I’ve been up since 4:30 am and I love
this place. Two things that haven’t been true in a while. I’m sweating, stinky,
sticky, and wearing my worst clothes and I am still happy. What a difference
leaving Phnom Penh made. I really thought I would like that city but I didn’t.
It was suffocating and dull. I was worried that I may hate Siem Reap too, since
I knew it would be a tourist town - a place where the entire economy revolves
around tourism. But unlike Luang Prabang or Hoi An or Bagan, Siem Reap is
actually a really chill place. It’s actually a livable place. It is clean,
well-lit, and has sidewalks. There is a healthy population of ex-pats and even
the locals seem savvy. The roads here are the most developed I have seen in
Cambodia by far.
When I rode the bus into Siem Reap, all I could see were whole villages eaten alive by dirt. Anything that
couldn’t move fast enough was covered in it. Trees, bark and leaves. Umbrellas,
whole houses, gates, car parts, and things forgotten. Everything cloaked in
dirt. Dirt would cover even shadows if
it could cling to them. It was as if the entire landscape was made of iron, and
it had rusted over and was not a reddish orange. I was disgusted by that parched
landscape, as if the earth were gasping for water with dry dust-coated lungs. I
started to think Siem Reap would look like this. Why not? This was the only
scene after miles and miles of countryside. But somehow when we entered the
city the scene changed drastically, especially when I dismounted the bus and
road a tuktuk into town. Suddenly I found myself in a dense forest. The air
was cool and tall thin trees shaded everything beneath them. There greenery as
far as the neck could bend. The sun was hidden behind the tree-fringed horizon.
I could have been in Portland, or Shimane. I could have been home. I needed
that shade and those trees like the earth needs to breath. I needed to not see
a landscape conquered by dirt. I needed something lush and beautiful.
I woke up this morning joyously, and
savored the cool dark ride in the tuktuk this morning. When we found droves of
people by the lake waiting to take the perfect photo for sunrise, we walked to
the eastern gate and waited on the stoop for the sun to rise. There were no
dramatic colors in the sky today. It was a cool, pale, slow lightening. I left
at 6:45 am and still no sight of the sun. But when I walked back to the west
gate of Angkor Wat, I saw the sun some up a a ferocious speed, as if hurrying
to make up for lost time. It was glowing red, the same color as the dirt of the
land. I had a few quiet hours in the
temples by myself, and it didn’t become bitterly hot until around
11:00. By then the tourists were packing
into the narrow stone corridors and it became impossible to enjoy anything,
much less photograph it. So I left around 12:00 and opted to spend the
afternoon indoors at a cafe, which I am enjoying. The atmosphere of the cafes
we have been to has not impressed me, but the wifi is fast, the drinks are
decent, and no one seems to mind how long we have been here, so I’m not
complaining. I wish I had more time in Siem Reap.
Friday, Jan. 30, The Hive Cafe, Siem Reap, 12:55 pm
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