Siem Reap: the Rhythms of Real Life

Even if the Angkor temples are the impetus for a trip to Siem Reap, it is the images of real life that imprint memory.  And, of course, real life unfolds in real time each moment you are there, no matter where you wander. 

Buddhism predominates in Cambodia; it is the official religion and 95% of the population practices it.

Monks' quarters in town.

Monks' quarters out in the bush near an Angkor temple ruin.

Make-shift Buddhist shrine in an Angkor Temple ruin.

As our driver and guide steered us farther afield, away from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat itself, we drove through villages in more rural settings. 

Rice in-the-making--these were actually situated near a temple ruin we visited.

At one temple a man selling palm juice prompted our guide to buy us a drink.  He remembered fondly how much he had loved it as a boy.  Cindy and I sampled it--very sweet and slightly smoky--but were not converted to fan status.  Still, I suspect palm juice is the Kool-Aid experience for a multitude of kids in rural Cambodia.  Stands in many villages sold palm fruits, palm sugar, and other palm products.  We stopped at one stand to watch a woman cook palm juice into palm sugar and then, with the help of friends and family, spoon the sugar into molds.  I purchased three tubes of palm sugar--totally biodegradable packaging, no less, as in maybe palm fronds--for us to sample.  Now, as for palm sugar, I am fully and most devotedly converted!  (It tastes like penuche--a homemade candy my mother sometimes made when I was a girl.)

Palm sugar in biodegradable packaging!

Palm tree with ladder attached; collecting the palm fruits becomes a much easier process this way!  (And yes, that is the wall of a temple ruin in the background.)

Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, an ecological hot spot designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997.  It extends from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.  On my first visit to Cambodia ten years ago, I actually journeyed by boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, a chug lasting between five and six hours.  It was during the rainy season then (July) and the lake was very full and quite blue.  On this trip I visited Tonle Sap in April, near the end of the dry season (November to May):  mocha brown lapped at the nethermost expanses of exposed banks of which I had no visual memory.  Our guide hired a boat ride for us, and we motored from the pier out to a floating village and then back.  Here is a sampling of what we had the chance to witness:

This is a school in the floating village.

Siem Reap: the Angkor Wat Temples

Angkor Wat at sunrise.

The mesmerizing lure of the Angkor Wat temples can in large part be attributed to the atmospheric interplay between tropical forest and ruins; it is the reality of an otherworldly realm imagined for a fantasy.  Thus it was on my first visit, and so it remained for my second one ten years later.

According to my guidebook, Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world, and the surrounding forest holds the highest concentration of temples in the world.  For over 500 years, Angkor dominated the political and cultural affairs of much of Southeast Asia as the Khmer Empire expanded into Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. By the fifteenth century, however, the trappings of its glory and grandeur had surrendered to an ever-resilient jungle, and, at least from the world's view, it largely disappeared until the late 1800s.

On this second visit I saw more of the temple ruins than I did before.  In fact, Cindy and I had our own driver and official guide.  Consequently, I learned more stuff, too.  However, I shan't elucidate here; I'll post photos instead.

 Evelyn, nose to nose, courtesy of our guide...who knew all the photo ops.

 Cindy, nose to nose.

Although I have no idea who these people are, I could not resist taking this shot.

Next we have Ta Prohm, a temple used in one of the Indiana Jones movies and also for a Tomb Raider one.

Here are the steps to one of the towers of Angkor Wat; they are steep and very narrow--only part of your foot fits on a step.

Many of the temples had make-shift Buddhist shrines.

I loved the carved bas-reliefs.  Many of them told stories--Buddhist, Hindu, and historical.

 These are Angkor Wat's famous apsara dancers.