Awesome Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea, is practically a country in the Southeast Asia with Phnom Penh being the capital city. The temple-packed kingdom has a population of almost 15 million comprising of several major ethnic groups, Khmer (95%), Cham, ethnic-Chinese, ethnic-Vietnamese and several hill tribes in the northeast. 95% of the population believe in Theravada Buddhism. Moslems only score 2% of the population. Needless to say, halal food are surely hard to find here in Khmer’s land.

The nationals of the Phillipines and Malaysia do not need a tourist visa. So for you who come from Malaysia, just bring along with you your international passports only and a whole lot of cash. The Cambodian currency is Riel but the US dollars are widely used in this country. In fact, the Cambodian love the US notes so much, almost everything is priced in US dollars. US$1 = Riel 4100 = RM3.55.

I went to Cambodia last week with my other half and we were there from 25th - 28th June 2007. Four excellent days and three sleepless nights. Let me take you back to the time of our Cambodia trip. A trip which I had organized specially for my other half. The whole trip was on me. This was the first time I belanja him jalan-jalan.

Day One (25th June 2007)

We arrived at Siem Reap International Airport, Cambodia from Kuala Lumpur at about 12.30pm. Mich, our chartered driver for the whole tour was already there, waiting for us. With a placid face, he stood outside the gate, holding a small banner with my name on it. I was expecting some communication breakdown here but I was wrong. Much to my relief, Mich greeted us warmly in English.

Mich took us to Angkor Wat at Angkor Archeological Park, 10 minutes away from Siem Reap town. ‘Angkor’ literally means Capital City or Holy City. Angkor Wat was a massive three-tiered pyramid crowned by five 65m high lotus-like towers and surrounded by a moat and an exterior wall. History told that the holy city was constructed by one the Khmer rulers, Suryavarman II, in early 12th Century, between 1113 to 1150. Also renowned as the world’s largest religious monument, Angkor Wat was built in dedication to their Hindu god, Vishnu. Come very early in the morning and you will see the sun rise behind the Angkor Wat providing a silhouette Angkor Wat’s distinctively shaped towers against the morning sky, and in the late afternoon, the holy city seems to glow in orange. To enter the archeological park, you need to pay an entrance fee of US$20 per person and you can explore the entire city for as long as you want in one day.

After spending almost 2 hours inside Angkor Wat, we walked out of the temple to the waiting Mich and hmmm… bare-footed young beggars. With their small and puffy hands extended towards us, the young beggars vigourously asked for some money.  Upon seeing this, had brought me close to tears.

Mich took us to another incredible location, Chong Khneas, a floating village at the edge of Tonle Sap (the closest and most accessible floating village from Siem Reap). We took a two hour boat (or water-taxi as some of the tourists called it) trip through the floating village which cost us US$12 per trip. The boatman was very kind enough to slow the boat down at several interesting ‘floating buildings’ for me to take photos. There were floating households, markets, clinics, schools, police station, snooker center, Gecko Environment Center (very highly recommended), pubs, restaurants, basketball courts, churches, temples, souvenir shops and mini zoo. The water was cloudy and badly polluted. Still there were beggars who kept trailing us around throughout the trip in their small boats. We called them the ‘floating beggars’.

No visit to Cambodia is complete without attending at least one classical Apsara dance performance. Apsara is a mythological celestial nymphs. The Apsara dancers will move sinuously and smoothly to the sound of the music played by what they call, a ‘pinpeat’ orchestra. Back in Siem Reap town, we watched the classical dance at Koulen Restaurant which started at 8.00pm. Dinner was served one hour before the show.

Day Two (26th June 2007)

 

We woke up as early as 5.00am and Mich drove us to Phnom Penh. The 308km journey took 4 hours to reach the current capital city of Cambodia. We stopped to take photos at a Buddha stone carving factory, at a lotus-seed seller and at one of the cricket traps set by the roadside. Wondering what do these Cambodians do with the crickets? They fry and eat them! Just like the Malaysians eat their pisang goreng. Didn’t try eating the crickets though but according to Mich, these little bugs were crunchy and yummy.

We also stopped at Wat Phnom (Hill Temple) to experience an elephant ride. I vowed that this’d be my first and last ride when it involved animals. I think it’s a cruel thing to do. Sambo, the elephant shouldn’t be here at the first place. He should be in the jungle instead. Love the animals and God will love you, peace!

