Last week, my co-workers and I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia for some temple tours to de-stress ourselves from work. Formerly known as Khmer, this country is bordered by Vietnam, Laos and Thailand and is visited mainly for its rich cultural treasures and magnificent temples like Angkor. We did not go to its capital city Phnom Penh, however I can tell this country has widespread poverty and still has a long way to improve on their infrastructure. There is not much establishments, hospitals, schools or malls not even common fast food chains like Mcdonalds. I saw one hospital and the tour guide mentioned it is free and donated by a German doctor. The doctors and teachers are usually volunteers from all over the globe. The city mainly constitute of hotels and inns along with small local restaurants and convenient stores. The roads are narrow and barely lit at night and only the main roads are cemented. The city Siem Reap can be compared to one of the Philippines rural areas.
My tour guide mentioned most Cambodians find work in neighbouring countries in Asia because of underemployment. Similar to our country but I've heard worse. I've been informed that teachers are paid only $150 per month in Cambodia! I literally had trouble imagining my budget if that was my case. I know for sure most Filipinos as well go overseas for better pay but not everyone since there are also good paying jobs here especially if you graduated from college. My tour guide even mentioned he himself, despite passing the license exam, has to pay $2000 to the government before he can officially be employed as a tour guide. It's sad to see that corruption is worse here than in my country and despite what the world telling us that Cambodia is now a communist-free country, democracy seems... superficial. :(
Enough about Cambodia's current economical situation. Time to tell the good stuff! Siem Reap literally means Siam destroyed. I'm surprise my tour guide mentioned that in average, there are 8 million tourists a year! Philippines only has about 4 million tourists I think. The city is known for Angkor Wat, (which was part of the 7 Wonders of the World) Ta Phrom where the movie Tomb Raider was shot along with other Hindu temples. Quite having a laid back ambience with the locals very hospitable and kind, Siem Reap would be the perfect place to unwind and relax. Or so I thought! Haha I had around 16,000 steps daily during our temple tours! With the weather similar to the Philippines, bring sunblock, 2L of water, shades and towel. Prepare to be sunkissed.. I burned!
We stayed at Sonyn Retreat, a budget hotel that cost us only $50 per person for 2 air-conditioned rooms - 5 days. They also offer cheap tours, ours was a 3Day temple tour that only cost us $85 per pax. (airfare not included)
For more information visit their site:
http://www.sonynretreat.com/
However I am surprise the local food is pricey! On average, one meal can cost you $15-20 per person and this is a budgeted small plated meal. In Manila or Bangkok, your $20 can buy you a steak! Anyway here are some photos of our trip.
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| Beautiful Angkor Wat! The temple is dedicated mainly to the Hindu god, Vishnu. |
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| Walls are carved that tells the Hindu epic war - Ramayana and Mahabharata. Very detailed stone carvings! |
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| One of Angkor's towers. From the top, they look like lotus buds. |
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| Casual conversations. Casually happy people. :) |
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| Stone carvings of Apsara - the beautiful lady. Cambodia's cultural dance is derived from her. |
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| Old Khmer language, even my tour guide can't read it. :) |
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| The gang! Along with Mr. Chan our guide also photographer :p |
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| Outskirts of Ta Phrom temple also known as Tomb Raider temple, Angelina jolie temple, jungle temple! |
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Spung Tree- local Cambodian tree whose roots
grow larger than the actual tree trunk!
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| Inside of Ta Phrom, ruins! |
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| I feel so Lara Croft? |
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| Shiva the Destroyer temple - we all know what Diamond Dust can do! |
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| The sunset that we waited for over an hour! I honestly was so tired that I mentioned all sunset anywhere looks like this. haha (I'm right though. :P hence my lousy shot) |
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| Buffet dinner we-fie while watching Cambodia's cultural dances :) |
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| On our way to Tonle Sap lake, largest in southeast asia. Too bad the water is murky and not like ones we have in the Philippines. :( |
These are just some of my photos you have to actually travel to Siem Reap to appreciate the beautiful temples. Can you believe how awesome people centuries ago were? Using bare hands and crude tools to build something extraordinary for the gods? Imagine the hard work. I myself, as mentioned before, is a lapsed Catholic (meaning I am born Catholic because my parents are Catholic but no longer believe in it). I am an atheist and I still believe that man created God for both selfish and unselfish reasons. Religion do have its positive and negative side, I know, but seeing the world, reading theology books and life experience broaden my mind and lead me to question my faith. Anyway enough. Religion is usually a taboo topic.
Sorry I don't have much photos uploaded my patience ran out and I'm not the type to upload every single moment of my life. :p If you want to learn about Hinduism, travel to Bali and Siem Reap! I certainly enjoyed my pleasant stay here. You will meet the kindest, simplest and humblest people.
I don't have any travel plans for now but my brother and sister in law is asking me to travel with them to Japan next year. I've been to Japan only for a night and only at Narita area because I got stranded on my way back from USA last year. Maybe next year, I'd be able to write my authentic Japanese travel experience! We'll see. I think I got enough miles to fly me to Hongkong for free but not to Tokyo. Bummer.
