12. Siem Reap, Cambodia

Aloha from Angkor Wat
- click any photo to enlarge -

Dear family and friends -

So much has happened in the last few days--I think a daily diary would be more appropriate. I’m sitting in the garden courtyard of the extremely comfortable Encore Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Today is a rest day--my Tuesday blog day, so allow me to begin where I left off--leaving Bangkok:

I was the last passenger to board the ten-seat van, so I got the best seat behind the driver. It took quite a while to get out of Bangkok--it went on and on--so many skyscrapers outside of the downtown area. I had paid the full fair from Bangkok to Siem Reap ($20) which was to take around eight hours. Three hours later we reached the Cambodian border.

Nobody had forewarned us of the ordeal just to get across. On the Thailand side we became a group of five westerners. A very kind man by the name of Mr. Vibol appeared out of nowhere and told us to follow him. (you just have to trust) He led us into a parking lot and stopped. There he explained to us how Cambodia was different than Thailand: they have two forms of money (the Riel and US dollar), and that the people are more aggressive--to beware of scammers and pickpockets. We followed him another hundred yards and entered the Thailand government exit office where they examined our passports and removed the stapled leaving Thailand paper. I think my guy memorize my passport.

Now here is where the story begins to take shape: 

Upon entering Cambodia from Thailand

While I was waiting for the others I looked at Mr. Vibol, a forty year old good looking man, and wondered if anyone ever tipped him. (fyi: the Thai baht bills come in colors--20=green, 50=blue, 100=red, 500=blue and 1000=orange.) I though a while about how much to give him and chose the 50 baht note. ($1.60) When everyone was ready, he lead us another hundred yards to the Cambodia immigration office--but before we left Mr. Vibol insisted that he porter my luggage. Halfway there I remarked to this Canadian gal, “Look what a tip will do. I just gave him fifty baht and suddenly I have a servant.” The gal said, “I saw you give him the tip . . . it was a 500 baht note.” I laughed and thought it was perfect--like why didn’t I think of that in the first place--now feeling bad that I was so cheap. The thought of giving Mr. Vibol money originated from a conversation I had with my friend Mark M before I left Chiang Mai, about being more generous, and the miracles that follow. 

Encore Angkor Hotel entrance,
where I am now staying in Siem Reap

So we get to the Cambodia side and there are at least fifty people waiting in line to have their passports stamped. He says, “Give me your passport.” (again--total trust) He returned about three minutes later with the Cambodia visa stamp, and led me into Cambodia. We waited about fifteen minutes for the others. At some point on the way to Cambodia immigration office I had mentioned to the Canadian gal that I left the cover to my computer in the van back in Thailand--(I don’t know how he overheard that conversation) so while waiting with Mr. Vibol, this young man appears with my cover (Mr. had phoned back) Then he pulls out the 500 baht ($16) note and proudly shows it to the young man. “I guess you don’t get a tip like that every day,” I remarked. They both laughed and said, “Never.” They not only never get tipped, but nobody had ever, as far as they knew, given any of the guides such an outrageous tip. I wondered how many times in the US I have left a so-so food server a $16 tip--and here it was unheard of—now worthy of forever loyalty if I ever return to that border. 

Looking down from a temple

So then he told me that it would be a half hour wait for the bus--and it would be crowded--and then another four hours to Siem Reap. Or: “For $10 each I will find a taxi for you to Siem Reap, leaving right now and you will be there in two hours and the driver will take you right to your hotel. I will ask three others to share the taxi.” Within minutes we were on our way.

Thailand has money. The King wants a clean modern country that attracts tourists--so no matter how crazy it is in the streets with food venders, there are paved sidewalks and streets with normal gutters--NO flies or rats and garbage lying around--and by every morning everything is swept up and clean. Not so in Cambodia. On the way to Siem Reap I counted nine scooters each with three dead pigs tied behind the driver - and one scooter with a whole dead cow. I saw lots of trash and shanty squaller everywhere. 

Cambodian tuk-tuk - attached to scooter

I had already decided to stay in a recommended $40 a night hotel in Siem Reap. But before we left Thailand during lunch this guy gave me a brochure of a modern looking hotel for $13 a night. “Very clean. Very modern. Very good deal. You like.” I paid him the $13 (more trust) thinking I was set for the night. Once in Siem Reap the taxi driver took us to this hustler with a tuk-tuk (different type of vehicle than Thailand) who would take us (now just me and Pierre from Montreal) to our hotel. Everything was smoothly falling into place--like clockwork. 

