Cambodia Vacation Day 2: Siem Reap

Cambodia Vacation Day 2: Siem Reap

The street in front of the hotel last night had been dark, quiet and devoid of people and traffic.

It's 7AM and the scene couldn't be anymore different. The hustle bustle of the country's biggest city is in full swing. Tuk Tuks and families of three and four (the record I saw in Cambodia was 6) are wizzing by on the dusty streets. People, commerce, noise and dust make up this exciting tableau. 
This being my first time in Southeast Asia I was completely taken aback by the multitude and vivaciousness of this very alive city. After being wowed after only 10 minutes it was time to board the minibus for Siem Reap.

The minibus, which was closer to a van really, was comfortable, seating about 8 people and had air conditioning. The bumpy ride to Siem Reap was roughly 5 hours. Along the way we traveled on dirt roads that overlooked the flooded wetland landscape of the Cambodian countryside. We drove past orange-brown flooded  pools over tall grasses and under palm trees and blue skies decorated with great, heavy white clouds. There were small towns along the way with homes and business made of wood and corrugated metal. In one town we needed to stop to make way for roughly two dozen cows that need to cross the road.

When we arrived in Siem Reap there was a tuk tuk driver waiting for us to drive us to our hostel. We took the tuk tuk to our hostel and drop off our bags.

Once at the hostel we decided to rent hostel bikes for $2 a day and take the bikes around the historic and beautiful city of Siem Reap. We rode along the Siem Reap River until we quickly arrive at our first destination, the beautiful Wat Preah Prom Rath. We got off our bikes and view the vibrant colors and beautiful architecture of the temple.

It was a Buddhist holiday so there were monks chanting. There was also some restriction into temple areas for that reason.

Here is a video of monks chanting. I didn't film them directly, I just wanted to capture the audio:

Then we went to another temple called Wat Bo.

We rode along the Siem Reap River and visit a few more temples. The stories of this Buddha indicate the wildlife prevalent to the ancient people of the times. Artwork shows the Buddha with monkeys, elephants and tigers, very different from artwork depicting the Buddha in Korean temples.

We visited Wat Po Lanka

Also at Wat Po Lanka with the help of a friendly young monk, I had my first experience with a non flush squat toilet. Basically you do your business and there is a bucket with water and a ladle and you wash it down.

We continued biking north along the river. It's humid but overcast. We make our way to a rural outskirt town. This is a town of dirt roads, corrugated metal houses and shops, diaperless toddlers, stray dogs and chickens. From people in the town, our presence doesn't come off as unwelcome but more just a bit confused. We stop at a local cafe/mart for 50 cent beers and rest a bit from a day off travel and biking.

Afterward we head back to the hostel and change to get ready for our evening in Siem Reap. We start off with delicious and highly affordable food. I ordered beef rolls which is beef rolled around a spicy pepper and mince pork stuffed tomatoes. I thought coming to Cambodia I would lose weight. The price and deliciousness of the food had created the opposite effect.

Fully stuffed we walked around the night markets of Siem Reap featuring vendors selling such wares as Cambodian art, souvenirs, souvenir art, silks, foods and sustainable products made from repurposed packaging. 

There was a store that sells crocodile-skin products like bags, belts and wallets. They even had full crocodile skins for sale.

The night market also had a performance stage where we watched a group of 6 Cambodian women do a traditional dance wearing traditional Cambodian costumes. Here is a video of their performance (turn down your speakers):

There's the tourist friendly Pub Street, but thankfully Ailee and I were old enough to know better than to sacrifice morning time at Angkor Wat for a long night at Angkor What? (A popular foreigner bar on Pub Street).

Also in Siem Reap you can't walk 10 feet with out some one offering you something:  tuk tuk ride, massages, foot massages, fish eating dead skin off your feet massages (see day 3).

That night we rested early to prepare for a big day in Angkor the next day.

A note about child poverty in Siem Reap:

In Siem Reap, children will approach you selling trinkets and post cards. Although it may seem sad initially one needs to put it in perspective a little. Compared to that earlier rural town outside the city, in the city Siem Reap there is more opportunity. It's not a good situation, but giving money to children encourages the behavior whilst also not helping the child directly (the money goes to someone else. People who want to help should support by donating to an NGO.)

Cambodia Vacation: Prologue and Day 1

Cambodia Vacation. Prologue and Day 1

Prologue:

"What if we met in Cambodia?" This is how it began.

Ailee had been a friend of mine since my days at University of Oregon. She had been teaching English abroad for several years from Prague to Istanbul to now Hong Kong. Through this time we had managed to keep in touch in a large part due to the fact that she was close friends with an ex girlfriend.

