This week continued the Cambodian National Holiday P' Chum Ben which means Festival of the Dead. It is lasts for 15 days and consists of Cambodians making pilgrimages to wats (temples) to honor their ancestors by giving offerings of money, food, flowers, incense, candles. These offerings are passed through monks. Devout Buddhists are expected to visit seven wats during the holiday. So with the holiday we did not have any work so I decided to travel to Siem Reap and Angkor to see what Cambodians call the "8th wonder of the world" Angkor Wat.
I left Phnom Penh on Thursday October 7th and took a seven hour bus ride to Siem Reap. It was great to get out f the city and see more the beautufil Cambodian countryside and the lush green rice fields and tall sugar cane trees. The bus was only $11! Mekong Express Limousine! Great service. It had air con, you were served water, a snack, and a narrated tour! Great Deal! They even had Khmer karaoke on a TV all the way. That I could have done without, but it is pretty entertaining to watch!
Siem Reap was quite pleasant! Much calmer than Phnom Penh! It felt really good to get away from the large city and see a different city! I arrived at my hotel and immediately felt relaxed! I grabbed a bite to eat and then headed out to the Night Market-the only of it's kind in Cambodian. It was really cool! Very calm and not jammed packed like the Russian Market of Phnom Penh. Vendors let you browse without hassling you, a band played Khmer music as you enter and it is just a really nice environment. I got some fun t shirts, browsed around and then headed back to my hotel. I was spent after the day of traveling and finally being able to let down a bit. There is thing here in Asia where you can get a "pedicure" of sorts by placing your feet in a tank of fish that eat off your cuticles. It is called Dr. Fish. Well there are those Dr. Fish cuticle eating places everywhere outside of night market! I saw at least 5 places that have fish tanks with people just chilling getting their cuticles eaten care off. I cut my toe up last week on our apartment gate so I figured it wouldn't be good to stick my feet in that water, but I am really curious about it! If my toe wasn't messed up I think I would consider trying it. I headed back to my hotel, souvenirs in hand, no "pedicure" and ready for a good night's rest. I had scheduled a tour for Angkor on Friday so I was gonna need the rest.
Friday morning my tour guide met me in the hotel lobby and we headed to Angkor. You have to get your picture taken and they put it on your one day pass which you show to enter the multiple wats (temples) that make up Angkor. I should've smiled- not my best pic, haha! First we toured the infamous Angkor Wat! Angkor Wat means "temple that is a city." Wow! What site! It is considered the largest religious site in the world. Being that is was P'Chum Holiday many locals had made their way with gifts for the monks and their ancestors. Very cool sight to see! Khmer culture in full force! it is the largest religious temple in the world! it was built in 1113 and took 37 years to complete. i can't believe men built this structure! amazing! we spent from 8-12:30pm there, walking around and sitting and talking (well the guide talking, me trying to understand and hear him. khmer speak very softly which can be hard when there are 9 million kids running around screaming. I learned a lot about traditional khmer culture, the roles of men and women. thank god i was born a woman in the USA!!! so thankful! he was telling me abut how it is acceptable for khmer men to have many partners, domestic violence against women very common and arranged marriages are still the norm. historically girls do not receive education. that is slowly starting to change. he said they are about 50-70 years behind the US in terms of gender equality issues. I didn't realize that tourism here in siem reap didn't really take off until the late 1990s and they didn't have a university until 2000. crazy! another result of the war and lack of education b/c of the khmer rouge. about only 30% of the population is educated. again- another thing we in the US take for granted, the opportunity to go to school!
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Angkor Wat |
Ok so I know I always say I can't believe how much I sweat but today took it to a whole new level. literally soaked! I drank 2 liters of water! and i swear it all came out as sweat! Something odd happened as I was touring Angkor Wat. This Korean girl took my picture as I was walking past her which was weird. Apparently western people are highly admired in Asia for their white skin, big eyes, and my guide said my blonde hair. It was odd and a little flattering in a way I guess.
I had lunch by myself outside angkor wat and then we went to angkor thom. got some really cool pictures. we went to bayon and ta prohm- where the trees of the jungle have uprooted temples. I saw the infamous tomb raider tree and got a picture. Now i just need to see the movie! My tour guide was really good and took lots of pictures of me and was fun!
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| Ta Prohm |
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| bayon |
The day concluded with a much needed and appreciated shower and dinner at the hotel restaurant. I still can't believe I toured Angkor! So awesome!
Saturday I headed to Artisans D'Angkor. It is a really cool store and site where craftsmen master ancient crafts such as high quality lacquer works, silk paintings, stone and wood carvings. I spent about two hours there! I got a tour of where the crafts are created and then spent about an hour and a half in the store.
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| craftsman at artisans d'angkor working on a stone elephant carving |
I headed back to the hotel for a spa lunch and massage! Oh it felt soo good! Later that evening I headed out to a an Apsara performance. Apsara dancing used to be for Khmer Kings only. Very intricate dancing with beautiful costumes. It was a buffet style dinner and then performance It rained so hard that for good majority of the time you couldn't hear the music! I was a bit bummed but i hope i can catch another performance while I'm in Cambodia. Very beautiful!
Great weekend escape! I didn't want to leave!
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| angkor in reflection |
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