Two Days in Cambodia

Cambodia – A step into history

I spent two days in Cambodia visiting the area around Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. I arrived on Bangkok Airways to the amazingly small airport. Even though the airport is small, large jets fly into it – of course, mine was not a large jet. But it was painted very nicely.

Siem Reap is a contrast in poverty and opulence. There are fancy hotels that cater to the hundreds of thousands of tourists that flock to Angkor Wat and the reality of the city that is Siem Reap. In some ways I found it similar to Phuket, Thailand in terms of busy streets filled with shops and heavy motorbike traffic. Everyone says you must go to Angkor Wat at sunrise or sunset. Well, I’m not a morning person, so I chose a sunset tour for my first night. The sunset was spectacular and nightfall made the heat tolerable. Angkor Wat is stunning and words hardly can describe it. They say that in 10 years Angkor Wat may not even exist because of the rate of decay. However, many other countries have funded projects to save the World Heritage site.

The next day I took a full-day tour that again brought me to Angkor Wat, through Siem Reap, to an elephant conservation center, to an area where the United Nations Foundation is clearing mines and finally to a small fishing village. It was an extremely long day and the heat was exhausting. The temperature reached 100 degrees and the feels like temperature was 107 degrees. The guide told us that normal temperatures for December are around 90 degrees for the high in the day and mid-80s for the low at night and that Cambodia is suffering from global warming like the rest of the world. One thing that I noticed is that the air is not nearly as smoggy as other parts of Asia.

Elephant Conservation Center :

Fishing Village: (from top left: Fish drying in the sun, market, snake (could have done without seeing that..and oh, yes, I was in a bus)

Cambodia is a fascinating and diverse country with a complex history. While I only visited one small part of the country, it definitely sparked my interest about the rest of the country, especially the Khmer Rouge and the country’s history with war. I would highly recommend seeing Cambodia, and especially Angkor Wat, if you have the opportunity.