Siem Reap street

Siem Reap is a big tourist destination because of the Angkor Wat temples. Driving into town there are many six to eight story modern hotels with fancy names like Hotel d’ Angkor. There's a whole lot of wonderful architecture in the designs. The city, with a population of around 150,000, is a hodge-podge of wealth and poverty. Most of the streets don’t have gutters and there is a lot of trash laying about.  This hotel I’m now in is a very clean and modern, but once out in the street I step into dirt bordering one lane of pavement. Garbage is all over the place on my walk to the markets. And people are yelling out to me to eat here or ride their tuk-tuk or have my feet massaged by fish.

Siem Reap Pub Alley

After we checked into the $13 hotel, Pierre and I walked around town, went to the Night Market and then to dinner in the wonderful inner city pub area. It was very western tourist oriented, with lots of modern bars and restaurants. I had a great meal and was ready for a good nights sleep. I think it was around nine and the room smelled--paint was pealing off the walls and what I thought was a typo in the brochure (hot or cold running water) meant another cold shower. The hotel was run by a gang of hustlers--all under twenty five. Once back from dinner they began the hustle on me, “What you want? You want woman. I get woman.” They had already hustled us for a tuk-tuk to take Pierre and I to Angkor Wat the next day. I went back out and roamed around, found the Encore Angkor a half block away and arranged for a room the next night. I returned at ten--the gang of hustlers was relaxing in the front veranda--smoking dope. My hotel room was so musty I couldn’t sleep. (too bad I don’t smoke dope--that would have helped)

The next morning at eight a.m. I brought my luggage to the Encore Hotel and they put it in my room. Then I had breakfast and they put it on my tab. Pierre and I spent the day touring Angkor Wat temples (another story with 120 pictures) and I came home to a very clean and comfortable--actually elegant--$25 a night hotel. This morning I had breakfast and spent hours sitting in the courtyard writing . . . And I haven’t given them a credit card or a dime or anything except my name. It’s all trust!

So again I am affirming who I am and who I’m not as a traveler in Asia. I am not looking for the best backpacker deal any more. I intend to avoid musty $13 rooms. I like comfort. This place I’m in right now is a $150+ room in any resort city in Europe. And I’m not traveling in Europe because I can’t sustain paying for this sort of luxury there. What would you expect to get for $25 a night in the US or Europe? Certainly nothing like this.

On the way to Angkor Wat temples

The hustler leader at the first hotel made us a deal to get around Angkor Wat. For $25 each (I found out today that the normal fee was $10-$15 . . . yes, we were hustled) we would get a private tuk-tuk and driver for the day. He would take us to different temples and wait. The kid who drove us was about eighteen and very sweet. It costs $20 a day to get into the temple complex and it was worth it. The only problem was the heat and humidity. It wasn’t long before my shirt was soaked with sweat. But we had a great day. I took 120 shots before my battery died. Interesting that I bought this new camera for this particular reason--Angkor Wat--and on the way to the temple I checked my camera and the battery was dead! But right there where we were was a camera store that just happened to have my battery. That was part of the magic--a whole day of searching for the right battery averted with a five minute pit stop.

Angkor Wat temple guards

Before I close this blog I want to mention some other things about Cambodia. Unlike Thailand, they drive on the same side of the road as the US. Cambodia has its own money, the Riel, but uses US dollars. If you (anyone) goes to an ATM machine you’ll get US dollars. All the prices in stores are in US dollars. One dollar is 4000 Riels, so $100 is 400,000 Riels. The dollar is much simpler to use. I supposed because of the poverty, (absolutely unlike Thailand) there is a lot of begging and hustling in the streets. The street people and vendors speak better English overall than in Thailand--much better to manipulate you with. I got use to being left alone in Chiang Mai--so telling each vender ten times that I don’t want it, is getting old already. And I do like it here.

Angkor Thom - South Gate

I’m still waiting to get Flickr up and running with my 120 or so Angkor Wat pictures, so you will most likely receive a photo album tomorrow or the next day. I’ve decided to stay in Siem Reap for several days. Seems to be lots of distraction going anywhere else besides Hanoi next. I wanted to take the three day river cruise to Phnom Peng, but the water is too low for boat travel. All roads out of here East lead to Saigon and I don’t want to go there. Everyone tells me the 12 hour $20 trains in Vietnam are hell rides--except those north of Hanoi up to the mountain country. That’s were I’ll go next.

I hope you’re healthy and happy--that all good things are happening--that you have less and less struggle in your life. While traveling in the midst of humanity it’s easier for me to see how much we are all the same. We are all just trying to figure out how to live life the best way we can. The forms of hustling are different, but almost all of us are doing it in one way or another. If I had the magic wand I would take away all need to struggle to survive for everyone on this planet. All the stories of modern-day slavery and people abusing one another in the hustle game saddens me. I project a world of true freedom for all--an equal world for the equal people--for this I pray.

Love and blessings,

David Dakan Allison