 12,500 people, with support from over 80,000 people in the surrounding
villages.
Now, the ruins are home to trees. Giant banyan trees are growing out of, into,
and around, the ruins.
It is an absolutely amazing sight.
After a very, very hot but interesting day, we
grabbed a remork and headed back to our hotel.
While there, we caught up with Richard, a friend of Marg's who used to teach alongside her at Brooklyn School in Wellington.
It is an absolutely amazing sight.
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| Lane off Pub Street |
While there, we caught up with Richard, a friend of Marg's who used to teach alongside her at Brooklyn School in Wellington.
Richard and his wife have been in Cambodia for several years. Richard currently teaches at a school in Siem Reap, close to our hotel. We sat in the cool of the hotel's bar and had a lovely catch up.
Later, when we had cooled down a little, we
headed into Siem Reap city.
Our remork dropped us in the old market area, which is basically the city centre. However, we thought it was pretty touristy.
We found Pub Street which is famous for its many pubs, and enjoyed seeing the range of food and drinking places there.
Our remork dropped us in the old market area, which is basically the city centre. However, we thought it was pretty touristy.
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| The Royal Residence of the King of Cambodia |
We found Pub Street which is famous for its many pubs, and enjoyed seeing the range of food and drinking places there.
Then we found Wat Bo Road. This street is famous for its restaurants. Wat Bo Road is also home to one of the oldest temples in the area
The architecture includes local shop-houses next to French style colonial houses, and was very interesting. Overall, we found Siem Reap walkable, attractive, and vibrant.
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| Drought conditions near Tonle Sap Lake |
We found an information centre nearby. They had
information about stilt villages on Tonle Sap Lake.
We had wanted see the villages when we
were in Battambang, but the drought levels prevented it from that side of the Lake. So we booked ourselves
a trip for the next day.
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| Fishing and tourist boats grounded in Tonle Sap |
Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in
South-east Asia and considered to be “the heart of Cambodia”.
The lake normally provides huge biodiversity
with fish, snakes, crocodiles, tortoise, turtles, otters and birds. It was
designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1997.
Water from its tributaries is also used for
agriculture. It is so productive that it provides food for over 3 million
people.
But we were there in the dry season, and on
top of that, there was a drought.
In Cambodia’s wet season, water from the
Mekong River causes Tonle Sap to swell to around four times its normal size and
to 14 metres in depth.
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| Boy trying to fish in the drought stricken Tonle Sap |
But in the dry season, the lake shrinks considerably,
sometimes leaving water levels to less than 2 metres in depth.
We could see the devastation that the drought had caused. The land was dry, the cattle had no fodder,
and the fishing boats were grounded.
We suspect that the biodiversity was also
under threat, and that the rice harvest would suffer.
There are many villages around the lake, and
some are floating villages, where the home/building floats on the river no
matter what the water level. Others are built on high stilts, to allow for the
changing water levels.
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| Kampong Phluk Village stilt house |
The trip was bumpy and dusty, but so
interesting as we travelled through the tiny rural villages.
Arriving at Kampong Phluk, we could see the
houses on stilts very easily, as the water had completely dried up through most
of the village.
The residents (around 3,500) were out and
about doing their daily thing - we saw people busy doing washing, mending
things, and cooking etc.
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| Walking on the riverbed in Kampong Phluk Village |
But many men were sitting about instead of out
fishing – there were no fish.
We found the experience, surreal actually.
Instead of chugging along in a boat looking at
these houses, as the tourist brochures tell you, we were walking on the
riverbed, which had totally dried up.
The houses now towered more than 10 metres
above us.
We soon got to the end of the village, then
our remork driver showed us the local church. Not surprisingly, it was also on
stilts, something we hadn’t thought about.
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| Pub street at night |
Later, we re-visited Pub street for dinner,
and someone told us about a local circus that was performing that night.
What got us hooked on going, is that the show
is performed by students from Phare Ponleu Selpak, an art school that helps
disadvantaged children and young people, escape from situations connected with
poverty. So, after dinner, we grabbed a remork and went
to the circus. It was great fun.
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| Phare Ponleu Selpak Circus, Siem Reap |
What a fabulous way to finish our time in Siem
Reap. In fact, it was time to end our 6 weeks in South-eastern Asia.
The next day, we headed to the airport, caught a flight to Bangkok, had one night
there, then flew home to New Zealand. We have really enjoyed this whole trip.
The
poverty of each of the four countries we visited was evident (Thailand, Laos,
Vietnam and Cambodia).
The history is palpable in all four places, be it ancient with ruined temples, or modern with the most recent wars.
The climate is harsh, varying from typhoons
and floods, to heat and drought, and the people and their livelihoods are at
the mercy of it. However, the people seem proud of their
culture, and happy to be living and sharing it.
We had some great food, met
some wonderful people and saw some amazing sights. What a wonderful trip.