My Learning Jungle!: May 2015

The Traditional Khmer calendar, known as an Chhankitek, is a lunisolar calendar based on the movement of the moon. Therefore the Holidays are subject to change with the only exception being the Kings Birthday, King Sihamoni, from May 13-15. In order to celebrate the Kings Birthday and the three days that we had off from work, us girls went on a girl-cation to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap is in the Northwestern part of Cambodia and is the capitol of Siem Reap Province. Its name can be translated to mean ‘Defeat of Siam’, which Cambodians refer to Thailand as Siam in reference to the conflict between the Siamese and Khmer peoples. Its history is largely coloured by the spectre of the brutal Khmer Rouge Regime, though since Pol Pot’s death in 1998, it’s become a rejuvenated tourist industry, with its main attractions being the Temples.

May 13-

Siem Reap is about a 6-9 hour bus ride depending on the roads and traffic so we decided to by pass this hurdle by flying from Phnom Penh directly to Siem Reap early Wednesday morning. It was the first time flying since arriving in Phnom Penh 5 months ago so it definitely was exciting to be in the air again. The flight only took 50 minutes so we arrived by 9am and went directly to our hostel. Originally there were only supposed to be four of us girls, Sharon, Codi, Becky, and myself, but Kim decided to join at the last minute and because there was no more flights available she had to take an overnight bus and had left Tuesday night so we met her at the hostel. We weren't able to check in right away so we spent part of the day lounging by the pool and eating. Once checked in we unloaded our things and decided to walk around the town and explore the markets. The location of our hostel could not have been any better as we were supper close to everything. We were able to check out the river, pub street, the markets, and the bats in the park (not my favourite part). The markets were incredible and we all managed to go a little crazy making it a bit of an expensive day, but I walked away with 3 new tops, a teapot, and two backpacks (one for school and one because it was cute). We also discovered the greatest restaurant that supports the poorest local families by providing them with jobs at the restaurant and helping them through school, it was called Sister Srey and not only did it have an amazing purpose but the food was extraordinarily good. After dinner was bed time as we'd had a busy travelling day and tomorrow we planned to get up at 4am to head to the Temples to see the sunrise.

May 14-

We managed to get up on time and make it to the Temples, and despite our zombie-ness it was well worth it as the sunrise over the main Temple of Angkor Wat was breath taking. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a Hindu and later Buddhist temple built in the early 12^th century in Yasodharapura, the capitol of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its National flag as only one of two flags in the world to feature a building in its design. We spent 3 and a half hours exploring the massive grounds of Angkor Wat before heading to the next temple, Ankgor Thom. Angkor Thom, meaning the ‘Great City’, was the last and most enduring capitol city of the Khmer Empire. It was established in the late twelfth century and covers an area of 9 km2. The city can be accessed through 5 city gates, one on each cardinal point and the Victoria Gate on the eastern wall. At the center of Angkor Thom is the Bayon, a Temple whose most distinctive feature is its multiple massive stone faces, and was by far my favourite Temple to see. Our last stop was Ta Prohm, the Temple that was used in the filming of tomb raider, which is also a part of the Angkor Thom city. By the end of the third temple we'd been up for over 8 hours and were overheated, hungry, and exhausted so we made our way back to the hostel to regroup. Although tired our hunger overtook our desires to nap and so we headed off in search of some Indian food for lunch. Indian food may not have been the best idea as soon after lunch we were all feeling sickly, but some rest inside the sanctuary of our air-conditioned hostel room and the pool managed to help us recover so that we could join in the beer pong festivities that night at the hostel rooftop bar.

