DAY 1 - Bangkok
Our group met in Bangkok on Saturday evening and had dinner near Khao San Road. As expected the food was delish but the service was remarkably slow. I suppose it was a good introduction for the remainder of our trip... we came to realize that good manners - i.e. waiting for everyone's food to arrive prior to eating - is just of no use b/c it would only mean that your food would get cold and lose some of it's flavour in turn.
It also happened that weekend there was a ban placed on the sale of alcohol. Apparently, elections for some Thai senators would occur the following weekend and the government wanted everyone sober. I don't fully understand why the ban had to extend to tourists or why it had to cover the weekend before elections, as well as election weekend but, it did mean that Khao San (and Bangkok in general) was significantly quieter than I remembered from my previous trip in 2000.
After dinner, we putzed around for about an hour - I got my first (of many) Thai massage and then we decided to tuck in for the night. The next morning entailed an early wake-up call and a ridiculously long drive to Siem Reap.
Day 2 - The Road to Angkor (pretty much)
A large part of our trip was spent actually traveling. On the one hand it was beneficial b/c had we flown from city to city, I think we would have missed out on the educational experience of seeing how the vast majority of Khmers (and Thais and Vietnamese, as well) live. However, it did mean more time in a bus than I probably would care for.
The drive from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was incredibly comfy. We had two private vans and while I don't know what the interior of the other van looked like, ours was pretty tricked out - leather seats, curtained windows, track lighting... I should have taken pictures. It also helped that the road was paved and well maintained. But then we made it to the border and the wealth disparity between the two countries became immediately apparent. (Ironically, Siem Reap means Siam (a.k.a. Thailand) defeated - it hails from a far more prosperous era in Khmer history - but as you make the drive from Thailand to Cambodia, it's not Thailand that you think was defeated.)
We switched into one, much less cushy, bus and began the multiple hour long drive on mostly dirt road. (Supposedly, the condition of the road is only partly due to the wealth of Cambodia. There is a flight service offered between Bangkok and Siem Reap but it is monopolized by one airline in which some members of the government have a financial interest and, to put it mildly, corruption is rampant.)
Unlike the greenery of Thailand, most of the drive in Cambodia was dusty desolation. We'd occasionally drive through villages where the buildings all looked like they'd tip over if too strong a wind were to come through and everything was coated in thick layers of red dirt.
What probably made it all the more bizarre though was, as soon as we entered Siem Reap, incredible resorts seemed to spring out of nowhere... truthfully, it was an embarrassing display of western wealth b/c we knew that each of us could feasibly (albeit painfully) pay for at least one night in these resorts but the locals who we just passed in the villages could only dream of being able pay for one night.
Day 3 - Siem Reap
Because we had such an early day the day before, we decided that we'd put off Angkor Wat sunrise until Day 4 and instead spend Day 3 exploring the other temples and attractions of Siem Reap.
Angkor Thom is the ancient city and there are numerous, less famous temples within its grounds.
One of my favorites was Preah Palilay. Like Ta Prohm - the famous Lara Croft: Tomb Raider temple - nature appears to be winning the battle but, that's what adds to the appeal. Seeing these massive trees taking over the temple structure and knowing that the tress came after the temple (starting from seed) truly gives a sense of perspective as to just how old these temples are.
My reason for preferring Preah Palilay is that significantly fewer tourists were there and you were allowed to climb all over (at your own risk) whereas you're very limited as to where you can ramble at Ta Prohm. (My camera died before we made it to Ta Prohm so I don't have any good ones to share.)
After Ta Prohm, we went to see the Land Mine Museum. Cambodia is the most mined country in the world and to this day, there are still people being severely injured as a result of the undiscovered mines. While the specific number is not known, it is estimated that there are millions of mines dispersed throughout Cambodia. While all the main roads and tourist destinations are safe, many of the less traversed areas are not.
To cap off the evening, we explored the Night Market in Siem Reap. On the one hand, it's quite a pleasant experience because you're not really bothered by the sellers and the goods seem to be of a slightly higher value than what you typically see in other night markets. However, part of my enjoyment in night markets is bargaining and there was very little of that at this particular market. I felt that, even though the goods were nicer than I'd usually seen, many of the goods were still overpriced, maybe it hit home more because the goods were priced in US dollars versus Cambodian riel and having vendors who refused to budge frustrated me. Eventually, I bought a pair of "temple-appropriate" shorts but, as I feared... they were crap and had to be replaced within a few hours of wearing them.
Day 4 - Siem Reap
In order to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat, this morning was a really, really early one. We made it to the temple just after 5AM and claimed our spots. We were pretty much a captive audience and the locals knew it. After about 15mins, the calls for coffee came through. "Coffee, $1!" As sleep-deprived tourists, we all jumped at the offer... and the coffee was amazing. (Though, I'm certain I only felt that way because of the time of day. Caffeinated sludge would have tasted good at that point!) Amusingly enough, after an hour the offer changed to "2 coffee, $1!" - if only I had the power to hold out.
As to be expected, sunrise was stunning. As the darkness lifted, Angkor Wat appeared majestically in the purplish light of the morning.
The actual exploring of Angkor Wat didn't really take as long as I think we expected it would. The inner levels were closed off for safety reasons so we were pretty much limited in where we could go.
After Angkor Wat, we visited Banteay Srey (a.k.a. Women's Citadel). This particular temple was the smallest of all the complexes but the detail work was unbelievable. In fact, the story behind the name is that it must have been women who did the work because the men didn't have the patience to complete such intricate work.
After a morning of temples, we went to see the floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. Because it was dry season, the lake was nowhere near as large as it is typically and the water was incredibly muddy but the village itself was pretty remarkable. There were hundreds of floating structures including a basketball court, multiple churches and schools. Some of the homes even had floating pig pens.
To end the day, we had dinner in a traditional Khmer home and followed with drinks at Angkor What bar in Siem Reap. The dinner was fantastic but all the more memorable was when the children - of which there must have been easily 15 - dragged us all into an impromptu dance party including throwbacks like the Macarena, and a variant on musical chairs.
The children were some of the most beautiful I've ever seen and seemed so genuinely happy to have more people to entertain. They wouldn't let us sit down for even a moment once the music started, so we're all convinced we worked off dinner!
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