Cambodia & First Impressions
The sleeper bus: a two story, three rowed bus with narrow bunks to retreat in for the long journey to the border town of Moc Bai. Music is playing through my earbuds, my legs stretched out in a reclined chair, and my body pressed up against the cold window. We are on our way to Vietnam. Still sleepy from the early rise, I look out at people on scooters heading to work, tuk tuk drivers waiting for their first clients of the day, men hauling wagons full of coconuts, and women preparing hot soups under plastic umbrellas. I drink in my final moments of the beautiful country of Cambodia. It seems our time here happened in the blink of an eye, but when I consider all the people we have met, the meals we have shared, the experiences we have created… I feel gratitude for the depth of our time spent here.
First impressions are a funny thing. I remember how as the plane descended into Siem Reap, the flat landscape stretched as far as my eyes could see… a sparse landscape with only a smattering of large puddles and tiny little villages that hovered over the water. I’ll admit that I wondered how the heck we would spend our time in a country that upon first impression seemed so barren…oh, how little did I know.
Once on land, Siem Reap felt like love at first sight. The people were chatty and friendly, and the city was gorgeous. The food was delicious, and my excitement for passionfruit, mangos, and papayas grew with every chance I had to savor their freshness. The main draw for people who come to Siem Reap is the Angkor Wat complex, a collection of Hindu/Buddhist temples from as far back as the 12th century. Having experienced “temple fatigue” before, we decided to split our tour of the temples into two days over the five days we spent in the city. We also wanted to avoid being stuck with a tourist company so in the early morning of our first full day there, we went out to the streets to find a tuk tuk driver who would take us where we needed to go…no strings attached. Tin was a kind hearted, reserved man around our age and as he dropped us off at Angkor Wat, he explained that he would be there waiting for us when we were done. Unexpectedly, we ended up hiring him as our driver for the rest of the day, and for many other days as well. He was such a sweet man, we wanted to support him as much as we could. The temples were incredible…ancient wisdom carved into stories on the temple walls. We visited three temples on that first day, in the blazing hot sun, ensuring my shoulders and knees were covered in respect for these very religious places. We were awestruck. One with trees growing through the stone, proving how old these structures have stood the test of time. One of our favorites, Bayon Temple, with hundreds of carvings of the smiling face of Avalokiteshvara. All the temples, on both days of our trip, shared endless stories from the Upanishads carved into both the interior and exterior of these sacred places.
When we weren’t exploring the temples, we swam in our semi-private pool off our hotel room and, truthfully, pretty much just ate and drank our way through the city for days. The famous “Pub Street” was full of foreign tourists, night clubs, fancy restaurants and alongside the Old Market, which sells all the souvenirs you could think of…temple ornaments, paintings, Angkor Wat swag, and SE Asia tourist attire. We enjoyed the spectacle of it all, but instead of indulging in the the pull of flashy bars and foreign tourists, we often found ourselves at the hole-in-the-wall spots with plastic tables and chairs, buzzing with locals. We’d ask the bartender how to say “cheers” in Khmer and we made many toasts with the patrons of the bar as we practiced our pronunciation and new language. “Choul Mouy” (Cheers!). “Aurkung bong” (thank you, brother). With my parents being in Cambodia only a few weeks prior, I found myself often wondering “what did my parents do here?” “Did they stay in this neighborhood?” “I wonder if they ate here?”… “I wonder if they loved this place in the same way I do or if they loved it differently.” Eventually, however, it was time to keep the journey moving and we left Siem Reap, saying that one day we were sure to return.
When we arrived to Phnom Penh, it was initially a big pill to swallow…especially due to the fact that our first hotel was in the heart of chaotic downtown. The dusty and congested streets made it slightly difficult to adjust to, but we were still excited to explore the big city. With a quick glance, Phnom Penh offers an expanse of skyscrapers and uncared for buildings, but as we gave ourselves time to settle into the city, there became an undeniable charm about it…Saffron-robed monks walking the boulevards, children playing in the streets, immaculate temples, and the river lined with French colonial restaurants, cafes, and bars. Much of our time in Phnom Penh was spent running necessary errands to get our visa sorted for Vietnam. This allowed us to experience the city in a way that didn’t involve hitting all the tourist “hot spots”, but in a way of experiencing day to day life there. At night, when our errands were over, we explored the city and its markets… often crossing up to six lanes of traffic where Justin would take my hand and remind me to “walk deliberately, but slowly” and we would step into the fierceness of Cambodian traffic, hoping for the best outcome. We walked through the chaos to find colorful markets with sights and smells of produce, seafood, and miscellaneous animal products that tended to curb our appetite instead of encouraging it.