May 15-

Our first day to sleep in was much needed and so we took our time getting up before heading back to Sister Srey for breakfast in the early afternoon. We had booked a boat trip to the floating village, Kampong Phluk, at 2pm and so we spent the rest of the afternoon resting by the pool before being picked up. The tour first brought us to where the local statues and artwork can be made and we got to see some of the locals carving them out of sand stone, soap stone, wood, and copper. Then we piled into the bus to be taken to the river. As it is dry season the bus had to drive most of the way down the river before it was deep enough to board the boat, even then we were only in about a foot of water. The village is all built on stilts to avoid the raging waters during the rainy season which is soon to begin at the end of May. Most of there livestock is in cages with oil tins built under them so that once it rains they will simply float over the river. We learnt that villages built on stilts are Cambodian homes, but floating villages on oil tins are Vietnamese. After being taken down the river we disembarked to be able to walk through the village and interact with the locals. The children living there were all extremely interested in our appearance and followed us the entire time. Once through the little village we boarded the boat again to be taken out into the Tonle Sap lake. The lake is just as low as the river as we could see people walking through the middle of the lake. We stopped in the middle of the lake to rest on a floating restaurant and to enjoy the view of the sunset. We learnt that during low season the water from the lake runs down out of the lake into the Mekong river towards Phnom Penh, however during the rainy season the water is forced back up stream making the lake expand to form a massive body of water of major importance to Cambodia. While resting at the restaurant in the middle of the lake we were able to try one of their local delicacies of crocodile, which tastes very much like chicken but with a slightly different texture. Then we were headed back to the hostel to get an early night before our bike tour the next day.

May 16-

Codi had been to Siem Reap back in November and had met these guys who run a bike tour to support students going to University by giving them jobs while also teaching them all the trades of running a business of their own. The tour took us through the villages and the rice fields which are currently being planted in preparation for the rain that is soon to start. We made a couple of stops to learn about basket weaving, one basket takes 4 days and only costs 5 dollars, and to try some local fruit from the market, and lastly to learn about rice wine (but we didn't try any because it was to hot and we were already dehydrated). It was probably my favourite part of the whole trip as we could enjoy the sun, each others company, and be doing something active while learning and seeing the culture first hand. The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool and enjoying the company of some new friends we had made at the hostel. We met two guys traveling together, one French guy had been traveling for 2 years and the other was a German guy traveling for 1 year, and they are both nearing the end of their travels this week. Then we also met an Irish guy traveling for the past year but is continuing on into Vietnam next. We spent the rest of the night partying with them and even made an appearance on pub street, only to return home in the early hours of the morning after a fun night dancing.

May 17-

Our flight home wasn't until 8pm but that allowed us to rest the whole day and do some last minute things around town. We sure are going to miss Siem Reap, it was a trip to be remembered.

The Bat trees, thousands of bats were in them...

close up of the bats

first glimpse of Angkor Wat at sunrise

Watching the sunrise

parts of the temple

Sharon and I being all zen at the temples

still Angkor Wat

climbing higher to get a better view

inside the temple from the very top

Angkor Thom, the Bayon, second temple of the day

The faces on the Bayon temple

Ta Prohm, third temple of the day

the tomb raider tree

from back right is Becky in blue, myself, Marco (a random from the hostel we accumulated but quickly lost as he was very creepy), then front right goes Kim in green, Sharon, and Codi.

Boat trip to Kampong Phluk

sunset from the floating restaurant on the Tonle Lake

cutting our propeller loose from lake garbage

Friday May 1st-

So after having spent time at the elephant sanctuary I have caught a bit of the adventurous bug so with the long weekend I decided to head to Kampot. I had booked my bus and hostel and was set to leave but then one of the girls whom I had met at the elephant sanctuary was in Phnom Penh and decided to come with me for a day. With the spontaneity of her coming along we could not get us both on a bus, seeing as they were all sold out for the long weekend, so instead we took the expensive route and hired a private taxi to take us. When we arrived in kampot we wanted to make the most of the day before Indy headed back that evening, so we had our taxi driver take us up to the national park mountain. The mountain is supposedly known for its views of the river and ocean as well as for its waterfall. Of course as we ascended it got cloudy and we couldn't see any of the views and the waterfall was bone dry since there hasn't been enough rain. Once back in town at my hostel we had lunch and then took a gander into the tiny town. We checked out the river front and the market and decided that kampot is much more quaint and inviting than Phnom Penh, a place I wouldn't mind living as it's still big enough not to be bored and yet closer to the surrounding countryside to be outdoorsy. Before heading back to the hostel we stopped in to some stores and got cool souvenirs as well as I booked a countryside tour for the following day since I'll be traveling alone. Indy spent another hour with me hanging by the pool before having our taxi driver bring her back to Phnom Penh. After she was gone I had dinner with an Italian girl who has been living in Indonesia for the past year and a half but then it was off to bed.