At about 2.00pm we finally reached Phnom Penh. Without wasting any time, we asked Mich to take us straight to the Killing Field Memorial and Genocide Museum in Choeung Ek, situated 45km away from the Phnom Penh city. Lunch could wait. Here, we could see skulls, bones and grisly photos of those who were massacred during Saloth Sar’s regime. Many may not know who Saloth Sar was but what if I told you his other name was Pol Pot, would that ring a bell? Pol Pot, short for Politique Potentielle (French for Political Potential), was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979. He was responsible for the elimination of more than a million Cambodian people during his stay in power and today he is regarded as one of the five worst mass-murderers of modern history. Sad but true, even the helpless young ones were not excluded from the bloodbath. Scary eh! I should be grateful for not being born in Cambodia at that time. Or else, I’d be dead by now - hung by a noose from a tree or my silly head chopped off.

We went back to Phnom Penh city for lunch. Mich told us we could find a few halal restaurants there such as the Malaysia Restaurant and the Mount Everest Restaurant. A great news to me as I found it difficult to survive another day with only breads and butter. At 5.00pm we checked out the Central Market, Old Market and New Market for some souvenirs to bring home.

Since the day was still young, Mich took us to the Royal Palace and lively Mekong Riverside for a stroll. The place was cramped with hawkers selling exotic foods like fried frogs, fried crickets and steamed duck embyros and people picnicking all over the area. I felt extremely entertained by the Cambodian people’s antics that I didn’t realize it was already time for dinner and a gooooooood massage.

Day Three (27th June 2007)

 

Again, we had to wake up and hit the road very early in the morning. Mich drove us to Sihanoukville, a port and beach town situated approximately 150km from Phnom Penh city (2-hour ride). Nothing much to see here, just an empty beach, a couple of unoccupied chalets, a small city center and a port. Surprisingly, according to Mich, Sihanoukville or also known as Kampung Som, was the second largest city in Cambodia after Phnom Penh. He added that tourists came here mainly for scuba diving. You hear that, dear divers?

We decided to go back to Siem Reap after spending about 30 minutes at the beach. The 6 hour journey wasn’t fun at all. We took the same route back to Siem Reap (since there was no other route), so the sceneries were nothing different.

We reached Siem Reap at 7.00pm and took a tuk tuk to Siem Reap Old Market. The driver agreed to wait for us for 30 minutes. When we were done shopping, the driver was not there anymore. We waited for him for 15 minutes more but he never returned. Disgusted, we took another tuk tuk who charged us the same fare. Nasib baik we had not paid the first tuk tuk yet.

Day Four (28th June 2007)

 

We had about 6 hours before flying back to Kuala Lumpur. To kill the time, we decided to go back to Angkor Archeological Park to check out the other temples we had missed out earlier. So we quickly took our breakfast and hailed a tuk tuk. After paying the entrance fee of US$20 per person, we started the exploration with the South Gate of Angkor Thom that led us to the interior part of the Angkor Thom. It was said that the city was established in the late 12th Century by King Jayavarman VII and was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. At the center of the city was the Jayavarman’s state temple known as Bayon. The ruins inside the city showed the arrival of Buddhist influence during this period of time.

We also went to Ta Phrom, another Buddhist temple located 4km ahead of Angkor Thom. The temple, dedicated to Jayavarman VII’s mother, was one of the tree temples seen around the park. Silk-cotton trees grew from the towers and corridors, offering a cool ‘jungle atmosphere’. The temple became more famous than it had already been when Angelina Jolie came to flim Lara Croft for the Tomb Raider movie.

We came out from the ruins only to find our tuk tuk together with its driver go missing AGAIN! We searched around the area and no sign of our tuk tuk driver. When we asked one of the locals, to my astonishment, he blandly said that that was how the system worked - the tuk tuk driver will fetch Customer No.1, send Customer No.1 to his/her destination, collect fare from Customer No.1, then temporarily will go missing to fetch Customer No.2, send Customer No.2 to his/her destination, collect fare from Customer No.2, come back to Customer No.1, send Customer No.1 to another location, collect fare from Customer No.1 and the system goes on and on that way. Multiple fare collections! Clever! So here’s a tip, pay the tuk tuk fare only when the whole ride is completely over and that you don’t need the tuk tuk anymore.

I also realized that they shared some of our Malay words like ketam (crab), kampong (village), sabu (soap) and semout (ant). Don’t be surprised, many of the Cambodian people can speak French and English pretty well.

It was time to leave Cambodia. The plane took off at 4.00pm. It was a tiring and unrelaxing vacation but we were okay with it. As for myself, I survived 4 days without good food in Cambodia, so I guess the whole trip wasn’t that bad after all. It’s an excellent country to visit. So many things to see, so many things to understand.

Should you feel like visiting this kingdom and need a little help around, call Mr. Mich at 855-12-702121 or email him at lim_putheara@yahoo.com. He’ll be more than happy to show you around his homeland.

One more thing, if you plan to travel like me, make sure you travel light.