On our third day in the city we moved to a different neighborhood. We had learned earlier on that we enjoyed changing locations when staying in the same place for a longer period of time, as it allows us to explore other areas that may have otherwise been looked over. I selfishly booked our next hotel only a minute walk from a yoga studio, but luckily we found that this hip neighborhood of Tonle Basaac was exactly the pace we were looking for…a place for locals, expats, and tourists to commingle. We casually stopped by a real estate office to find how affordable living here could be and although Phnom Penh is not our place, it was fun to imagine what that life would look like… nonetheless planting the seed for our future of living overseas one day. In celebration of our last night in Phnom Penh, we found a rooftop bar with a 360 degree view of the city. There was a cool wind on the 42nd floor, perhaps our first moment of cold weather this whole trip. As we watched the sun dissolve into the city scape around us, the sky grew dark and tiny sparkles of light began to bring the city to life. We drank fancy cocktails (I cannot get enough passionfruit) and talked about how truly wonderful this life is and how lucky we are. It took a lot of hard work to make this trip happen, so to finally be existing in the experience of it all feels like we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.
With a readiness to get out of the concrete jungle, we took a five hour bus ride to the actual jungle of Mondulkiri. We had arranged a 2day/1night trek to be among rescued elephants who now live free after a life of logging, begging, or mistreatment. Our group included seven other travelers. We have certainly enjoyed the ease and rhythm of traveling as a couple, but I found myself remembering that there’s something special about the group dynamic. It’s a fun and beautiful thing, to open yourself up to something new with a bunch of strangers, all of whom may respond to the experience in a different way than your own. There’s a joy to meet like minded individuals from other parts of the world and to experience travel through the lense of others.
As to be expected, there was an initial timidness among us all as we piled into the back of a white pickup truck to be dropped off in the wilderness together for the next two days. On that first day we hiked through the jungle to find the rescued elephants of the Mondulkiri Project. We fed them bananas and listened to their rescue stories from our guide. Such smart and incredible creatures. We were all amazed by these gentle giants, although still somewhat intimidated by the vastness of their size. We swam under waterfalls with the elephants, and it was that moment that the ice was finally broken between us strangers, and we enjoyed the company of each other as we got to share an experience that felt so incredibly special. After our day of hiking was over, we went back to our “jungle bungalow” where we were served a traditional Bunong dinner, played drinking games with “happy water”, and slept in hammocks with the sounds of nature on repeat all around us.
The next morning, we woke early to continue another twelve miles to our guide, Samoon’s, village. Samoon took a liking to Justin and I, making us the “pack leaders”. In truth, he explained, it was because we were “old like he is” and he didn’t want the twenty year olds creating the pace. We laughed at the realization that we are now falling into the category of “old”, but we enjoyed walking by his side. While the twenty year olds paired up in flirtatious bonds with one another, the three of us linked up in our own way. We laughed…a lot… learning each other’s languages and learning about the forest around us. He shared the devastation of the farmers and their villages due to logging…he also shared plenty of “happy water” along the trail. After a full day of steep inclines, steep declines, river crossings, waterfalls, and bamboo jungles dancing around us, we finally arrived to the Bunong village where we were greeted with more “happy water” and ice cold beers. We went to Samoon’s home and met his family before sadly saying our goodbyes, giving hugs, and being picked back up in that same white truck to head back to town. What started with an initial timidness among nine strangers, ended with sharing pictures, a sad goodbye, and a knowing that we would exist in their memory and they would exist in ours.
Our time in Cambodia was coming to an end and we had a grand finale of power outages all over the town of Sen Monoram, due to tornado-like winds. We patiently waited for our bus to leave while getting to know the owner of our homestay and his family. Justin and the owner, Dom, discovered they have a mutual friend from the WWF and compared stories of their time working for the foundation. What a small world. I played with the little girl who twirled her fingers in my curls, put on her tye dye pajamas to match my shirt, and took note of all the tattoos on my body. Eventually the power came back on and our bus was arriving to take us back to Phnomn Penh, where we would catch a second bus to Ho Chi Minh, in Vietnam. As we left Mondulkiri we both agreed it was the favorite part of the trip thus far and when looking at Cambodia as a whole, there is still so much left to be desired and we trust we will return to explore that country more one day…
And now here we are…we’ve crossed the Vietnamese border through Moc Bai, our passports have been stamped, and our next adventure begins…
