The hotel bartender slides me my pint of Angkor or Cambodia (both beers are indistinguishable from each other). I pay. He makes the customary sompiah and says "Au Kuhn (Thank you). Courtesy dictates that I return the gesture, so I do. He, with barely suppressed grin bows back at rattlesnake speed. Pretty soon we're both rapidly bobbing back and forth, and it's becoming a real effort for the bartender not to laugh. I've reached the delightful stage in my stay where the staff has started to feel comfortable messing with me. One of the hotel staff has offered me a bargain price on my laundry of "just $100 per kilo, just for you!" I really enjoy the Cambodian sense of humor.
I believe that being here is beginning to soften me a little. I smile at strangers more readily, expecting that they will smile back.
I let shopkeepers and waiters reach directly into my wallet and pluck out the correct bills, secure in the knowledge that they are scrupulously honest and it's easier for them than waiting for me to fumble with reil
Siem Reap appears in most guide books and websites as a mere jumping off point for Angkor Wat, but make no mistake: this is a big city, complete with hospitals, schools, museums, shopping districts and multiple major foreign fast food chains. I am staying in a cozy hotel in a back alley that doesn't look as though it could hold more than a dumpster and a handful of stray dogs. This is right by Pub Street and the Night Market, two garishly lit tourist traps where you are assaulted from all sides with offers of illicit substances, tuktuk rides, massages, female companionship, souvenirs, drink specials, street food knockoff handbags,and other illogical delights. The overall effect is as if someone tried to make the Atlantic City boardwalk the size of an entire city and ran out of money. I hate it.
During the day when it's possible to walk through this neighborhood without being offered a fish massage, it leads to a lush green Riverwalk where towering jungle trees shade the lush green river filled with duckweed, lotus and the occasional plastic bottle. As the river runs north to south, this is the easiest and most scenic way to navigate the city. Whenever I get lost (which happens frequently- Siem Reap is a maze) I only have to find the river again to orient myself. Follow it far enough north and turn left for a block and you have found Charles De Gaulle Ave ( look, I didn't name it) which leads you to Angkor Wat. Not far off Airport Road there is the Angkor museum where you can view some of the treasures of Angkor and get some perspective in thankfully air conditioned galleries.
Apart from the obvious attractions, there are little hidden gems all over from bars and cafes that would blend right into the trendy neighborhoods of any major city, but mercifully charge Cambodian prices to hole in the wall establishments and food carts that serve mouth watering Khmer cuisine for two or three dollars.
On the way back from the temples one afternoon I popped in to the Apopo Center and spent a fascinating forty-five minutes learning about their ingenious de-mining program. Unexploded land mines can still be a major problem in parts of Cambodia. By training Giant African Pouched Rats to sniff them out, they can detect and dispose of the land mines much more safely and effectively than a metal detector. A Pouched Rat, while nearly blind has a superbly sensitive nose, is intelligent enough to ignore harmless scrap metal, and weighs about three pounds so can walk over a live mine without triggering it. The tour included a demonstration of one of these drowsy looking myopic "hero rats" at work running back and forth on a lead between her trainers. Her speed and accuracy were truly impressive.
One evening I found my way to the temple in the Royal Gardens to see something I had been wanting to since I first heard about it. The trees nearby in what looked like a normal city park anywhere in the world are host to a hoard of Lyle's Flying Fox. The branches were festooned with hundreds of squealing, chittering fruit bats dangling like enormous leathery pears. They flapped and fluttered in the boughs, writhing and climbing over each other. Every so often one would launch itself into the air, the setting sun making it's membranous wings translucent orange. I watched captivated until the moon had risen and I decided that I had fed enough mosquitoes for one night
I believe that being here is beginning to soften me a little. I smile at strangers more readily, expecting that they will smile back.
I let shopkeepers and waiters reach directly into my wallet and pluck out the correct bills, secure in the knowledge that they are scrupulously honest and it's easier for them than waiting for me to fumble with reil
Siem Reap appears in most guide books and websites as a mere jumping off point for Angkor Wat, but make no mistake: this is a big city, complete with hospitals, schools, museums, shopping districts and multiple major foreign fast food chains. I am staying in a cozy hotel in a back alley that doesn't look as though it could hold more than a dumpster and a handful of stray dogs. This is right by Pub Street and the Night Market, two garishly lit tourist traps where you are assaulted from all sides with offers of illicit substances, tuktuk rides, massages, female companionship, souvenirs, drink specials, street food knockoff handbags,and other illogical delights. The overall effect is as if someone tried to make the Atlantic City boardwalk the size of an entire city and ran out of money. I hate it.
During the day when it's possible to walk through this neighborhood without being offered a fish massage, it leads to a lush green Riverwalk where towering jungle trees shade the lush green river filled with duckweed, lotus and the occasional plastic bottle. As the river runs north to south, this is the easiest and most scenic way to navigate the city. Whenever I get lost (which happens frequently- Siem Reap is a maze) I only have to find the river again to orient myself. Follow it far enough north and turn left for a block and you have found Charles De Gaulle Ave ( look, I didn't name it) which leads you to Angkor Wat. Not far off Airport Road there is the Angkor museum where you can view some of the treasures of Angkor and get some perspective in thankfully air conditioned galleries.
Apart from the obvious attractions, there are little hidden gems all over from bars and cafes that would blend right into the trendy neighborhoods of any major city, but mercifully charge Cambodian prices to hole in the wall establishments and food carts that serve mouth watering Khmer cuisine for two or three dollars.
On the way back from the temples one afternoon I popped in to the Apopo Center and spent a fascinating forty-five minutes learning about their ingenious de-mining program. Unexploded land mines can still be a major problem in parts of Cambodia. By training Giant African Pouched Rats to sniff them out, they can detect and dispose of the land mines much more safely and effectively than a metal detector. A Pouched Rat, while nearly blind has a superbly sensitive nose, is intelligent enough to ignore harmless scrap metal, and weighs about three pounds so can walk over a live mine without triggering it. The tour included a demonstration of one of these drowsy looking myopic "hero rats" at work running back and forth on a lead between her trainers. Her speed and accuracy were truly impressive.
One evening I found my way to the temple in the Royal Gardens to see something I had been wanting to since I first heard about it. The trees nearby in what looked like a normal city park anywhere in the world are host to a hoard of Lyle's Flying Fox. The branches were festooned with hundreds of squealing, chittering fruit bats dangling like enormous leathery pears. They flapped and fluttered in the boughs, writhing and climbing over each other. Every so often one would launch itself into the air, the setting sun making it's membranous wings translucent orange. I watched captivated until the moon had risen and I decided that I had fed enough mosquitoes for one night
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