Checking One Off the Bucket List

I really wish I had more time to travel through Cambodia.  I spent all of my time there in Siem Reap, the town just outside of the temples of Angkor Wat.  And while Siem Reap is about as big of an international tourist destination as is possible to find, I was fortunate to stay in a hostel off the beaten path in a local neighborhood just across the river from “Pub Street”.

And when I say “international tourist destination”, it’s just that.  There’s a stretch of mega-hotels between the airport and town specially designed to accommodate large groups of people who travel around by air-conditioned coach bus.  You know the type, they’re usually led by a jovial guide who cracks jokes through a personal PA system slung over one shoulder and who's waving a colorful flag in the other hand so you don't lose them.  Every single one has a camera and they are INCESSANTLY getting in your way while you’re trying to take pictures or they stop right in your path while listening to an uninteresting lecture on bas-relief given by the tour guide with the flag.

But aside from the South Korean and Chinese mega-tour groups, there is a huge percent of the tourist population made up by the unwashed masses of backpackers.  Most of them are European, specifically Britons, the French and a few Germans (seriously, its impossible to escape German backpackers, they're EVERYWHERE and they always get somewhere fun and interesting before you).  If you didn't know already, Southeast Asia is a backpacker's paradise.  Everything is dirt cheap and your dollar or euro stretches for miles in whatever the local currency is.  Oh how I wish you could get a big meal and a few beers for 5 bucks in the US, but fat chance.

I'm not trying to get down on backpackers, hell its how I've made my last 2 major trips abroad (Canada doesn't count).  But I do object to the fact that many of them can't seem to find a shower or someone to wash their clothes.  Both of which are available in abundance at every hostel in the world.  I also object to people perpetuating the Ugly American stereotype, and for a long while I thought that it was a figment of Europe's imagination.  But I have witnessed some pretty boorish behavior by kids who are overseas on their own for the first time and taking every chance they can to act out.  It's seriously not hard to respect someones culture.  Just learn a few essential phrases in their language (they'll forgive your pronunciation if you actually say please and thank you) and don't get fall-on-your-face-in-the-middle-of-the-street drunk at two in the afternoon (saw that).

Rant aside, Siem Reap was an awesome experience.  Ever since I first heard about the 150 square miles of archaeological ruins spread across the jungles of Cambodia.  The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor itself contains the remains of the various capital cities of the Khmer Empire from the 9th century and stretching into the 15th century and was recently certified as the largest pre-industrial city in the world.  The most famous site is Angkor Wat, which happens to be the worlds largest religious structure.  The entire temple is covered in intricate carvings, statues and bas reliefs depicting the entire theology of the Hindu religion.  It is the single greatest feat of construction, art and architecture that I have ever had the fortune to see first-hand.  It's really one of those things you have to experience to truly understand the magnitude of.

I hired myself a personal tuk-tuk driver and guide for 3 days to take me to all of the different temples throughout the huge site.  I forget his name, unfortunately, but he was really awesome and obviously knew the routes like the back of his hand.  He even took me to the airport on my last day there.  Being driven around in the back of a tuk-tuk kind of makes you feel like poor man's royalty.  Because they're super cheap, but at the same time, someone is driving you around and you're sitting in the back like Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

Unfortunately, it happens to be the rainy season in Cambodia (and Vietnam) and so my photos didn't turn out all that well.  It was raining especially hard the day I went to Angkor Wat.  And when I say raining hard, Seattle has NOTHING on monsoon season in Cambodia.  It rained so much in one day that I had to wade through calf-deep water just to get to one of the temples I visited.  I have never experienced rain like that before.  The funny part is, the owner of the hostel I stayed at (Mark) said that it hadn't rained as much this year as it did last year.  When pressed for an explanation he told me that this time last year, there were 8 inches of water on the ground floor of the hostel (where my room is).  My bed would've been floating.  Guess that explains why the rice is so delicious.

So apart from the blatant tourism, Siem Reap was a lot of fun.  A huge variety of restaurants and bars in a town that feels almost small and sleepy.  Absolutely worth the trip to accomplish a life-long goal.