Cambodia: Kompong Pluk and Floating Forest

On a non-Angkor Wat day we ventured outside Siem Riep, to a stilt village in the shallows of Tonle Sap Lake. Villagers paddle carved canoes between their homes on wooden pillings and this time of year must also trudge through sloppy, trash filled mudwater that serves as their "main street" just above lake level. It was here that Christy felt the farthest from home that she has on the trip.

As part of our token tour, our motor boatman arranged for a local family to paddle us through the serene maze of mangroves surrounding the village. The Cambodia per capita income is roughly $300 per year, with general living conditions in stark contrast to downtown Siem Reap where hotels can cost that much for one night. Though difficult to comprehend their poverty, this floating village was indeed a more representative glimpse of true rural, poor Cambodia.

P.S. Our Angkor Wat pictures are now posted below the original entry

The village of Kompong Pluk from the water

Post rainy season, "Main Street" is a muddy mess. It looks as if a Tsunami just hit, but its their everyday.

Given how cramped their small homes are, it seems the villagers do a great deal of "living" in their boats- from washing laundry, cooking, and selling cold drinks.

The kids of Kompong Pluk- boating home from school, and just playing in the mud.

The Floating Forest


In sharp contrast to how the poor locals live, tourists enjoy this "bar street" filled with delectable restaurants, several pubs/lounges and luxury boutiques. This canal goes through the center of Siem Reap and is a reflection of the country's French influence earlier this century.

Cambodia- Angkor Wat

Our travel into Cambodia began at 7am on November 30th when we joined 10 other tourists in a luxury mini-van to drive 5 hours to the Thai/Cambodia border. We fully anticipated mad chaos there, finding our transport to Siem Reap 150km away, and were delighted to find it rather seamless instead. A trustworthy Toyota Camry (the omnipresent taxi car) chauffeured us the 150 km, 4 hours, over the bumpiest dustiest roads you could imagine for the large sum of $10 a person. Funny since $10 hardly gets you a mile in a NYC cab. Also, interestingly enough, we were using our currency again. We found ourselves converting the $ to Thai Baht and back to the US $ because we have become so used to establishing cost based on the local currency!

Outside Siem Reap, the massive temple ruins built by the Khmer empire in the late 800s-1200s have made the city in Cambodia this decade’s tourist mecca. It has an almost Disneyesque feel given the abundance of luxury hotels and restaurants lining the streets. These temples are collectively referred to as Angkor Wat, though that is actually just one of the sights, albeit an expansive & intricate one. We spent three days visiting the ruins and found ourselves more impressed with each day. Clustered across miles of jungle and farmland, each temple is impressive in its own right, yet collectively provide an unparalleled glimpse of a foreign world and culture. It is impossible for our photos to capture the detail of the iconic stone face carvings in the Bayon temple, or the vast ornamental entry into Angkor wat, the jungle and tree roots overtaking Ta Prohm, or the intricate bas-reliefs depicting religious stories within Angkor Wat. That is why Angkor Wat has become a tourist enclave; you must see it, in its entirety, in person.

We timed our visit around the annual half marathon and 10k race which took place Sunday, December 2nd on a loop road connecting the temples/ruins of Angkor Wat. The proceeds went to land mine victims and also celebrated those handicapped athletes. It was a unique, multi cultural way to experience sunrise at the temples and be reminded of Cambodia’s painful history.

From the early 1970’s – late 1990’s Cambodia was essentially at war with itself. The most harrowing period during “The Killing Fields” of the Pol Pot years which then led to decades of a displaced population plagued by power vacuums, guerrilla insurgencies and 4 million+ mines strewn across the countryside. A quarter to a third of the estimated 8 million population of 1974 was killed in these years. It is not possible to visit Cambodia and have some sense of this recent history. We both read a powerful and haunting memoir, “Survival of the Killing Fields” which really illuminated the suffering experienced by these people. Our visit would not have been the same having not read this book and our newly acquired empathy for the country.

The people of Cambodia left an indelible impression on both of us. Musicians with missing limbs formed small bands and provided performances outside temples & town restaurants. A man with two stubs for arms sold books from a box hanging from his neck,with a sign that explained he didn’t want pity, or handouts, simply to be treated like a working man. We used the same tuk tuk driver for our 5 days in Siem Riep: Visna. Highly motivated, he has taught himself conversational level english through speaking with tourists. He lost both his parents and 2 of his 3 siblings during the senseless Pol Pot years. After spending the next 15 year fighting against the Khmer Rouge (fighting ended in 1998) he has done odd jobs until two years ago when he moved to Siem Riep to take advantage of the tourist influx. He brought us to his home, where he lives with his pregnant wife and two daughters. The one room home was the size of a master bedroom in the States. Stories like this are the norm.

Thai-Cambodia border crossing in Poipet

The dusty, bumpy 150km"highway" from border to Siem Reap. There are rumors that an unnamed airline is paying off the Cambodian government to NOT repave the road; Interesting since there is only one direct flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap...


