Camping in Kampot

Happy Holidays, everybody!

We drove down to the southern coast to Kampot to the secluded Nataya Resort. We had to drive well off the beaten path to find it, and the turn off the main road took us on a narrow dirt path past small huts and chicken coops and cows standing in the middle of the road. It's a beautiful surprise hidden away in a secluded spot by the sea. Normally I don't go for the whole beach vacation vibe (redheads and sunbathing simply don't mix well), but this spot has no sandy beach area for tanning, and some beautiful forested mountains serve as the backdrop. Also it's December, so yeah, these are the right tropical paradise conditions for me. It's been a few days of swimming, reading, massages at the spa, eating, fresh fruit smoothies, and enjoying our little private space.

We stayed in this little hut:

We ate a lot of fruit and drank fruity drinks:

We found a Christmas tree!

And we soaked in the beautiful view:

Oh, did we mention there are little lizards everywhere? They make a lot of noise!

Phnom Penh Day 2

Today we got up early and headed to the main attraction of downtown Phnom Penh--the royal palace. This is where the king of Cambodia lives the majority of the time. It's a huge complex of beautiful, colorful buildings and monuments enclosed by a large surrounding gate. The building with living quarters were closed for touring because the royal family is there right now. The whole city is currently still in mourning for their king, who died about a month ago. At night, crowds crowd out on picnic blankets in front of a large portrait of the king hanging in front of the palace, one of many, many portraits of the king displayed around the city. They pray and light candles and incense and pile flowers in front of his picture. Our tour guide informed us that in traditional Cambodian culture, each day has a specific color associated with it. She was currently wearing white, though, which is the color of mourning, and she will continue to wear it every day for at least another month. Here is the royal palace gate, with a few monks taking a break from the heat.

The royal grounds also include the Silver Pagoda, a building with floor tiles made entirely of engraved silver. It was a bit aged and protected by rugs, but you could easily imagine what an incredible sight that would have been. The pagoda also displays a lot of the royal treasures, including gifts and several amazing buddhas including the emerald buddha on a tall pedestal, and a tall standing buddha adorned with over 2,000 diamonds. Very pretty, but no photos allowed.

I waited forever for someone to move out of the way of this shot, so I am posting it.

We also walked around the corner to head back to the National Museum to see the statues, scrolls, and histories. Many of the figures displayed were items looted from the beautiful wats we had toured the previous day that had been recovered, so it was fun to be able to place some of the statues and engravings with their proper wat just by recognizing the different styles. No pictures allowed, but I did sneak one.

Shiva!

After that we went over to the Friends restaurant, which is a teaching restaurant and part of a program to support work for former street children. So our conscience felt as good as our tummies, and the money directly supports the people of Cambodia. We took an afternoon rest in the afternoon to escape the heat, then felt the urge to go out and see the bustling Central Market and Russian Market. It was a seemingly endless maze of tiny shops exploding with hanging shirts and pants, jewelry, accessories, and around the outside were flower shops and fresh produce.

This is a shot from our tuktuk getting into the market area, to give you a sense of how congested it gets with a mix of scooters, tuktuks, bicyclists, pedestrians, and the occasional car. Messy!

Walking around the produce market outside, I snapped this quick shot of a fish stand. Large catfish (I think?), so freshly cut that the fins on their severed heads were still waving.

Phnomenal.

The view from a roadside restaurant/rest area.

Today we ate breakfast at the hotel and then hopped in a car to Phnom Penh. Not Heng this time, we had to say goodbye to him and Son. We stopped for lunch at a pretty waterside rest area restaurant and arrived in Phnom Penh somehow at the wrong hotel. It's not a hotel chain exactly, but there are different hotels of the same name, if that makes sense. Turned out to be a great mistake though because it is a slightly fancier and newer hotel and they upgraded us to a nice big suite. Also it came with Davuth, our buddy at the concierge desk who was our primary helper setting up dinner reservations and planning our stay in Phnom Penh. I knew he was a keeper when we asked for a restaurant recommendation and he said the one restaurant I had already had in mind. Hotel score!

