Dos and Don'ts of Visiting Siem Reap

Don't plan a trip for only two days.
Do spend some time volunteering.
Don't hassle with making it to the temples for sunset and sunrise.
Do go out 2-3 hours before sunset to photograph the temples.
Don't bother over-packing.
Do bring flip-flops to slip off before entering restaurants/shops.
Don't stress about not knowing Khmer.
Do eat Khmer food.
Don't forget deoderant, headbands and extra contact lenses.
Do take advantage of a clean bathroom.


















Don't buy gems unless you really know what you're doing.
Do get a tuk-tuk.
Don't spend all of your time in it.
Do bring small gifts for the children.
Don't give them money.
Do talk to everyone - local, tourist, traveler, volunteer.
Don't change your US dollars in for Cambodian Riels.
Do go to the Artisan Angkor workshop to understand the effort behind your souvenirs.
Don't miss The Soup Dragon's vegetarian spring rolls.
Do take a guide with you to the temples.
Don't forget to save US$25 for the airport departure fee.

Our last day

And a sad one at that. People who only come for two days are crazy. There's so much more than just the temples to see and do and eat. I haven't said much about the food, but we've had some good stuff. The first night here we went to the FCC - Foreign Correspondents Club. It was never really the dark and dingy haunt of war journalists that you'd imagine but rather an offshoot of the real deals in places like Hong Kong and Indonesia. Either way, the food was amazing. I had fish amak, a popular Khmer dish, and Cindy had this tasty chicken curry. Since then, we've had more Khmer food and also Thai, Italian, Mexican and fusion - no complaints about any of it. We also found this delicious bakery - the French were here for a long time, so they're trained pastry chefs around - with amazing almond croissants. Mmm. I've eaten way too much though. I bet I've gained 10 pounds on this trip. That's the risk with a seven-week vacations I guess. But if you make it to Siem Reap, eat out on Pub Street; it's a great place to not only eat, but drink and watch/meet people.

Today, we did some (read: a ton) of last-minute shopping and then went back out to the temples for a while. At sunset, the thing to do is climb this big hill and see the sun over Angkor Wat. Talk about overrated. There's a bunch of people up there, and the view is not that good. I'd rather just photograph the temples up close when the light is good. We really lucked out with the weather today, like a dream. I don't want to leave.

Angkor What?

We were suppose to go on another do-good trip through The Villas today, but they changed the start time and didn't tell us - the guide showed up at The Treehouse at 8:30 a.m. and we were still in our pjs. I guess the lesson is to always check and double check. The morning part was a trip to a very poor village outside Siem Reap to see everyday life and how they've set up a water filter system. We met a couple that did go and they said it was amazing but heartbreaking. The villagers were eating dog! While they were doing that, we went to the Artisans Angkor workshop where they train locals to make traditional crafts - silk painting and stone/wood carving. It seems like a great program - gives them skills they can take back to their villages - and it really makes you see what you're paying for. They have a fantastic boutique with all of their crafts, but we couldn't decide what to buy so we're going back tomorrow. We also checked out some other shops and the market downtown; I want to buy so much. We were suppose to go to Sala Bai for lunch, but the restaurant was closed for final exams. Sala Bai is a hospitality school with a hotel and restaurant to teach the locals how to eventually (and hopefully) run their own hotels for the temple tourists. I was really disappointed; I thought something like that would make a good freelance article. Oh, well.

We met up with the group for lunch at The Villas (I had DELICIOUS stir fry) instead and then toured a pottery school and a silk farm. It's amazing that a fabric that comes from worms is a such a high-brow thing. They do all the threading and weaving by hand - the beginners take a whole day to do one meter of fabric. I'll never complain about the price of silk stuff again - It should be more!

"Oh my Buddha"

Today we spent the day doing what people come to Siem Reap to do - visiting Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is really just one of over 60 temples in the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's what remains of the Khmer empire, built up between the 9th and 15th centuries. It was re-discovered by the French in the 1800s and since then it has taken back from the jungle growth and restored by a handful of nations. Angkor Wat may be the most iconic temple, but Angkor Thom is more breathtaking. I can't wait to upload the photos. The huge stones were brought by boat down from the mountains and all of the temples are built without any kind of cement or nails to hold the structure together. It's amazing any of them are still standing. And it's not just stones - there are all of these stone detailed friezes and huge faces. Most of the temples are Buddhist, but there was a shift back to Hinduism at one point and some of the Buddha images were cut out of the stone. Other Buddha heads have been cut off and smuggled out, now sitting in some foreign museum somewhere.

If you go, get a guide. Without a doubt, it's worth the money. Otherwise, you're going to spend half your time at the temples with your nose in a guidebook trying to figure out what the heck everything means - or you'll miss the meanings all together. Our guide admitted he was hungover in the first 10 minutes. It was hilarious. He said it was his friend from out-of-town's b-day the night before. But he was a great guide nonetheless. Much better than I would have been hungover and traipsing around the temples in 90 degree weather. The heat is really exhausting, and those people who come for two days and do like 15 temples are insane. Anyway, along with the major sites, Sum also took us to the Ta Prohm Temple of Tomb Raider fame. On the pathway in, there was a huge spider - it's body alone was about three inches long - and was like "Oh my God!" because it was about to fall on this Dutch guy's head. Sum said "No, oh my Buddha." Ah, I love it. Maybe it'll catch on.

