Nancy and the Butterflies
So here's a review of what happened over the weekend. Nancy, Yasemin, and I left on WEdnesday morning for Siem Reap and saw the Museum when we arrived there in the afternoon. Our lodging was at the Bun Kao Guesthouse, the kindest hostel in the area. Our 3-bed room was well-equipped with a fan and a/c and a private bathroom. Each morning was a free breakfast of eggs, bread, and a banana served by one of Mr. Bun Kao's daughters (grand-daughters? great grand daughters?). The place was definitely family-run and everytime we came back to we were greeted by a child sitting on the couch watching an amusing-looking television show and Mr. Bun Kao behind the main desk. The place was quiet, albeit a bit out of the center of town but this was not a problem as everything in Siem Reap is very walkable.
The next morning we woke up for an early start at 6:30 to go to Beng Mealea, a far temple about 70 km from Siem Reap. We hired a tuk tuk driver through our hostel named Narat (?) who was very nice. The ride out there was a refreshing opportunity to see the Cambodian countryside firsthand. Villagers live in thatched roof houses and food vendors parked their carts along the busy main road. It wasn't quite a highway as there were only two lanes, but drivers here don't pay attention to lines anyway. Beng Mealea was an exciting first ruin to see as it is pretty much untouched and unrestored. Roots and vines have clearly ripped apart the temple as piles of rubble lay strewn about the interior walls. Yasemin, Nancy, and I clambered around over the rubble led by a local guide who sort of trapped us into a tour. He knew where he was going and gave a great description of everything we were seeing. He led us to the old libraries and pointed out places and ponds of interest, as the Khmer were very fond of surrounding their buildings with water. We paid him $4 at the end (quite a good pay for a great tour) as we wouldn't have been able to find our own way around the ruins. As we were leaving we spotted a fashion photoshoot for some Japanese magazine, which presented an odd contrast of ancient ruin and modern glamour.
Beng Mealea ruins
Next up was lunch at a nice restaurant placed near a river before charging towards Kampong Phuluk. Kampong Phuluk is one of the so called "floating villages" on the Tonle Sap lake, the primary water source and natural miracle of Cambodia. The drive was pretty long down there, about 1 hour or so before we hit the end of the road and a detour. The road ended where the water level had previously risen and they had not yet had a chance to repair it. August is the rainy season in Cambodia and the Tonle Sap floods to expand from 2500 sq km to more than 13,000 sq km with its maximum depth increasing about 8 m. The water was quite high when we arrived, so we had to transfer (and pay $15!) to a moto (moped) and then to a boat. Sitting on the back of a moto with Yasemin was a bumpy and exciting ride. The road was in pretty bad condition and should have more accurately been called a sandy trail with large puddles. Suddenly, the large clouds looming overhead let loose and we were caught in a torrent of pounding rain riding on a moto. We pulled over on the side and hid under (literally, they raise their houses above the ground to avoid the flood) a local woman's house. She was hiding along with us and between the cracks in the bamboo floor of the house above was her curious toddler peering down at the three foreigners who appeared below her feet.
The rain stopped and we continued by moto to a river bank lined with boats. We boarded a long, low boat with 10 chairs on its covered deck and puttered down the narrow estuary. The sides of the boat were assaulted with the branches of sunken trees as we squeezed our way to the main river and on to Kampong Phuluk. All the houses were raised very high off the ground and people carried out their daily routines on the various levels between the water and the main house. Children swam, splashed, and bathed in the muddy river water. Our boat continued through the village into the sunken mangrove forest. None of the mangrove's trademark gnarled roots were visible, only strange canopies peeking out from below the water. The mangrove forest floods in the wet season and is a normal forest in the dry season. Many fisher people were setting up nets and traps in the area before resting in hammocks they tied between the uprooted canopies. The main lake was a vast sea of fresh water muddled with the runoff from recent rains. Deforestation is a huge problem here and causes lots of runoff into the Tonle Sap, potentially endangering the lake itself as the silt buildup makes the lake shallower and shallower each year. The lake is so enormous that there is a distinct horizon line and the boat rocked from the sway of choppy waves once we left the protection of the flooded forest.
Approaching the floating village
Turning back, we landed in Kampong Phuluk village and walked around down the main street, presumably the highest point of ground in the area as it was the only bit of actual land. All the houses are lined on this strip of dirt with their high supports and rear ends (of front doors?) sticking out over the water. We met some young kids who wanted to practice their English with us and we chatted with them before getting back on the boat and returning to shore and back on the motos. Once again, a deluge poured down on us right before we reached the shelter of the moto-tuk tuk transfer stop. Before the rain was up, our driver, Narat, went over to the tuk tuk carriage and lifted it to reattach it to his moto when he suddenly slipped in the mud and the tuk tuk carriage fell on him! I was so shocked because he just lay there for a second not moving. I ran out there to help him with a few of the other Khmer with us and he got up alright and we helped him reattach the tuk tuk to his moto. He was unfortunately covered with mud on his backside but appeared to be alright. When the rain stopped and after Narat had a rest, we all got back in the tuk tuk to head to the Roulus Group temples.
Yasemin and a resident of Kampong PHuluk
On the way to the temples we were caught in a cow traffic jam! The cows were moving somewhere but Narat successfully navigated between and around to get past them. The Roluos Group temples are older than the main ones at Angkor Wat, but were equally interesting and uncrowded. We viewed some of them in the rain and ended up visiting three temples: Preah Ko, Bakong, and Lolei before returning back to Siem Reap.
Nancy up top at Preah Ko
We freshened up at our hostel room before grabbing dinner with Bill in downtown Siem Reap near Pub Street. It was an early night that night because we were exhausted from our day of adventuring.
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