Our suite.

The view of Phnom Penh from our hotel rooftop.

We went out to eat and had some delicious food, and we of course had to order the famous fried tarantulas. The girl at the table near us immediately burst into tears and freaked out, I'm assuming she was crying about the giant spiders at our table, and she and her boyfriend promptly got their check and left. Adventurers only! They were fine. They taste like anything fried, but there is a bit of a psychological challenge there, and not just because of the eye contact. They still have some rubbery give to them, so when you nudge them with a fork they bounce back, which was more than a little unnerving. Frying doesn't remove all of the tiny hairs completely, either. Just something to think about when you go to bed tonight.

Then after dinner we went out to a show our hotel recommended. It was around the corner from our hotel at the National Museum, and the show was Passage of Life, demonstrating the rituals of traditional Khmer culture from birth to maturity to marriage to sickness to death. Very interesting and entertaining, and much better bang for your buck than Smile of Angkor. The cast was from a local arts community formed in the wake of Khmer Rouge, a nonprofit organization supporting traditional arts and culture. The Khmer Rouge killed about 90% of Cambodian artists, so this is a cause with no little importance and urgency to them. They were selling souvenirs and while they were pricier than we could find on the street, we had to contribute to their efforts. We support the arts!

Waving a sword while singing is a pretty cool wedding ceremony ritual.

Siem Reap, Khmer-Style

We could have spent another day looking at temples, but instead we wanted to skip Tourist Siem Reap and see Cambodian Siem Reap. So we told Heng and Son to plan our day, and they came up with some great things. We drove out to a fishing village near Son's hometown. The houses are all built on stilts because in the wet season the road completely floods. We watched some of the villagers preparing small fish that they put on sticks in long long rows and let them dry out in the sun before they smoke them. Smoked or dried fish is a huge feature in a lot of classic Khmer dishes, and a big export for them. Then we hopped on a boat to tour the floating villages and the floating market. In the middle of the water there is a cluster of three or four boats. Two of them have various fish getting prepared, and you can buy food there. Then one in the middle had a woman selling various products to fishermen, and even a coffeeshop of sorts. And there are a couple of these along the way.

Rows and rows of fish drying in the sun.

Yes, I bought the loose pants all the tourists were wearing and look like a genie. In my defense, it was really hot!

Then we went to a local Khmer restaurant with Son and Heng and we ate some dried fish, fish soup, and fish with watermelon. The drink is hot tea that they poor over ice. I thought I was going to panic staring at the face of a whole fish, but it was fine. And I had to walk through the kitchen to reach the bathroom, which was fascinating. Two women and a fire pit over sandy tile. And a hammock in the corner to rest on. I think we all stared agape at each other with the same amount of open curiosity.

Next up was a trip to Beng Mealea, 65 km from Siem Reap, to an unrestored temple. It was completely in ruins, with large stone piles everywhere, and really gives an idea of how a lot of these temples looked before they were re"discovered" by the French over the hundred years or so. We did some rock climbing, which was a fun adventure. There were also small Cambodian children running all over the ruins, taking tourists by the hand and pulling them over and around rocks to give them a tour outside of the boring wooden paths. They knew the area backwards and forwards, and Scott and I completely adored following a woman and her daughter out of the site. The daughter was being led by a Cambodian girl her same size, who was taking the most attentive care of her despite a complete language barrier, guiding her slowly down rocks, and at one point there was a steep hill and the girl casually picked up the other girl in her arms and walked her down like it was nothing. Cutest friendship moment ever.

Scott is a climber, and half monkey.

Nagas!