Even after that relationship we had managed to keep in touch through things like GChat from time to time.

"What if we met in Cambodia?"  I repeated again over instant message. The seed had been planted. I had time off from my English teaching job in Korea and since she worked freelance she could take vacation whenever she wanted. We had both expressed curiosity in seeing the country, especially visiting the beautiful and mysterious Angkor Wat. We made a decision and with a month before our departure, we booked flights and began our plan to meet in Cambodia for an adventure.

Day 1.

I felt like I needed to keep my wits about me traveling to Cambodia. Traveling anywhere requires you to keep your wits about you but going into Cambodia for some reason felt more wild, more adventurous, which to some extent both was and wasn't true.

I got my first dose of learning this lesson without even having left the Phnom Penn airport. At the line for landing visas I presented then with my passport photo and necessary money. The cost was $25 for a 30 day travel visa. In a clever move I thought to pay in two $20 bills. I got my visa, was about to exit customs when it dawned on me: did I get my change? I walked back to the counter and asked the man working there if he gave me my change. He then presented me with the $15 I had left behind. Keep your wits about you.

I took my first tuk tuk ride from the Phnom Penn airport to the hotel Ailee had booked. It was dark and not many folks were walking around on that particular rainy night in Phnom Penn.

I arrive at the hotel. Meet with Ailee and we quickly exchange some "good to see you"'s and "I can't believe we're doing this"'s before going to sleep in preparation for tomorrow morning'ss early bus departure for Siem Reap.

Stranded on Geoje Island

Stranded on Geoje Island

Based on True Events:

At Geoje Island

It had been a turbulent Friday night. I had been knocked down and almost punched by a friend that evening. A combination of some sorted words (on my part) and alcohol (on his) had created this situation and needless to say I was a bit on edge afterward. I wasn’t quite sure how do handle such a falling out with a friend, especially of such a chaotic manner. I didn’t know if making ingenuine amends was entirely worth it. I had been talking about getting out of town for quite some time and, now the timing couldn’t seem more perfect.

I decided to go to Geoje Do (Island) with my friends Ryan and Candace from my building. It was early June and not quite yet a muggy and hot Korean summer so the beaches were not particularly crowded.  We set up at Gujo Beach and placed our towels down over the cinnamon colored sand. The sky was slightly overcast but sun breaks were poking through enough to make for a pleasant beach outing.

After getting my towel and bag situated, I changed into my swimsuit and went in for a dip into the clear blue ocean water. The water was cold, but after my body adjusted I began swimming away from shore. I soon noticed a Korean woman paddling her yellow kayak not to far from me. I swam over to her and said hello.

Yellow kayak

 She asked me in Korean where I was from. I responded back in Korean that I was from America.

She then says to me, in English, "I'm actually North Korean."

A bit shocked, I reply, "You're really North Korean?"

She laughs and tells me that she isn't. She is maybe in her early to mid thirties. She said she learned to speak English from traveling.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

"It's a secret."

Later she tells me her name is Hyun Ji. At this point I'm holding onto her kayak.

Looking off at the distant island about a kilometer away from shore she says to me, "I want to go there." I had been curious about the island upon my arrival at the beach, and now I had a way to get there. My ears perked up and I, a little too nonchalantly, invite myself on her island embarkation.

She said she was meeting her friend at the beach in 30 minutes and told me to meet her in that time.

Her friend arrives. We talk about going to the island for a bit. And then Hyun Ji and I get in the little rocky kayak and begin paddling toward the island. Through wind, bobbing waves, and faltering balance I mentally continue to assure myself that we'll be fine. I should also mention Hyun Ji told me that she can't swim and that jellyfish plague these waters. We'll be fine. We'll be fine.

As I approach the island my heart swells with the adventure of pursuing and discovering the unknown. We paddle to the rocky shore.

"Ok get out. You are going to stay here. Wait here so I can pick up my friend to bring her to the island."

I pause. "You what me to stay here alone on the island while you bring your friend here?"

She nods and I agree to the plan with some reluctance. It should also be mentioned at this time that I don't have a phone or even a shirt and am completely unable to effectively communicate with my Ryan and Candace on the shore as to this recent development.

But I walk on to the island's shore and look at the small forest on the tiny island. There is orange-brown clay leading upto the small forested area up the hill.

My heart is a bit aflutter with a bit of small anxiety as well as nervous excitement as I look at my entirely new surroundings. I wander around the island a bit, but never stray far from shore.

I look out as the yellow kayak grows smaller and smaller in the distance.

I am reminded of Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now. With the overcast sky the forest looks dark and ominous and there is garbage littered across the large stones of the rocky shore. There’s an abandoned office chair and discarded makgeoli bottles.

