Loads of temple photos and yet another lengthy post

I've been in Cambodia for five days, and already it's been incredible. So far, I much prefer this country to Vietnam. The people here are extremely friendly and warm, the towns aren't quite to overrun with tourism and it's easier to get off the beaten track. I've also found that traveling here isn't nearly as "fun" as it was in Vietnam. The poverty is much more pronounced and much more widespread, and the country's recent history of violence and starvation is very visible.

I arrived in Siem Reap late Thursday night after a daylong bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City. Some say it's not wise to do the temples of Angkor first think on a Cambodia trip. They say the rest of the country's sights pale in comparison and you should save the best for last, but I couldn't help myself. Angkor was a huge reason for my wanting to come to SE Asia, and I couldn't be so close without going there.

My first full day in SR, I avoided the temples. Instead, I toured the town and caught up on sleep. Siem Reap is far nicer than most towns in Cambodia, and it's obvious the temples bring a lot of money in for the locals. The downtown is quite touristy, with restaurants, bars and massage parlors everywhere. The rubbish that lines the streets in most SE Asian cities is absent.

That evening, I shared a tuk tuk to the temples with Sarah and Katherine, two English girls staying in my guesthouse. Ít's popular to buy your ticket the night before you visit the temples, then climb to the top of Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. We did, and it was quite an experience. The sunset wasn't stellar, but watching it from atop 1,000-year-old ruins was. Afterward, we headed to Pub Street for some Khmer specialties of Lok Lak and fried ginger fish, then to the cleverly-named Angkor What? bar for a few drinks before heading to bed for our 4 a.m. wake up call.

Turns out it's not a wise decision to stay out until 1 a.m. when you have to be up before the sun. We headed to Angkor Wat, the most famous Angkorian temple, to watch the sun rise. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever done. Sitting in the complete darkness, we waited. Then suddenly, where once there had been pitch blackness, there was a silhouette of palm-fringed mountains against an indigo sky. Only they weren't mountains, but massive stone structures built by hand. As the sun's rays cut through, the whole world seemed to wake up at once. Frogs jumped from their lily pad beds into the water, upsetting the pond's smooth surface, and the bugs in the surrounding forest started a simultaneous buzz while the bats did one last circle of the sky before retreating into the trees for the day. After sunrise, we had the unique experience (along with 30 or so fellow overambitious sightseers) of touring the massive temple before the blazing daytime heat and crush of fellow tourists. Sitting in the doorway to one of the temple's halls, watching as the sky brightened was an experience I'll never forget.

The rest of the morning, we toured some of the other highlights of Angkorian empire, including the 173-faced Bayon and my personal favorite, Ta Prohm. Sometimes, it seems hard to believe these structures were made thousands of years ago. It just doesn't seem plausible that, with no heavy machinery or well groomed roads to transport materials, the Khmers could build such massive structures. But just when you begin to doubt, Ta Phrohm is there to remind you, with its ancient stone corridors part-crumbled, partly held up by massive tree roots weaving their way over, under and through the stones.

After a solid ten hours clamboring up and down temples in blazing heat, we headed back to the hotel to crash for a few hours before heading back to Angkor What? to celebrate and earn ourselves some free t-shirts by conquering their famous cocktail buckets. The cast of characters at Siem Reap was a quality one, and it was tempting to stay another day and join the majority who were traveling south to Sihanoukville for some beach time, but I couldn't bring myself to skip Battambang for yet another beach town. So the next morning I caught a bus and headed around the Tonle Sap to Battambang.

Situated along the Sangker River, Battambang once was a major French settlement. As a result, many of the buildings near the riverside have some really nice French colonial architecture. Other than that, there's not much to the town--it's just another mid-sized city. But it's the countryside that makes Battambang special.

The first day here, I wandered into one of the city's monasteries and struck up a conversation with a monk living there. Technically, they're supposed to avoid women, but it's generally accepted that foreigners are a good way to practice their English, regardless of their gender. I spent about an hour with Phian, discussing how he became a monk and how Cambodia has changed in the short time since the Khmer Rouge dissolved in 1998 (although Vietnam overthrew the regime in 1978, they continued to control rural areas until 1998).

