At 7:30 am our flight from Kuala Lumpur touched down in Siem Reap. The first glimpse we get of new destinations is often through the small oval windows of an airplane. On our arrival, in Siem Reap, two things immediately caught my eye.
First was the warm golden glow of the morning sun. I’m not sure what causes this exact colour here, it’s unlike the dawn light in other places I’ve been. It’s likely a combination of the dusty air in the midst of a dry season coupled with the morning mist as the warm sun hits the cool tree tops. Whatever causes it, the lighting floods your mind with the sense that you are somewhere very far from home.
Second was the lack of buildings – noticed during our descent and right down at ground level. Siem Reap has undergone rapid change over the past few decades but remains a small city – a tourist hub to be sure, but taxing back to the terminal building, one notices farmers working their land right up to the edge of the airport fencing. There are no warehouses and highways and delivery service companies populating the land near this airport, just the farms that have been here for centuries.
Our hotel arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport. Tuk-tuks here are far more comfortable than India. The Cambodians have perfected a homemade hitching mechanism for motorcycles that allow them to pull trailers so the tuk-tuks here comfortably hold 4 people plus bags while offering lots of fresh air. So we piled in and puttered along the vey flat 15 min ride to our hotel, stopping along the way for the ritual of obtaining a local SIM card (a step that seems destined to disappear soon but for now is still the way to go).
While most people come to Siem Reap for 3-4 days to check out the ruins at Angkor Archaeological Park, we booked 8 days for ourselves so we could go at an easy pace and still fit in our normal life routines (back to school Monday to Friday). We didn’t even get to Angkor until our third day here (more on that below) because there are so many fascinating things to do, here are a few of our favourites:
Apopo Demining
Cambodia has a long history of armed conflicts. Those over the past century left a harsh legacy for the Cambodian people to live with. Current estimates for landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs – bombs that did not explode) are in the millions. These instruments of war continue to lead to injuries and deaths every week with more than half of these incidents involving curious children who find them while playing. While we were in Siem Reap, we visited Apopo Humanitarian Demining – an international NGO making massive progress to rid the country of this devastation through an unconventional group of employees – rats. At the visitor centre, we learned of the amazing work these “Hero Rats” are accomplishing, slowly sweeping the countryside to reclaim land that is otherwise too dangerous to use. I don’t link to other websites very often, but this one is worth checking out because I won’t be able to summarize the work as well. Check it out when you have a chance: www.apopo.org
Phare Circus
Everyone knows Cirque du Soleil. Phare is sort of a grass roots Cambodian version of that. The Phare Circus is the tourist part of a large organization that aims to improve the lives of Cambodians through art, education and social programs. The circus is an amazing show of acrobatics, dance and music performed by young adults who were trained through the organization and now have full time employment as circus performers. The show opens with a short documentary on the organization and interviews with several of the performers. The performers acknowledge that the career of an acrobat is short but that the employment is enough to create new opportunities for themselves and their families to break the poverty cycle. After the short intro documentary, we were treated to a spectacular hour long performance under a purpose built big top, simply put, it was awesome!
Laundry
Not everyday is glamourous on this trip. Some days we make plans for simply things like laundry. At the start of the day, we are all stinky and tired. At the end of the day, we are sparkling and smell great! In Siem Reap, we found an excellent laundry cafe. Throw your clothes into the machine that automatically dispenses soap and fabric softener while you kick back with a cappuccino and if you get hungry while waiting for you clothes to dry you can order lunch too. We made our first laundry outing a family affair. Sometimes the kids are spared from these onerous tasks, other times they get dragged along because hey if I have to wash your stinky clothes, you’re coming with me!