I’m nervously drumming my fingertips on my sides. I’m telling myself, this is a good exercise in trusting people. That it’s these moments, in which you put your blind faith in strangers, that are truly character-building. I continue to watch the opposite shore. The kayak has reached but it’s still on the shore. It hasn’t moved.

I continue to wait. It’s been 20 minutes. 30 minutes. 40 minutes. I’m stuck on the island. My friends don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have shirt, let alone a phone. Thankfully I have shoes.

The kayak that was on the opposite shore begins to move. But it’s moving in the opposite direction. It seems that Hyun Ji has changed her mind about coming back for me. I see the kayak get dragged farther and farther away from the water up toward the parking lot area.

She’s not coming back.

I’m in a panic. I’m not sure of what to do. Do I swim? I also remember the story Ryan had told me about how his friends once tried to swim a distance in the waters as Geoje, only to unluckily encounter dozens of stinging jellyfish which made their swimming abilities greatly hindered due to pain and limb numbness.

I’m not sure I’ll be ok.

It’s at this time I notice a small yellow sailed sailboat approaching the island. The two people, a man and a woman, dock their boat at the nearby floating dock and kayak over to the island.

Yellow Sailboat

I quickly and over-enthusiastically go over to them and greet them. They are a Dutch couple in wetsuits in their sixties. The man is named Peter and woman is named Marta. After talking with them and explaining my situation, I am grateful enough to be offered a sailboat ride back to shore.

I lay down on the sailboat, relieved that this scare was all coming to an end. Peter, with his easy going Dutch temperament and graying beard tells me he has been sailing for 40 years. He’s a shipbuilder on Geoje. Through my rescue, I marvel at my good fortune and can’t help but laugh at this situation I put myself in. My problems of Friday night seemed blurry and distant now and I smiled hopefully as we sailed our way back to shore.

Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan

Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan

On the outskirts of Busan the Gamcheon Culture Village rests on the hill. Originally it was set up as a refuge community after the Korean War. Most the country was rubble so many people had no place to go.

Since then, the community has been adopted as an arts community and is home to many public works. This may be my favorite place I've visited in Korea. Most Korean cities don't have much of a flare for aesthetic beauty and will take function over fashion. Gamcheon Culture Village proved to be quite a contrast and stands out as a very special place.

GYEONGJU

GYEONGJU

Gyeongju is the ancient capital of the Silla Dynasty and is a very historical Korean city. I went to visit Gyeongju with my friend Walker on the weekend. 

I went through a service call Couchsurfing.org, where you can find free accommodation by staying with hosts in that city. Our Couchsurfing host was an American English teacher named Erik. He showed up around all the places to see in Gyeongju. He was an excellent host and took us to some of his favorite places in town.

Eating Paijan- a Korean egg/vegetable/seafood pancake
Pictured (l-r): Erik, Walker, Me

Late night eats - Raw beef with Asian Pears

Gyeongju is known as the museum without walls and has many tombs to honor past royalty. These tombs are done in the style of giant burial mounds

 

 

 

 Gyeongju is home to East Asia's oldest observatory: Cheomseongdae. Scientists were looking at stars from Cheomseongdae as far back at the 7th Century.

 

We cycled around Gyeongju and looked at some more historical places. I brought Gretta (my bike).

 

 

 

 

An ancient bar of kings. This was said to be a well of constantly running soju (alcohol).

 

Finally, we finished our visit with a hike to the top of a nearby mountain to overlook the ancient capital of Gyeongju

 

 

SEOKGURAM GROTTO

SEOKGURAM GROTTO

Seokguram Grotto was completed in 774.





Located outside of the ancient capital of the Silla dynasty in Gyeongju, Seokguram Grotto is a Unesco World Heritage Site.








Inside the Grotto is a carved stone Buddha. It is 3.5 meters in height and sits on a 1.34 meter tall lotus pedestal. However, it was behind glass and as tourists you are not supposed to take a picture of it.

The Buddha itself was quite beautiful. The carving was so detailed you could see the texture of its rippled cloth. It looked so lifelike that it felt like it could just open its eyes at any moment.

Unfortunately I don't have any of my own photos but here is a picture from Wikipedia:

BULGUKSA TEMPLE

BULGUKSA TEMPLE

Bulguksa Temple was built in year 774. Bulguksa translates to “The Temple of the Buddha land.” Bulguksa is outside of the historic city of Gyeongju, the ancient capitol of the Silla (pronounced Shilla) Dynasty. Gyeongju is about two hours away from Changwon by bus.

Bulguksa Temple is one of Korea’s most famous attractions and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 Here is are some photos from Bulguksa: