FROM SOLO TO SIEM REAP (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia 

A journey of 19 years dreamer from the home land of javanese culture who travelled to the land of Khmer

It was 3 years ago but i always lazy to write and share it to personal blog. Nowadays, i am crazy about writing and decided to make a post about my old journey.

THE LAND OF KHMER or THE LAND OF ANGKOR WAT?

Both are true. According to wikipedia.com, Khmer_Empire ruled the land from 802 AD, since the day when Jayavarman II King declared chakravartin on Phnom Kulen. Then,  at the empire's golden age Suryavarman II King built Angkor war (took 37 years).  

I did not know anything about Cambodia at that time except the beautiful of Angkor Wat and the free visa policy for the South East Asia citizens. :). I travelled to Cambodia via Bangkok, Thailand by a mini bus together with peoples from two ladies from german, two ladies from rusia, three men from france and two men from Japan.

here is my first day's lodge

I recommend to whom might be interested to go there, please search the homestay first. Me and my friend (un)luckily spent one day to a lodge because our paid homestay said that their room was full and we should spend one day in the chosen logde. We still had no idea where would spend at night when the guide asked us whether we would like to rent a room or not. Because of our lack information about homestay so we decided to follow the guide.

Being dissapointed and feeling unlucky, i just wanted to sleep early that night. But it seemed wrong cause peoples in lodge are so nice. The children loved to eat our candy. While the logde keeper loved to speak english with us. After sharing our stories, i got to know that he was trying to learn english. He brought his book (written in english and khmer language) and told us how was his study. I was quite suprised with the cambodian people way to learn. Before arrived in Siem reap, we stopped at small restaurant, i stood near cambodian boy and the canadian tourist. I had a bad opinion before that he just wanted to ask money after questioning the tourist. Hmm.. but i was wrong. He did the conversation for his own sake. He brought a book and questioned the tourist by read the questions which he wrote down first in book. I still remember some of questions, such as where do you from? what is your national flower?, etc.

Ah, let me introduce the lodge keeper, i forgot his name. Sorry. But he was really kind. He showed us where we could eat. Right in front of the logde, we found a local food seller. We treated him and offered him to choose the meal but he refused and just ordered  beverage. Another Cambodian kindness is they respected my religion and understood well that i could not eat pork. So, they cooked the egg instead. I was really thankful to God and peoples there. God Bless you, people of Cambodia!

After had a dinner, Galuh ( forgot to tell before that i didnt go alone there) and I went to Siem reap's most famous night market. We rode the tuktuk and spent almost nearly two hours there. I spent money more than Galuh. hahaha. I spent around 100 dollars there. Well, i didnt regret a thing. Except the bracelet, cause mum never wear it again and i didnt know where it is now at home. haha. Going to local market is a must and really worth it. We contributed to their sales and it means help the local seller keeping their existance in market. I bought cambodian skirt, man shirt for daddy, scarf for grand mother, three pieces t-shirt for me, my sister and my friend.

My travel mate...Galuh :)

We slept well but i was quite worry about  our homestay. They promised to pick up at 7 am but i did not hear anyone knocked our door. Being anxious, i convinced Galuh to go down and asked anyone about this matter. Then, i met the lodge keeper and he told me that all people had been picked up at 7.00 am. Upset!Luckily, the old lady in lodge was so kind and helped us to contact the man.
                                       

she gave us this

                                                                                                                                    







So, this is a warning for people who want to go to Cambodia. Once again, do not forget to book a homestay before. If you did not have time to book, then you should refuse anyone's request and find the homestay by yourself. Dont let this experience happen to you!We went to our booked homestay by tuktuk. The tuktuk driver actually refused our order to give us a ride. Cause actually at that time, he was waiting his friend. But luckily, he changed his mind, We told him about our story and he said a pity. We arrived at the homestay and we would like to pay him but he refused and said to wait him for 30 minutes cause his friend already called him. We agreed his offer cause we needed him too for Angkor wat trip. While waiting, i talked to the homestay keeper about our problem and she said she did not know about it and stated that the HOME STAY was FULLY BOOKED. I did not give up and asked her to call some one who should responsible to our problem. Hello, we paid full and cash to the guide. Same as other tourist. It worked. 10 minutes after the call, someone came. He offered us a ride. But we were in dilemma. We promised to tuktuk driver to wait him so we asked to the man where the home stay is. We planned go there by riding tuktuk. Dont you know what man said about our tuktuk driver? " You should not wait him. If you go to Angkor Wat by riding tuktuk, it will cost much and blalalalalala."
you better sh*t up yeah. We believed people from what they done to us not from their lip service.


We just wait about 10 minutes. Cause our tuktuk driver came and picked up us. He said thank you for believing him and waiting for him.  Then we went to the beautiful ANGKOR WAT. I am familiar with hindu temple. In yogya, there is a beautiful hindu temple too, named PRAMBANAN or RORO JONGGRANG temple.  Even i am moslem, i'd likely to go to temple for learning its history. It really useful for enlighting the knowledge. For the international tourist, we have to pay 20 $ for a day. There is also two or three days package. Quite different from Indonesian tourism policy, here, there will be our photo in the entry ticket. For the complete information, you can refer to picture below.

Galuh while being captured 

my entry card

So, after being shooted, we paid and got our own card. I should do cute pose there. hahahah
I forgot the direction. But the very first destination is ANGKOR WAT Temple.. The biggest one in the complex. I thought that Angkor Wat is not just a temple but also a palace. It is really really big. I fell in love with its lake!! Angkor wat is surrounded by lake. Not a natural lake but it was made as part of its achitecture.

my favorite scenery

angkor wat is a temple for Vishnu (Wisnu) but i dont know what the meaning of the lion and dragon statue

tried to capture a lanscape of angkor wat but failed..sorry

After passing the bridge, i looked around this first temple

Korean peoples  wore all in black

When we felt exhausted after walking around the angkor wat, i saw some korean peoples who were praying in front of tree. I had a short conversation with one lady but the bad thing is i forgot what it was. I do not think it was buddish ritual since Angkor wat is hinduish tempe. May be they performed taoism? Who knows~ Still being mystery.

Since Angkor wat temple is not stand alone, we headed to other temples. Do you still remember about a temple where Angelina Jolie played Tom Rider? Yes, it was Ta Phrom. We also visited and took picture in famous scene as the common people.

A bilateral cooperation between India and Cambodia for conservation and restoration of Ta Phrom

A root tries to grow on temple wall. Hope the root does not break the wall.

front side

 Tetrameles_nudiflora, for whom might become curious about the tree

I lost the picture...the common pose which took below the tree. Hmm. So, the Ta phrom is our third destination. We went there after having a lunch. Our second destination temple is unknown temple. The only thing I remembered about it was the temple has been occupied by another kingdom and they ruined the temple... hiks TT

me and the unknown temple. for anyone who knows this temple name, please let me know soon.

the broken statue

this relief remained me to ken dedes relief. 

from the left side....

there is a well inside the temple 

Galuh, while observing the statue..

yeaaaaaaaah our tuk tuk rider.

our lunch menu...



We paid 20$ dollars to our tuktuk driver after he took about us to Angkor Wat temple and finally drove us to homestay.  Because of our lack time, we could not go to other places again in Siem Reap. We tried to catch our Bus to Phiphi Island so  just spent three days two nights in beloved Siem Reap, Cambodia. What i could learn from this trip?

(+) I learnt South East ASIA ancient History
(+) I should book a homestay before coming to Siem Reap
(+) Cambodia is a  developing country. As a tourism city (such as Bali), Goverment tries  to propel the citizens to study english for economic advantage..
(+) Got new friends, new experiences.


What i did not like from this trip

(-) I just a little bit sad. I know Cambodia is a rich country actually. The ancient Cambodia could build  the biggest hindu temple in South east Asia.but why the guide saying such an irony to the tourist. When we escorted to Cambodia from Thailand border, The guide told us that Cambodia is poor country not similiar as Thailand or Vietnam. Cambodia needs aids from their neighbour. I just shocked for a while. Even Indonesia's economic is not as stable or good as singapore or malaysia but i will never state my country as poor country. Please.....friends..Your country is rich!