Reaping Culture in Siem Reap

Leaving the airport

Landing in Siem Reap, Caroline had booked us a few nights at a resort because, after all, it was a vacation so upon landing, we were picked up by a tuk tuk driven by our guide, Vong. It got a bit rainy on our way to Navutu Dreams Resort but it was pretty cool to ride along the streets of this little city in the safe enclosure of the tuk tuk wrapped in a giant poncho. Of course, Vong had the task of holding an umbrella while navigating but there wasn’t much we could do to help in that situation. 

So sunny!

Vong taking us to the resort

 
 

Along the streets of Siem Reap

Rainbow!

Poor Vong...

When we got to Navutu, the entrance was beautiful and we were quickly shown to our room which had an amazing setup, with welcome scarves and fruits and a beautiful bathroom and outdoor seating area. Since it was around midday and we were tired from travel, we took it easy for the rest of the day, hanging out by the pool and enjoying what the resort had to offer. It was also Thanksgiving day and we wanted to have a celebratory dinner so we ordered a few drinks and a delicious dinner at the restaurant in the resort and made friends with the bartender, Narong. We even picked up a few words of Khmer (sou s’day means hello and arcoun means thank you) while we ate and chatted with Narong. We ended up using those words a lot during our stay and learned a few others from Vong later on.

Getting into Navutu

The grand entry into our room

Narong

Celebratory drinks for Thanksgiving

The next day would include a little bit more exploration of the countryside of Siem Reap but first, we treated ourselves to a massage after spending some time by the pool. 

Breakfast poolside

Then, Vong drove us to a ranch where we would get to do some exploring on horseback. At the ranch, we met Kong, our guide and my horse, Diamond (phonetically sounds like “Opec” in Khmer). I learned how to trot and we did some galloping too! It was cool just to ride Opec along some roads and see schoolchildren get excited upon seeing us and even more excited when we greeted them in Khmer. Since we had to stay one behind the other, in a certain order, because Caroline’s horse gets aggressive when beside another horse, it was difficult to really hear Kong when he was talking but we caught instances of him telling us about a girlfriend he once had from Australia and a few other stories of his like in Siem Reap. I always love hearing stories from locals because it really humbles my outlook on life in general. When we got to as far as our journey would take us for that day, we took a short break to stretch our legs and to take in the sunset before we made our way back to the ranch. Somewhere along the way, I think Opec peed on my foot but I was hoping that it was the splash that she made when we walked through a small pond.

Beautiful day

About to do some exploring with Opec!

C'mon... let's go...

 

Kong leads the way

Cow sighting

Hi little ones!

Schoolchildren headed home

 

Little pup

Taking a break

Trying to convince Opec that the water is safe

Blurry photo as we started to get into a soft trot

Getting out of the water

Success!

That night, we asked Vong to take us into the city to check out what it had to offer. Turns out that Siem Reap is fairly small and we got into the main part of Pub Street pretty quickly. There, we saw lots of food vendors and small shops selling a lot of the same things. Since the food was super cheap, I got a smoothie and a noodle dish while Caroline ordered food from a lady from the Caribbean. We wandered around to see what we wanted for dessert and there was a huge line behind a small cart advertising fried ice cream. I walked around to the front to check it out and there was a man hunched over an iced plate working hard to make little rolls of ice cream from scratch. Of course that is what Caroline and I decided was going to be our dessert and we each enjoyed a cup while walking around the rest of the area. When we were pretty set on all the things we wanted to see that night, we found Vong and headed back to our cozy little room.

Fresh fruit for smoothies

Waiting for noodles

Yum

Making rolls of ice cream

Caribbean food

Such an arm workout

A visit to Siem Reap just wouldn’t be complete without visiting the world’s largest religious monument of Angkor Wat so that was what was on the agenda for the next day. We started it pretty zen with some yoga at the resort led by an Australian expat before having a refreshing breakfast of fruits and getting on our way. By the time we got to the temples, it was getting close to noon so the heat was starting to beat down quite hard. Walking through the vast temple of Angkor Wat, we followed along an English-speaking tour group for awhile to catch some inklings of what the carvings in the walls meant before we decided it was best to enjoy the beautiful inscriptions and not worry about the history of it. The monkeys that inhabited the area helped the break the serenity of the place a bit and we even saw one play tug-of-war over a plastic bag of treats with a young child; the monkey won. As we walked away from the temple, we leisurely meandered towards the tents that sold souvenirs and drinks and to find a spot to sit down for some refreshments and the people managing these tents became hounds looking for business. I know that the business they receive from tourists provide their livelihood so I was polite when declining their adamancy. When we finally did sit down, this young child and his sister approached us and tried to sell us postcards. The sister was more interested in getting us to buy postcards but Caroline got into a conversation with the young boy. I can’t remember his name but we found out that he was 14, even though he looked so malnourished that he looked no older than ten. When we offered to buy them something to drink, he looked really uncomfortable and we were sure that these kids were taught to only sell their items and receive money in exchange. In the end, Caroline purchased some postcards from him and we went on our way to the next stop.