Then we went back to the hotel and Scott got another massage. Son and Heng had recommended this massage place for him, took him there, and helped him get settled in just to ensure that everything was legit and that he was comfortable. Everyone buddies up with Scott! I can't really blame them. Then we were off to see a show recommended by our guides. Smile of Angkor was an experience. First there's a free dinner buffet, and I had a brief silly-American moment when I thought, "Oh! Why on earth would I assume the 'tourist' food would be Western?" I mentioned the massive Chinese tourism industry in Cambodia, right? Well this show is clearly a must on every Chinese guided tour. There was a cast of a bunch of dancers in all kinds of costumes dancing to the story of the history of Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. The narration was in a creative interpretation of English which we enjoyed, and then the production value was way over the top. An eye-blasting light show, a pond stretching across the stage that erupted into a crazy fountain shooting ceiling high? Crazy. And then all of the dancers lined up on the stage, many of them wearing examples of pieces of some of the temples, and the finale music started blasting. "Ode to Joy," because...? Scott and I were just looking at each other with no idea what was happening but completely loving the strange insanity of it. Farewell, Siem Reap!

Scott made me participate in this photo.

City of Temples

Today we saw one of the modern wonders of the world.

But first, let me introduce some new characters. We have a driver. His name is Heng, he has a wife and a few young kids, and he taught himself English in six months and is currently studying Chinese. He hooked us up with a tour guide, Son, to take us around and give us a grand tour of as many Wats as possible. Son is older, with four kids, he lost a lot of family to the Khmer Rouge, and he's from a small poorer village outside of Siem Reap.

We met up with Heng and Son at 5am to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. It was definitely worth a little loss of sleep to see that. The crowds slowly started to disperse as the day brightened and warmed up, so Son took us on a trek around the outside of Angkor Wat and told us all kinds of stories about its construction and use. He also regularly serves as a guide for photographers, so he was constantly stopping and pointing out where I should stop and take a picture and mentioning whether or not we were there at the right time of day for the best light (we usually were not).

(Scott beating his chest in the echo room.)

Son pointed out the library to me, and I immediately looked at Scott who said, "I know, I know, hurry over there and I'll take your picture with it." So I scrambled up the creepy steep steps and inside there was a lone man in white robes. He seemed completely alone in this huge place full of bustling tourists snapping pictures, and that's a lot of how this temple feels. It's overrun with eager tourists wandering in front of every photo op so often it feels intentional, but if you wander around long enough you can find a quiet corner and you feel absolutely alone and peaceful and realize just how massive and majestic this place is. All of the temples have a little library side building, which I was pretty nerdy about consistently, and we of course saw the very long corridor carving depicting the famous story of churning the sea of milk.

After that, we opted to skip the tourist crowds and take a bit of a longer trip off the beaten path to see Banteay Srei, which honestly was my favorite one of the day. It's a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, but it's also nicknamed the "Citadel of Women." A neighboring tour guide gave me a big flirty grin and said it was because it's small and beautiful like a woman, but no thank you, that's not why. A lot of the carvings depict women, often holding lotus flowers, and there are a lot of yoni around--a female fertility symbol, which, when coupled with the linga and through a holy water ritual helps infertile couples conceive. But it also gets the name because of the beautiful intricate carvings, which they say are simply too fine and detailed to have been done by large male hands. And the carvings are truly amazing and beautiful in the pinkish stone.

Next stop was Ta Prohm, which was another completely unique and beautiful temple. I happen to have a romantic soft spot for ruins, and I love trees, so I found this temple of old mossy stones crumbling slowly in the gently root fingers of these massive 200-year-old trees absolutely breathtaking.

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant then headed back to our final location. The area is filled with so many temples large and small, so we kept driving by little ones along the way. Apparently more wats continue to be discovered, about one new find a year. I love the idea that hidden in the jungle all around us are these old crumbling ruins getting slowly swallowed up by vines and trees and waiting to be discovered again. We stopped at two baby wats, Temenon and Chuasai Dueda, then went to our final big one, Angkor Thom. This is a huge one with many smaller wats contained within, and even an Elephant Passage, which is a long high platform where the kings and visitors would mount and dismount their elephant escorts. The jewel of Angkor Thom is easily Bayon. It winding confusing stone steps everywhere and narrow corridors, but it's all about the 54 towers decorated with 216 huge smiling faces. At any one time, a dozen or so faces can be seen.

Afterwards, we wanted one final look at Angkor Wat, so we climbed to the top of Phnom Bhagavad and looked down on it all from above. Then we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel, I took a long and restful bubble bath with my copy of A Storm of Swords, and Scott went out for a 2 hour massage. Then we hit the touristy downtown again and ate at Temple Bar, which had a free live show demonstrating some traditional Apsara dancing. We walked around a bit afterwards and since we were earlier than we had told our tuktuk driver we would be, we stopped at one of the many outdoor Dr. Fish aquariums, where $1 buys you a Coke and 15 minutes with your feet in an aquarium full of fish that nibble the dead skin off your feet. My feet are preeeetty ticklish, much to the amusement of the people working there, and the many tourists strolling by.

Cambodia Bound

For Christmas break, Scott and I were discussing going on a trip rather than hanging out in Shanghai. At first, Scott really didn't want to plan a whole itinerary and do a bunch of legwork, and after the stress of moving and settling in I certainly didn't feel like it either. So Scott suggested going somewhere beautiful where we could just relax and kick back. Sounds lovely, right? But we have tried to do that kind of vacation before, and after one full day of relaxing, we were hunting around for a way to get us out of the resort for an adventure and to see, you know, the "real" stuff. Sitting around for a whole three weeks? No way, never gonna work. So then we figured, why not just agree to have the adventure we need but without the intense coordination, and just agree to wander around somewhere? Planning ahead just enough to keep it from becoming stressful, let's just pick somewhere and go. So here we are, spending our Xmas holiday on a 17-day trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Where are we going? What are we doing? I have a vague outline, but otherwise, your guess is as good as mine!

We landed in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the evening of December 19 and headed to our hotel. As the only hotel that we have booked so far on this trip, Scott wanted to spoil me by starting us off with a bang, so we stayed in a beautiful hotel where the guests stay in private villas. We get driven to and from our villa in a golf cart.

It was a tiring travel day and it was late by the time we settled in, so we kept day one short and sweet with a trip to the buzzing downtown area with the loud outdoor markets and narrow streets of restaurants. We stopped at a Mexican/Khmer restaurant and had our first of many fresh fruit smoothies of the trip.

Khmer Amok, a classic Khmer dish. Fish in a sort-of mild curry sauce with vegetables, cooked in a grape leaf. Pretty good!

Then we wandered around to negotiate a good price on a new bikini for me--my bikinis are currently packed up with my summer clothes in the crate still sitting in Shanghai customs. My impression of the area is that it's quite spread out--there's a law against building too high, so everyone builds outward instead of upward, giving the area a sprawling desert feel. And then there is the small pocket of the downtown area that is crammed with tiny overstuffed markets selling t-shirts, skirts, tiny souvenirs and novelty items. You can hear tuktuks going by, and every driver asking if you need a ride, and the constantly repeated "You buy, lady" at every shop, oh, and the sound and smell of the outdoor grills cooking meats and other street food. This is clearly a tourist destination, with everyone stopping here because of the airport and its proximity to Angkor Wat. The "pub street" of this tiny pocket of markets was packed with sun-kissed Western tourists with backpacks, loose drawstring pants and often dreadlocks, drinking 50-cent beers. After spending two weeks in Shanghai, it was honestly a shock to our systems to see so many white people everywhere. But Cambodia is clearly a very popular destination for Chinese tourists as well, so Scott constantly surprised and delighted random tourists by joining in their conversations. We had a really nice and breezy tuktuk ride back to the hotel, giving me the first of what will be many cases of "tuktuk hair," and then we relaxed and went to sleep.