Siem Reap and Angkor - 1000years of lost history - Jan 22 - 25

2006-02-09T01:16:00.000-08:00

There is more than enough information on Angkor without me adding to it. Go to http://www.tourismcambodia.com/attractions/angkor/index.asp

T and I leave Kratie at 7.30am, drive 3hrs to a small town which meets the main road from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and change buses from the aircon coach to a more local bus - more people, more animals, more karaoke. We arrive at 5pm, surrounded as usual by guesthouse tarts (sorry touts, Freudian slip). Even though a free ride to your guesthouse is advertised with the bus ticket, and we agree to take a look at the guesthouse of the bus company, they still ask us to pay for the tuktuk when we say no and ask to go to one of our choosing, and then get very upset when we say no.

That night we have dinner at the Dead Fish Tower. You have to take a look at the photos. This is one of the 2 most unusual restaurants I have ever been to. There are not a lot of places where the signs point you to the toilets, the crocodiles (yes, there are pits of live crocodiles you can feed your leftovers to, the outdoor loft, the Japanese Garden or the Traditional Dance or Live Music stages). The food is a bit pricey and unspectacular but the decor more than makes up for it. We listen to music and watch the shows til about 11 and go to our rooms. Cambodia reminds me of India, without the hordes of beggars, shop touts, male dominationbut still with the dirty streets all dug up at once as if the government decided to upgrade every road in the country at the same time, heavy traffic with no rules, and sticky, hot days.

The next morning after breakfast we hire electric bicycles which can be recharged at several spots around the temples and eventually find our way to the Angkor ticket booth which, considering it is a Wonder of the World, you would have thought would have been signposted. Maybe they just want to force tourists to take taxis, don't know. My electric bicycle stops being electric and I have to pedal it for a few km to the next recharge station, and considering these things are never meant to actually be pedaaled it is a hell of a workout. We buy a 3 day pass and go our separate ways to explore the temples. Once again, there's more than enough already on this stuff. Do a google image search on Ta Prohm, Bayon, Baphuon, Angkor Prohm, Prah Khao, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Pre Rup and of course Angkor Wat. Of course it's impressive, of course the thought that these temples were built 1000 years ago, supported 1 million people's day to day lives in the surrounding jungle, have mind-boggling waterways, moats and dams and were left for 800 years to be taken over by the jungle and still have giant trees growing out of them is incredible. It's why they are what they are. I was as mesmerised as any tourist. It is the other things that happened that made it personal for me.

At Bayon, the temple with the hundreds of giant faces that look like a cross between the king and Buddha, there is a large Buddha statue where you can buy incense and sit for a while. Whilst doing so, I realise that what has felt like it's missing from my life is more like minded people. It's easy to tell why. I have had no idea what my mind is actually like so its hard to find people with like minds. The few, hardy friends and family members who have stuck with me for decades are evidence that they are around. I guess I just haven't gone out looking to attract more of them, and realise that I do want to do so. All the developing new social contacts practice I have been doing since Luang Prabang in Laos will help that.

At Baphuon, there is an old man with a leg missing sitting on the path around the outside of the temple. Few people make a donation. Even less even give him acknowledgement of his existence. I must admit I was one of those. After I passed him, I started to feel angry about the way the people here and surrounding countries have been treated by imperialistic developed countries - the French, Russians, Americans, Chinese and anyone else who can taking turns to make their lives hell. Then I get this voice in my head repeating a Buddhist saying I have heard many times: "It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness". I realise that I am spending my energy getting upset about the conditions that caused this man to be that way, but not actually doing anything to make a difference for him. I get some change and sit with him for 10 minutes. We can't say a word to each other, but 10 minutes attention, pointing to his leg, him acting out a land mine accident scene, proof that someone acknowledges he's still around (the Cambodian motto on many posters and flags, after the brutal ancient and recent history is "Still Alive") is very emotional for us both. I leave him some money and leave, both of us changed for the giving of 10 minutes time.

On the way back to the main road, the dozen kids who until a few minutes ago were chasing down tourists to buy books, drinks, postcards, flutes, scarves, anything, are now playing paper/scissors/rock. I join in. They are much too good and fast for me. After a few rounds, they start a game of tips where they are not allowed to touch the ground, only jump from rock to rock which are strewn around each site. Watching them reaffirms for me what I felt at the Tibetan Children's School in Dharamsala. All kids want is security and to play. It seems the same the world over, and seems too much to ask the world over. I also get clearer on the part of the trip mthat is about looking at how to make a difference in the world. I always had an inclination to it being about work with underprivileged or abused children, and this keeps becoming clearer with every contact with them.

On the way back to town (8km) the bloody bike fails again and I have to pedal all the way back - more trouble than it's worth I think. The next day T and I hire normal bicycles and go off on our own again. I go into town, have breakfast near the markets and then explore them, buy longans, bananas and water for lunch for later. Towards the end of the day, I get my first attempted pickup since parting from Beck. Whilst watching the sunset at Angkor Wat, a Cambodian woman approaches and starts talking about how her sister married a Belgian and now lives in Belgium and asks if I am married. I have to disappoint her. Beck has a laugh at that when we meet online that night.

The next mroning we go to Bayon for sunrise. I sit in a doorway meditating and become aware of lots of voices. A Korean tour group are taking photos of me sitting cross legged, eyes closed in a doorway with one of the giant faces visible through the doorway on the other side. Would have made a good shot. I move to let them take photos and one Korean couple ask me what I think of the temples. I don't think they liked my answer. I said that it's easy to be the king and built monuments to yourself when you have enough slaves. Throughout history the exploitation of the masses has been the signature of the few. The Pharoahs and the pyramids, the kings and these temples, all leaders who send their young men to war for their glory throughout history, the imperial rising each century of a different conquering nation - the Spanish, French, British, Americans over the last 400 years. Next probably the Chinese which we have already seen with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet, and so on all through future history. When I look at these temples, yes I see the magnificence of the craftsmanship and architecture. But what I also see is one man's go and tens of thousands of people's lives which could have been put to a better use for all of their benefit. Would I trade all of Angkor's temples for a history which showed empathy for all the people who built it. In a second. They walk away slowly, looking at me strange.

That night we go to the tourist area, very much like a miniature Khao San Rd in Bangkok - 2 small streets of expensively decorated and priced restaurants, bars and nightclubs for the sake of the relatively few tourists compared to the hundreds of poor, hungry kids and adults who surround the streets hoping to get some food. I have developed the habit since Laos of buying a meal for one beggar a day or distributing fruit. There is a girl of about 10 and boy of 7 carrying a baby of about 6 months. It is 11pm, they are exhausted and hungry. We buy them a meal, T holds the baby. This is such a simple thing to do and we see almost no tourists do it. Yes it can be overwhelming to constantly be asked to give something. It is also not such a big thing to buy one meal a day for a starving beggar here, costs about 40c oz. If every tourist just did that, that would be making a difference on a grand scale. The ideas keep getting clearer.

The next morning I pack and checkout. On the way to the markets for breakfast T spots her ex-boyfriend's brother and his girlfriend and we eat with them and catch the bus to Phnom Penh.

I know this section sounds preachy and overly spiritual. So be it.

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Siem Reap and Angkor - 1000 years of lost history

Siem Reap and Angkor - 1000years of lost history - Jan 22 - 25