During a Business trip to Singapore in 2008, I sneak out to Cambodia for 3 days. What I found there gave me something I had not felt for many years... the WOW factor.
This beautiful country totally blowed my mind. The temples in Siem Reap are breath taking. The warm welcome of the Cambodians and their friendliness was amazing. Monks always asking questions "where are you from? how far is Mexico? how is life in Mexico?" and always friendly as the ones that speak english like to practice it.
I have to admit, that someone that help this trip to be so amazing was my friend Sampho Lim. I was doing some research of what to do in Siem Reap, and I found his contact in wiki travel, so I give it a shot and e-mailed him. I sent Sam my flight schedule, the hotel I was staying at and the dates I would be at Siem Reap. He send me some schedule options for the 3 days I was spending there, and after some questions & answers, I decided to hire him.
Sam picked me up at the Siem Reap airport, took me to the hotel and helped me out decide what I would like the most to do during the trip. The first night, he took me to some local show to have dinner, where the local "Apsaras" did some interesting local dance, also giving me a lot of the cultural background behind it. It was my first contact with the local culture and I loved it.
Next day, we drove to Angkor Thom. And oh my! What a wonderful view I was having! This place was the last capital of the khmer empire. The bayon temple, the heads, all surrounded by a thick jungle. Never forget to bring water and extremely comfortable walking shoes, because this is what you will do all day long.
For lunch, I told sam to take me to a place where he would have lunch on a regular basis and where I could taste the local food (no tourist crab I asked). You have to be aware that as a Mexican, my stomach is kindda stronger for hot and not-so-higienic food. So he took me to a small 7 tables dinner, where the owner was very surprised by my visit. They brought me a soup-type of dish, a very thai-like meat (i hope it was cow) dish that was DELICIOUS.
So after asking him 1,000 questions about their past, history and culture (Sam is great in this as he is also a school teacher), we moved on to the magnificent Angkor Wat. If you ever saw the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie, well, this is the main temple of the movie. Surounded by a man-made square lake (a huuuuge one). For me, one of the most fantastic places I have ever visited. Amazing architecture, detailed art on the walls (full of apsaras, female spirits of the Hindu and Buddhist mythology) and a harmonic design, make this place magical.
After that, I went back to my hotel, and had a great massage on the spa (I stayed at Le Meridien Angkor where you can get rooms from 110 US Dollars per night). At night, Sam drove me to the night market, where you can find local art shopping for a very reasonable price.
Next day, Sam picked me up at 4:30am (I think I was still dreaming when I jumped in the car) and we went to watch the sunrise in Angkor Wat. For my surprise, the place was packed! sunrise in Angkor is one of the most breath-taking sights you will have. And don't worry, several locals put coffe&donnuts to make this experiences less shocking.
For the rest of that day, Sam drove me around a thousand Indu and Buddhist temples in the area (some empty, some full of tourists, all fantastic). He also took me to a Museum, which I could say is more of a memorial of the war khmer people lived in the last century. I was shocked to learn about the thousands of land mines still laying in the Cambodian soil, injuring kids and people that is not aware of them.
Next day, we visited a silk farm, where they go through all the process from farming the silk worms until knitting and giving color to it. Personally, something I can recommend not to do, and better visit more temples (there are so many, that impossible to see them all in 4 days). After the farm, we went to this huge, but I mean HUUUUUGE lake, where there is a floating village. It is amazing to learn how people can adapt to circumstances and make a living floating on the lake! we visited floating restaurants, floating business, floating schools.... floating everything! Something very interesting, was to find out that all this places power source were automobile batteries, and that one of the most important business of the town is where they charge this batteries.
Next day, after a comfy breakfast, Sam drove me back to the airport, where we said good bye and I went back to Singapore. I still keep in touch with Sam, through Facebook and e-mail, and every time I hear someone is planning to visit Cambodia, I recommend him, always listening to great comments about him and his hospitality.
I hope you enjoy reading this post as much as I enjoy remembering this amazing trip to this magical country in Southeast Asia.
Agustin.
