Tuk tuks
The temples of Angkor Archaeological Park are spread out. Angkor Wat, the temple that is closest to downtown Siem Reap is about 3 miles out. Between the tropical heat, the narrow shoulder-less roads, and the free-for-all traffic, walking is not a good option. Bicycling is also uncommon except for youths and foreigners. The most popular way to get around for locals and visitors alike is by tuk tuks. These are step-through motorcycles towing a trailer. The trailer has two bench seats facing each other, a roof for shade, and curtains that can be lowered for rain.
This is “our” tuk tuk driver, Rob. We met him down the street from The Little Red Fox Espresso. We went on an all day outing to Angkor Wat the first day, and were impressed with his cautious driving, so we arranged to meet up with Rob again for the next several days.
Unlike many of the locals, Rob is very courteous in traffic. Here he is scanning the road for hazards:
Note the past tense of the inscription: “We trusted in God.” Rob is also keenly aware of the width of his rig when in tight quarters:
Rob’s battered Honda Wave is either a purchase or a gift from his English teacher. (Rob speaks some English, but is a little hard to understand when we venture beyond the subjects of his trade.) He bought the trailer from “the company” for $800, payable over 2 years. He is within a few months of paying it off. You can hire Rob for the whole day, and he’ll wait for you at each site. With tips, we pay Rob about $17 a day.
Lunch at Angkor Thom
Make sure you go back to the tuk tuk to go get lunch; the restaurants will feed the tuk tuk driver for free. Rob was quite disappointed when we went and got lunch on our own the first day, unaware of this custom. This is where we ate the 2nd day, in the Angkor Thom compound:
I estimate there are about 5 fans per customer. It’s kind of a food court arrangement, with all establishments tucked under a big tent. Each “restaurant” has a self-contained cooking station that looks like it can be closed up for the night:
The eating utensils are in a jar of hot water at each table. Presumably the water was boiling at one point. The water for cooking and washing up is delivered by tuk tuk, and poured into a big container out back:
All very basic, but the food was fine and we didn’t get sick the whole time. Here is the kitchen staff making our lunch; the “sink” is just beyond the counter, behind the woman in blue.
Ride Bikes, Not Elephants!
Asian elephants have quite the tough row to hoe. Here’s why.
Unfortunately they seem to be very popular with Asian tourists:
Tour guides
Being unstructured tourists, we prefer to go wandering on our own rather than trailing along behind a guide. Undoubtedly there are details we missed. However, there is also more of a sense of personal discovery.
That said, we were very impressed by all the languages that we overheard between tour guides and their groups. Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, German, and of course English. There is some Chinese language in there, too, but we couldn’t tell if it’s Mandarin or Cantonese. Here’s an official tour guide in front of the line for the tower at Angkor Wat:
The blue people
We saw many of these workers in blue uniforms at all the antiquities. We assume they are guards or some other kind of government worker, but it’s not always clear what their function is:
Sometimes one of them will check our tickets at the entrance, but often they are just sitting around as if waiting for something:
Some seem to have their family with them:
However it all became clear when Mary ran afoul of the dress code at Banteay Srei, which is also known as The Citadel of Women. We have seen a few signs in various places, requiring modest clothing of visitors, i.e. no bare shoulders, no shorts. Usually there is no enforcement that we can see. Except at the Citadel! This guard stopped us at the entrance and informed us that Mary needs to cover her knees. When we told her we have no extra clothing, she took off her scarf and wrapped it around Mary’s waist like a sarong.
We had some trouble finding her on the way out to return the garment. Maybe it was because she had added a turtleneck under her blue shirt so we didn’t recognize her. By the way it was probably 90 and 90 that day (°F and relative humidity)!
Get your blessings here!
At many of the Angkor sites, we saw monks offering blessings for the tourists. They have a supply of strings to tie around the visitor’s wrist, and some (holy?) water for sprinkling while reciting the prayers.
Some of the faithful clearly take it much more seriously than others:
At any rate, it is quite the spectacle for their companions, and a donation is expected.
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