Cambodia is FABULOUS.

We flew into Siem Reap early yesterday morning, and there's just something about this place - it's like what you read about in travel books (not of the Lonely Planet variety) and what you imagine when you think of "authentic" travel. Our tuk tuk driver picked us up from the airport and took us to The Treehouse where we'll be staying for the next five days. I thought it was really a treehouse, but it's just a two-story villa. It's rented by (appropriately enough) The Villas, a hotel in downtown Siem Riep. We dropped our stuff and took a short nap - we had to get up at 2:30 a.m. to go to the airport - and then headed to the Cambodia Orphanage Fund. We spent the afternoon at a tiny, two-room orphanage painting and playing with the children between the ages of about 3 and 13. It was so fun but sad at the same time. Some of the children are so smart; if given a chance, they could go so far. There were a handful of young volunteers from all over - Germany, Australia, Israel - that are there anywhere from two weeks to six months. The Villas sets up the art program and then sells the paintings in the hotel lobby to buy more supplies. It was such a great day, one that I'll never forget.

I keep reading my NYTimes emails about the crappy job market and job losses continuing into 2009. Maybe I'll forget about finding a job and just stay here. It'd be a much more satisfying life I imagine.

Look at me, having a social life

Yeah, that's right. I went out. With young people. Claire hooked me up with her daughter who is 22 and just returned to KL after getting her MBA in London. I didn't really want to go at first - I didn't want Claire to make Sharmini take me out. It's like when so-and-so's cousin is in town and your mom forces you to let her hang out with your friends and it's really awkward because you've never met her. And it definitely was like that for awhile. Tequila shots helped lubricate the situation.

Sharmini is a big equestrian person and that night was someone from the polo team's birthday. I was really nervous because I don't know a single thing about horses or country clubs or Ralph Lauren. Or having money. We went to Heritage Mansion, an old residence of a KL property tycoon that is now a invite-only club. But that night I was on the list. Or Sharmini was anyway. The inside was very ritzy - people drinking cocktails in the shadows on gold-covered couches and techno blaring from the DJ stand. The first hour or so was pretty miserable because I didn't know a single soul (I'm awkward enough as it is) and everyone was talking about the jumping competition that had been that day. But the people watching was great and I could kind of just blend in with the furniture for a bit. Luckily the drinking started, and the fun began. This great little gay guy named Daniel adopted me. I think he was once an outcast in this group, too - he lives in Bali but his partner rides. He talked to me about surfing and how he wants to go to L.A. A flaming drink for the b-day boy and a couple shots later, we were all dancing and carrying on. Everyone was taking pictures for Facebook. We were suppose to go to another club, but since the competition was all weekend long, Sharmini wanted to go home early. Her driver picked us up, and she said she'd give me a ring if they go out next weekend. I'd probably go again.

Last night was actually really nice, too - in a completely different way. Randa invited us over for Lebanese food and to play Canasta (which I just learned in Bali). Her husband is the head of Nestle's Asia division, and they are maybe the nicest people I've ever met. They have two really smart kids and a great Burmese mountain dog. Anyway, now I'm just rambling. It was fun in a Family Night kind of way.

Penang? Peno

Hey trusty readers, I apologize for the hiatus. I meant to blog before I left for Penang, but it was raining so of course the Internet was down. My plan was to go to Penang on Wednesday morning and come back this morning, but I hated it so much I came back last night. I didn't even get to take the train I was so excited about. But I had had high hopes, my bus ride there went great and I made it to my hotel/brothel just fine, but then I actually started walking around Georgetown. I felt like I was vacationing in the slums. Penang is supposedly a big backpacker destination, but I'm not sure why. I think the appeal is the British influence and all the pre-WWII housing, but they've let it fall into such disrepair. I didn't find it charming at all. I saw a lot of historic places when I traveled in Europe; maybe I'm jaded already. But I guess the lesson is I should stop comparing Asia to Europe and just take it for what it is.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure my hotel had a little something else going on on the side - the "health center" didn't open until like 5 p.m. It sounded nice enough, The Waldorf Hotel, but I was up all night worrying about bed bugs and mass murders. It was scary. Upper Penang Road is where the nightlife is and it was close by, but seeing as it was Wednesday night it wasn't exactly hopping. Definitely the coolest thing I saw was the Wat Chayamangkalaram with this huge reclining Buddha. I love visiting temples. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion was pretty cool (the University of South Carolina architecture students were staying there!), but that's because my guide was great. I really wish I had found her earlier - she also leads architectural walking tours around Georgetown and maybe then I would have realized what's so great about the place. Photos will be up soon - as soon as it stops raining long enough to finish an upload - and it'll be a lot easier to understand what I'm talking about then. Stay tuned!