Saturday May 2nd-

Today I was up with the sun to get ready for my countryside tour. Luckily there was others on the tour, three Israeli's (Nora, Serene, and Teahl) and one British. The British girls name was Sophy, as though even during this hard time I had my nan close by to remind me she's everywhere I go since she's always in my heart. Our tour started with the salt fields but there were no workers there because it's rainy season so they cannot produce salt until it becomes dry again. Basically they have hoses, which transport seawater into the fields which in the dry season the water evaporates leaving only the salt behind to be collected, cleaned and then sold. Next we piled back in the van and drove trough the countryside villages where we saw sugar cane and rice fields being maintained and people fishing or just lounging in their hammocks at home. The people all seemed so lovely and happy despite the lack of the every day things we've grown accustomed to. While kids now a days sit and play video games these children were out learning the trades of the field or riding their bikes. Very serene and happy. We then stopped on the side of the road near a rocky cliff where we had to cross a bridge, which was not a bridge... Just a log but to them it's apparently a bridge. Then once at the rock face we climbed stairs before descending into a cave temple. It was cool to see but stifling hot as there was no airflow. We didn't stay long there and so we were off again. The next stop was another quick stop just to take pictures of what is known as the hidden lake, before continuing on to the pepper plantation. There are four types of pepper that all originate from the same pepper vine. As it grows they can pick the fresh green pepper, which is used in seafood and is not dried. If they dry the green pepper however it then becomes black pepper, which we are used to seeing and eating. However they can let the pepper ripen and change colours to red on the vine which when dried makes red pepper or they can soak the red pepper and peel the red skin off before drying it to make white pepper. The pepper is grown around brick stacks. It used to be done using wood stakes but the wood stakes only held one vine at a time whereas the big brick pillars have over ten vines wrapped around them, and each vine produces 1kg of pepper. Buying the pepper from the pepper plantation however was extremely expensive and so I refrained from buying the different varieties of pepper even though they said buying the pepper in town may not be as good of quality it is significantly cheaper. I did however buy pepper sauce, which consists of Palm sugar and pepper finely grinded and mixed together, and when you add lime to it it's absolutely delicious and can be put on basically any dish. As we were leaving the pepper plantation the guide informed us that the three isreali's had purchased an additional tour to go to rabbit island so he was going to take us all to Kep beach but then the three others would take a boat to the island and we would just stay in Kep until they came back. Well instead sophy and I also purchased this extra addition so that we too could see Rabbit Island. Before heading to Rabbit Island we had some time to visit Kep market, which is known for their seafood. They had whole fish on skewers and squid. I didn't try any but Teahl did. Instead we got pineapple and some kind of root fruit and these crackers that we think we're coconut and sea same but really they could have been made from rise, not too sure. The boat over to rabbit island was just a piece of curved wood basically but we made it across and while the three Israelis went a separate way sophy and I found a nice spot in the shade to relax and nap. At 4 it was time o catch out boat back to Kep and have our bus take us back to kampot. The boat however has a limit of 8 people but our driver decided 20 people was a much better idea so we had to go extremely slow so as not to capsize. Finally back to the hostel but not until we made a quick stop to see the fishing village on the side of the road. I was feeling less than social so I had dinner at the hostel than resorted to an early night. I also somehow got really burnt despite lying in the shade and being in the car most of the day.