Family motoring on farm vehicle by a scooter gas station.

Photos from Ta Prohm, a temple.
Sunrise Race Day, with Angkor Wat in the background- 15 minutes before the Start.

Dion running through Angkor Thom's South Gate, with 1 mile left in his half marathon.

Sunset from Bakheng hill in Angkor Thom.

The iconic faces of Bayon temple


Visna, our tuk tuk carriage driver for our time in Siem Reap

The intricate Bas-reliefs that line 800 meters of corridors within Ankor Wat, illustrating mythical events.

During one pre-sunset walk in Angkor Wat we befriended several monks and later visited one of their Wats.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Bangkok again: Wat Phra Keao

With an extra day in Bangkok while waiting for our Cambodian visa we took an afternoon to visit the colorful Grand Palace & Wat Phra Keao.

Wat Phra Keao, the highlight of the visit, sits within the Grand Palace wall and is the holiest Buddhist sight in Thailand. It was built in 1875 as a private royal temple. The Wat contains a myriad of structures and sculptures, decorated porcelain, ceramic & glass mosaics that shimmer in the midday sun. There is also a scale model of Angkor Wat, a gift to the King while Cambodia was under Thai rule, and the solid Jade "Emerald" Buddha which draws pilgrims from across Thailand.

Pictures of buildings, statues & faces of Wat Phra Keao in the Grand Palace. Honoring the Wat's requests no pictures of the Emerald Budhha.

Pai

A windy three hour drive from Chang Mai, Thailand’s populous northern city, is a town with a relaxed vibe locals claim is reminiscent of the 60’s in the states. Here, in Pai, is where we spent 9 days, including Thanksgiving and Dion’s 33^rd birthday. Set in a lush green valley, Pai was a base to explore…be it on a scooter whizzing through the countryside and hills or in town learning thai massage.

One of the memorable aspects of our time to Pai was our trek to a hilltribe led by our engaging guide Somsak. Hilltribe people migrated over 100 years ago from the southern part of China into Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam and Thailand. Comprising seven major tribes, each has its own distinct culture, religion, language, art and colorful style of dress. They have assimilated to varying degrees and levels of success with modern culture but for the most part have preserved their way of life with little change for over thousand years.

As a visitor, the hill tribes provide a glimpse into the basic lifestyle of living off the land, and residing in small self-sufficient communities that are foreign and centuries removed to many of us. Excluding the recent addition of solar panels, the living environment in the Lahu village we stayed overnight was much closer to that of the Pueblo Indians that resided in 1200’s Mesa Verde National Park we visited this summer, then to what we are accustomed to back home.

As for the remaining time in Pai, a few pictures below illustrate how days in a exceedingly comfortable town can just breeze by.

View of the river and traveler bungalows just outside the town of Pai

Vendors lined the main street each night, offering choice upon choice of food. Here is the best Pad Thai lady we found in town.

Elephants are big, and their trunks can be ticklish.

Our elephant trek was a definite highlight. Despite a backbone for a seat, they make for a great ride through the jungle. They are playful as heck, grabbing whole trees to munch on while walking by, and rolling around in the river (with us still on!)

Our garden bungalow in town

Dion's other playful friend: the mascot of our laundry shop

Samsak: our guide for the 2 days trek. The town is littered with different trekking establishments and guides swooning with the tourists; we were fortunate to connect with him in town early on and have such a quality guide, and friend, to show us the path and spend Thanksgiving with this year.

Here, Samsak is cutting a path for us, while Christy is thankful she brought the extra bug spray.

The hike started about an hour's drive from the center of Pai. The first day, for six hours and the second, five, we tredged up hills, through rivers, along rice paddies, even cutting our way through the forest in some cases. Somsak, very verse in English and knowledgeable about the various birds, trees, fruits and sounds in the forest, kept us preoccupied and learning.

Walking into the town of Eh la- of the Lahu hilltribe. With 20 families in total, there were more animals than people walking around. The sounds of roosters, cows and pigs were heard throughout the night.

Playing soccer with the village kids

Thanksgiving Dinner: fresh Thai food cooked on this open stove. It was a special place to spend the holiday this year, given how we were away from home. Eh la is as far away from Manhattan and South Beach Florida as one could imagine, so it gave us even more opportunity to reflect and be grateful for our lifestyle back home.

Dion learning how to Thai box. After 3 sessions of 3 hour grueling workouts, blistered feet and cut up knees and elbows, he's still far away from a real fight.

With time in town, we took massage courses in Thai Massage, Foot, and Oil.

Dion's birthday coincided with Thailand's national festival: Loy Krathong. It's tradition for them to send off these tissue paper hot air balloons into the night sky like stars. We heard from some that the practice sends away the negative energy for the coming year...athough Somsak's humorous explanation was that it simply floats flamable litter into the air.

Sunset our last night in Pai. After an afternoon riding our scooter around the outskirts of town, we came upon this Pai Canyon- with a spectacular view of the area.