February 22 - From Saigon to Siem Reap, Cambodia, Ta Prohm

Goodbye to Vietnam and hello to Cambodia today. We did not have an early start, but needed to leave the hotel at 10:15 AM for our flight to Siem Reap. We enjoyed breakfast at the 6^th floor restaurant, which was good. Saigon’s airport is still the same as what was used in the war, built by the US. After the war, it was closed for a time. There were no flights. One could only fly to the USSR anyway; no other destinations were possible. After we landed in Cambodia, we were met by our local guide named Ly Heang. He told us to call him “Han” pronounced like “hand” without the “d.” On the bus ride from the airport, he told us how to say hello in Cambodian: “Arun Suesday” or just “Suesday.” “Akun” means thank you. The Khmer written language is somewhat unique to Cambodia, derived from Pali, which is from India. He told us several other interesting things. Cambodian food is similar to Indian or Thai food with curries, mostly fish or chicken with large portions. The food is not as spicy and features a lot of lemongrass, which repels mosquitoes. The money is called kip, which is a synonym for rice. Four thousand kip is about one dollar. We could see that the land here is dry, flat and brown like parts of Africa (or California for that matter). Of course, it would be very different in the rainy season. 

We then arrived in central Siem Reap, which we learned means “Thai (Siam) is defeated.” It is about a five-hour drive from the capital Phnom Penh. The town seems like a nice place as we drove through the center, but our guide Tho said, “Too hot!” Many hotels are sitting empty during this time of coronavirus, since travel from China has been banned.

Our guide was born here then fled with his family to the countryside during the time of the Khmer Rouge. They returned after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. A historical note: The Khmer Rouge regime, which existed from 1975 until 1979, was highly autocratic, xenophobic, paranoid, and repressive. The Khmer Rouge's attempts at agricultural reform (including sending city residents to work in the countryside) led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency even in the supply of medicine led to the death of many thousands from treatable diseases such as malaria. The Khmer Rouge regime murdered hundreds of thousands of their perceived political opponents, and its emphasis on national purity resulted in the genocide of Cambodian minorities. Ultimately, the Cambodian genocide led to the death of up to two million people, around 25% of Cambodia's population. All in less than five years’ time!

Heang has been a guide with A&K since 1999. He told us that Cambodia is 95% Buddhist (2% Muslim and 2% Christian). There were as many as 1,500 temples in Siem Reap at one time. Now there are about 350. Our tour will take us to four ancient temples. We will see Angkor Tom, which means “big capital” and Angkor Wat, which is the world’s largest Hindu temple. However, Theravada Buddhism is practiced here in Cambodia. There are about sixteen million people in Cambodia with more women than men. Women are very respected – they are the boss in the family! To get married men must bring a large dowry. Thus, it is expensive to get married.

Our first stop was for lunch at a restaurant called Mahob Khmer Cuisine. Roy ordered a dish called fish amok, a local specialty. It was in a sauce like green curry. It was good. We later learned that the fish is called serpenthead fish from a local river. This didn’t sound so tasty. Rob had beef loc lac. Another of our group ordered lemongrass chicken salad, which looked really good. We were told that a typical condiment unique to Cambodia is salt and pepper mixed together with lime juice. Starters were mango salad with prawn and sautéed broccoli with carrots and mushrooms – really good!
 

After lunch we checked into our hotel, the Belmond Residence d’Ankhor, and then proceeded to our afternoon activity, a visit and tour of the temple called Ta Prohm. The temple was built as a tomb for the mother of King Jayavarman VII in the twelfth century. The temple complex is 402 square kilometers and is a blend of Indian and Chinese influences. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm is in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors. UNESCO inscribed Ta Prohm on the World Heritage List in 1992. Today, it is one of the most visited complexes in Cambodia’s Angkor region. The trees growing out of the ruins are perhaps the most distinctive feature of Ta Prohm.

Cambodia has had Hinduism since the first century; Buddhism came later. Through history, the kings went back and forth between the religions. Most of the temples were built as tombs to bury the kings, so that they could spend eternity with god (the king was also a god).

As we entered the complex through the east gate, we passed under a small structure with a large face built into the gate. Inside the walls we walked through considerable open space where a large community would have existed. No one lived inside the temple structure itself. The outer wall encloses an area of 650 thousand square meters that at one time would have been the site of a substantial town, but that is now largely forested. There are entrance gopuras (entrance towers) at each of the directions, although access today is now only possible from the east and west. The temple's records that the site was home to more than twelve thousand people (including eighteen high priests and numerous dancers), with an additional eighty thousand people in the surrounding villages working to provide services and supplies.
 

The temple was discovered by French explorers in the 1800s. All wooden elements, such as roofs, were long gone. The king’s mother had Hindu beliefs, which influenced the temple. It has undergone only partial restoration so that visitors could get an idea of what the ruins looked like when they were discovered. There are giant trees towering over the ruins, which gives the place a mystical and magical feeling in the late afternoon sunshine. Due to the lack of Chinese tourists, the site felt practically empty. We saw many places for scenic photographs. Rob was especially delighted to find the famous face peeking out from between the roots of a tree!

Returning to the hotel, there were a few nice restaurants near the hotel for those that wanted a late dinner. We opted to go the the hotel’s nice bar area for some wine and appetizers (we’d had a late lunch with lots of food). We enjoyed chicken satay and Khmer beef skewers with a really good and unusual black pepper sauce.