Caroline's new friend

 

As we left Angkor Wat, we headed over to the temple of Bayon, another massive and very impressive place. Before we headed in, we sat with Vong for some lunch. We ordered a traditional dish called samlor kako which is a type of soup that looked like curry and the one that we ordered contained a bunch of veggies with tilapia. Delicious! Since Vong had eaten already, we sat with him and tried to learn a little bit more about him and his city. Vong told us that he had learned english from monks. I never really thought about what it is that monks do and it was interesting to learn about this. As we talked more about politics with Vong and the disagreements that are currently going on between the neighboring countries of Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, Vong looked more and more hesitant and we could tell we were going into controversial issues so we finished our lunch and headed to see the Bayon Temple. 

Lunch with Vong

Although beautiful, many of the same types of engravings could be seen in this temple as Angkor Wat so we made sure to avoid the tour groups, made our way around and headed over to Ta Prohm. This temple contained a lot more tree life inside of itself and walking through it made me feel like I was Indiana Jones, going to discover some mysterious treasure. There seemed to be all types of passageways that opened up to different parts of this temple and then there were parts that were in complete ruins. I could probably say that this one was my favorite since it didn’t look like it was overly populated with tourists and I was able to enjoy it a bit more. It wasn’t too long before a guard told us it was time to leave because it was getting to closing time but we walked through most of it and had our fill of temple-seeing for the trip. 

As we left the World Heritage Site, we asked Vong if he knew of a good place for a massage outside of the resort and he took us to what we assumed to be the establishment of a friend or someone he had struck a deal with. When we got there, it didn’t look like anything special but the rooms were separated by literal paper walls. For the amount that we paid, I had a very enjoyable massage with no complaints. As we continued on our way, we passed by what looked like a small market and there seemed to be a cultural show arranged for that night. Jumping in and out of the tents trying to avoid the rain, we looked at all the different knickknacks each tent had to offer. Caroline ended up buying some spices to make samlor kako for when she got home and with a break from the rain, we watched a little bit of the performances which looked like traditional Cambodian dance. 

Coming out from our massage to find Vong napping

More delicious samlor kako

Cambodian Market

Trying to hide from the rain

Snakeskin drums

Cambodian dancing

The next day would be our last at Navutu as we had agreed to spend some time seeing a different part of Siem Reap, not knowing how small the city actually was. We had seen an orphanage down the street from Navutu and we wanted to see about going to visit but unfortunately, on the day we went, they were closed to visitors but we were still able to donate a few items. With a final ride from Vong and a farewell, we arrived at our next destination, Silk D’Angkor Boutique Hotel. There wasn’t much time to get settled before we did some exploring on foot. Caroline had read about this non-profit restaurant called The Green Star Restaurant that takes kids off the streets and trains them to work in the establishment so we decided to go there for our next meal. The food was delicious and the staff were really well trained. There was also a small shop attached to the restaurant that had small crafts and souvenirs that would help support their cause. Side note - upon looking up this restaurant again while writing this post, it saddens me to see that it is now closed. I really hope that the mission of this restaurant continues to live on elsewhere.

Traveling on foot 

Drink in hand, waiting for a table

Yum!!

So much sweat on my face...

Store at the Green Star Restaurant

Silk D'Angkor at night

If looking for other places to eat in Siem Reap, we went to a restaurant called Prahna Khmer and another called Marum in the following days we were there. I have no complaints about any of the restaurants that we went to and the food was always delicious. The next day, as we walked along Wat Bo Road, one of the main roads, we somehow came across a sign displaying a great need for blood at the Kantha Bopha Blood Bank and we decided that we would help with the crisis. As we approached that facility, there was a huge line of people that led outside and along the road and I can only assume that they were waiting to receive blood in this shortage. It was interesting to see the method by how the phlebotomists tested our blood to see our blood type because it made sense scientifically but we had never seen it as it looked pretty archaic. After a very quick donation, we each received little gift bags that contained a pamphlet about Dr. Beat Richner who founded these hospitals, a baggie of iron pills, and a few other items. We were able to leaf through the pamphlet as we had lunch at Marum and it was heartbreaking to read about Dr. Richner’s life and how it led him from Switzerland to Siem Reap and his inability to leave because of his ties to the hospital. 

Checking our blood types

Blood samples being tested

Waiting to give blood

On our little mission to be as contributing as possible as tourists, we went to the Phare Circus that night, a non-profit organization that trains kids in that profession. The show was beautifully put together and we even got to take a photo with some of the acrobats. Since it was our last night in Siem Reap, as Caroline and I walked away from the circus, we decided to have a nice final meal together at one of the restaurants along Pub Street and we landed upon the Red Piano. There, we had a delicious meal on the second floor as we enjoyed some people watching. 

Getting to the circus

Waiting for the show to begin

Stars of the show

Cambodian signage

Drinking Cambodian beer in Cambodia

People watching

Cheers to a successful visit to Siem Reap

Overall, this part of my trip might have been the most touristy in terms of lodging but I felt like I understood the city a little bit more. I know that spending so little time in a place and only as a tourist, one cannot get the full picture but I am glad that I met people like Vong who were able to give us a little bit of an inside scoop to life there. Off to do more bouncing around!