Hearing him talk about his faith was quite an educational experience. He has been a monk for 13 years, and he said he fears for the Buddhist faith's future in Cambodia, despite the fact that most people here still practice Buddhism. The number is falling quickly, he said, because of Christian missionary efforts to convert Khmers. Some days, missionaries show up outside the monastery gates with pamphlets, offering poor Cambodians money and resources if they agree to become Christians. The vast majority of Cambodians live in poverty, and many of them accept the offer. It's not about choosing to adopt another faith, but having few other options to secure a better life for yourself. Buddhist religious leaders reject the idea of power through money, and therefore they can't offer anything to keep people from converting. Phian began to choke up when he told me this story.

Today, I hired a moto driver to take me through the countryside to several sights in the area. Our first stop was Phnom (hill) Sampouv, a spot about 20 kilometers outside of town where the Khmer Rouge held a small prison. Although thousands of prisoners passed through the prison during the Khmer Rouge reign, it didn't need to be larger than one room. Most prisoners were killed almost on-the-spot. Now, the prison has been converted into a temple, but you still can see the rusted hooks hanging from the ceiling. Skulls and bones litter a nearby cave where bludgeoned prisoners' bodies were thrown into the abyss. Unlke the temples of Angkor, there were no Khmer pilgrims at this temple. The 13-year-old boy who led me up the hill told me they'd rather not remember. "Cambodians killing Cambodians," he said. "It's very sad."

At the top of the hill, a huge temple overlooks great vistas of the sourrounding ountryside. There, I met another monk who runs an NGO school to teach rural children English in hopes that they can attend college one day. Because the Khmer Rouge killed virtually all of the country's intellectuals, Cambodia has a severe shortage of native university professors. Most of them come from Europe and only teach in English, making it hard for students to understand the lessons. He wants to change that by first helping them make it through college, then establishing them as the future professors and political leaders of the country.

This monk also told me about the Christian conversion efforts in Cambodia. During his teens, he actually converted to Catholicism, in turn getting money and support from the church. But when he fell ill and stopped going to church, the money stopped coming and his Christian "friends" stopped paying him visits. "Without my money, they didn't care about me,"" he said. That's when he decided to become a monk.

My second stop on the tour was Phrom Banon, where a hilltop temple overlooks the countryside. It's nothing compared to the huge structures of Angkor, but the stunning hilltop views and the fact that (unlike the tourist swarms at Angkor) I was the only person there made it worthwhile all the same.

The biggest treat of the day was the motorbike ride through the countryside. I was too bashful to ask the driver to stop and take photos at every turn, but picture sharing a narrow red dirt road with cattle and goats. Most of the road is lined with palm trees and tiny huts, but occasionally you arrive at openings where dry, flat lands meet with distant hills and cliffs. I was almost disappointed when the ride was over and it was time to ride the bamboo train.

Cambodia's train system is virtually nonexistant, with one train coming through weekly. As a result, the people in Battambang have developed their own ingenious way to use the tracks for their own benefit. They've fashioned small "trains" by weaving a bamboo mat and attaching a small motor, allowing them to shuttle goods from the city to the villages. Occasionally tourists will come through too, and they're allowed to ride the train if they're willing to shell out the cash. The ride was the bumpiest, hottest train ride I've ever taken.

So there you have it. Five days in Cambodia and so far, so good. Tomorrow I'll head to Phnom Penh. I''ll tour the city, try to meet up with a Cambodian family friend, then the next day I'll head to the killing fields and the Teoul Sung museum to see firsthand the Khmer Rouge distruction. I don't think I'll blog about that day.

View from below Phnom Bakheng.

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng.


First rays of sun at Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, my camera card filled just after sunrise, so these are my only Angkor photos.


My new pen pal, Phian. He wants to learn about American culture and I agreed to send him a history book when I get back to the US. He's agreed to send me letters. Kind of a one sided pen pal relationship, but whatever.

The old stone bridge in Battambang.

View from atop Phrom Banon.

The last flight of steps on the long trek up to Phrom Banon.


This is what happens when two bamboo trains meet on the track. The one that isn't carrying a moto disassembles gets the hell out of the way.