Chat with a Monk
Siem Reap is a fascinating town full of funky little cafes and businesses, many of which at least claim to be associated with one of many NGOs or other social causes aimed to improve the lives of Cambodians. Being at least somewhat seasoned in the travel game now, we have a certain level of skepticism regarding some of the self proclaimed do-gooders. I want to believe that everyone out there has the best of intentions. That’s not always the case but a lot of the time it works out. There is a little art cafe in town called the Peace Cafe. They have a restaurant and a shop that sells handicrafts made by Cambodians. They also offer an interesting session twice a week called Chat with a Monk… and it’s free. They don’t even have one of those “Donations accepted” boxes. This was flat out free. Spend an hour visiting with a local Buddhist monk to learn more about his life and what Buddhism means to him. Given the set up, it felt pretty legit and was a great opportunity to meet a person with a completely different life from what we know at home. This spawned lots of great questions from the kids which is sort of the whole point of this trip!
Cooking Class
Throughout Asia, the food is really good. There are regional differences (Cambodian food is not as spicy as Thai food). I have a feeling we might do this again in a different country because it was so much fun. After confirming arrangements, we were picked up from the designated street corner in the middle of town along with a few other tourists interested in the same. The class started with a trip to a local market – like really local – to pick up a few of the ingredients we needed for the class. After a fun wander through the stalls where Lauren took the lead on carrying the groceries for the group, we headed to a home where the backyard has been converted into a culinary studio of sorts – 6 food prep stations, 6 wok stations and a separate dining area to eat it all at the end. Since arriving in Asia, one of Lauren’s favorite foods has been spring rolls – fresh or fried doesn’t matter. When we learned that fresh spring rolls was one of the things we were making, she got to work right away and probably made the best looking rolls in the group!
To complement our morning of culinary adventures, for dinner we headed to Bugs Cafe where the star of each dish is… bugs. Bugs are one of those things that tourists like ourselves are awed by, while the locals just see it as food. You can buy all varieties of creatures from several street vendors through the city, but that requires a certain level of comfort/knowledge/risk that we weren’t ready for. This restaurant we went to is set up for tourists (so it carries tourist prices), but it’s an accessible way to try something new. We were shocked that the kids came along for dinner without question and agreed to try several of the dishes on the sampler tray we ordered. Before leaving home, I doubt either of them ever would have eaten fried tarantula, but that’s the cool thing about kids, they are way more adaptable than adults, full of surprises and natural curiosity that makes it so easy for them to go with the flow.
Pottery Making
The easiest homeschool art day ever! We took a pottery class where we learned to make bowls and vases on a pottery wheel. This was super fun and messy. Turning clay on a wheel is not as easy as it looks. Getting the clay centred in the beginning is both the hardest part and the most critical as we all learned. Even a little wobble and the whole thing will blow apart at some point. After a few tries, we started getting the hang of it and eventually made a couple of passable bowls that were then decorated and fired overnight for us to bring home.
And of Course, Angkor Archaeological Park
Angkor Wat is but one temple in the midst of a vast ancient city with more temples than one can count (more ruins are being discovered every year). The area is said to have been home to nearly a million inhabitants at a time when the great European cities were merely small towns. The scale of the place in mindblowing, Angkor Wat itself is cited as being the largest single religious monument in the world… ever. The city covers grounds as large as modern day Paris. Suffice to say, one cannot see it all so everyone needs a plan that works best for them.
So how does anyone tackle something of this scale, particularly with kids in tow? Slowly! We bought a three day pass which is valid on any three days over a week, that way we were able to spread it out over a Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in an effort to limit saturation. Finally, we got our trusty tuk-tuk driver lined up to drive us around. When in Siem Reap, you need a tuk-tuk driver (more on that in another post).
Our plan worked perfectly and everyone loved it. It’s impossible for kids not to enjoy exploring ruins when you walk right inside them, through the many passageways, climbing to the top of towers and watching sunsets from the highest points around. We benefited from having been in Asia for a while which had us much better acclimatized to the heat than most newly arrived tourists. This meant even the kids were able to last a good four hours each day before heading back into town for a break from the dusty heat. In the end, we merely scratched the surface of what there is to see but enough to capture our imaginations and leave with the right sense of wanting to see it again someday.
So that was our week in Siem Reap. We all agreed it was one of the top destinations we’ve been to so far. Great people, interesting things to do and a super manageable size of city. You should go, it’s awesome.
