Destination known and looking for jobs!: Siem Reap, Cambodia (March 2-March 6)

We left our little beach sanctuary of Koh Chang to travel to Cambodia. We made plans to meet up with my mom in Siem Reap. My mom had been traveling in Africa the previous two weeks. So her plans were to fly to Bangkok and meet us in Cambodia. Since neither one of us had cell phone service, it got a tricky playing email tag until we figured out a plan on where to meet and when. Jeff and I boarded a minibus that drove us to Cambodian border. While standing in the customs line with hundreds of other people, I said to Jeff that my mom was either right behind us or right in front of us. Just as the words were out of my mouth, I saw her walk through the customs door. It was so great to see her after four months! My mom, Jeff, and I chatted awaiting our turns to get our stamps and then separated ways until we arrived in Siem Reap. My mom had arranged transport and a Cambodian visa through a travel agency, while Jeff and I had to apply for our visas on entry. We had to apply for the visa, pay our fees (the border agent tried to charge us an extra 100 bhat apiece, but Jeff just ignored that), waited for approval, and then had to wait in the stamping line. By the time we were finished with process and made it officially into Cambodia, we were informed by our transport agency that the bus had already left for Siem Reap. We ended up splitting cab fare with a lovely French couple who were also on our minibus from Koh Chang. Two hours later, we were reunited again with my mom in Siem Reap. We found a lovely guesthouse to stay at and a wonderful tuk-tuk driver named Seth to take us around the temples of Angkor in morning.

Morning comes and Jeff’s tummy, which had been rumbling the day before, broke loose and he decided not to join my mom and I to see the temples. Jeff had been in Cambodia five years ago and had already seen the temples and it was nice to have some time with my mom. Our tuk-tuk driver, Seth, brought us bottled water in a cooler with ice and was very informative about the temples he took us too. We visited the main temple Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom that first day. Angkor Wat is said to replicate the universe in a miniature version. The central spiritual tower, Mt Mera (which was covered in scaffolding when we visited), and its surrounding smaller ‘peaks’ or towers are surrounded by the continents (the lower courtyards), and the oceans (represented by the moat surrounding the wat). The bridge stretching across the moat is symbolic for humans to reach the abode of the gods. Angkor Thom was once a fortified city. We entered the west gate which was decorated with elephant trunks. In front on the gate on the left of the causeway stand 54 statues of gods and on the right stand 54 statues of demons. Inside Angkor Thom are the structures called the Bayon, the Baphoun, the terrace of the elephants, and the terrace of the leper king. My mom and I spent the afternoon wandering around those structures. Seth drove us back to our guesthouse and back to Jeff whose tummy was still upset.

The next day, we arranged for Seth to pick up at 5:30 am so we could see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Jeff and his tummy were up most of the night so he decided to stay back again. The sunrise was disspointing as there was a lot clouds and we weren’t able to actually see the sun come up. We spent the rest of the morning being driven around the temples we didn’t see the day before. We wandered around Preah Khan, one of the largest complexes in Angkor. We also saw Preah Neak Pean which was a temple surrounded by a pool of water. Seth drove us back home so we could take a nap before adventuring out again.

Finding Mom at the border!

Standing in front of the west gate of Angkor Thom

The terrance of elephants inside Angkor Thom

Standing by one of the many trees trying to take over Ta Prohm

Jeff looking cool in his sick bed

Seth came back in the afternoon and took us to a nearby silk farm. Jeff was finally feeling better and came along. At the silk farm, they breed the silk worms, let them spin their cocoons, and then take the cocoons and separate out the outer layer (raw silk) from the inner layer (fine silk). The silk is then re-spun, dyed, and woven into cloth at the complex. It was a really interesting process to see!

Checking out the silkworms

Mom standing in front of the basket of silk cocoons

Weaving of the silk taking place

On our last day in Siem Reap, Seth picked us (including Jeff) up, and took us to village of Kompong Phhluk. On our way out to the village, we stopped at three more temple complexes of Angkor. To get to the village we had to take a long boat up a canal on the Tonle Sap lake. During this time of year, the dry season, the village is built on stilts, but during the wet season the only way to get from one structure to the next is by boat.