Siem Reap

Where to begin? Siem Reap was my first stop in Cambodia, a country with new challenges, new currency, new customs, a new language, and also a country I instantly fell in love with. But Siem Reap was so much in itself too - a place I came to feel at home in, with a warm community around the New Dream for Cambodian Children Organisation. Perhaps let’s begin at the beginning.

I didn’t have particularly high expectations for Cambodia, after having met a few people in Bangkok who didn’t particularly enjoy being there. It was often described as the Wild West - lawless and primitive compared to the progress that has swept most of Southeast Asia. I was apprehensive crossing the land border from Thailand and when I arrived in Siem Reap, alone, at night, with no Cambodian currency and no working phone due to no Cambodian SIM card, I was a little anxious walking the streets looking for an ATM with all my possessions - passport, laptop and all - on my back. It turned out I needn’t have worried. The Khmer people, despite everything they’ve been through in the last century, are the warmest, kindest, most genuine population I think I’ve met, and I’m including South America in that. The first man I met was the one who sold me a SIM card. He insisted I have a free beer with him while we registered everything. I tried to resist, having seen the beginning of enough scams to be cautious, but this wasn’t one. We had a beer together, chatted briefly about our respective lives and he sorted out my phone. The beer was genuinely free, and I left the conversation feeling good. Sometimes it feels like people are only talking to you because you might have money, sometimes it feels like as a westerner in the east you’re a curiosity that interests them. But with Khmer people, it has felt like they value me as a human, and the interaction we have is valuable in and of itself. The SIM card man was the first, but there have been so so many warm connections made in Siem Reap alone. Playing pool and table football with people I’ve just met, dancing with people I don’t share a language with and chatting to those who speak some English about their lives, beliefs and culture. I feel valued here, and not as a means to an end. As a human.

That’s not to say Cambodia doesn’t have its challenges though. It does. The roads and the driving are a different level of crazy here. One common sight has been a car overtaking a tuk tuk while the tuk tuk is itself overtaking a motorbike. This all on a single lane road, leading to three vehicles side by side in on direction, while other vehicles squeeze past on what’s left of their side of the road. The currency also takes some working out for those new to Cambodia. Unofficially, there’s a dual currency system, with Cambodian riels and US dollars bills being used interchangeably, with an standard conversion rate of 4000 riels to the dollar. It’s pretty common to pay with a large dollar note from a cash machine and be handed change partly in dollars and partly in riels, or when splitting bills to swap dollars and riels between friends so everyone has the right change. Checking you’re been given the right amount back by a tuk tuk driver about to drive off means some quick mental dividing by 4000.

I’d chosen my hostel in an usual way this time. I have a couple of fresh tattoos from Bangkok, which means no sun or swimming. I thought Siem Reap being inland would make it a good place to let them heal a little (and in the end I was correct), but when looking through the hostels available they all social areas based around pools, often multiple pools. I decided it would not make me happy to pay for such facilities, only to watch others use them while I couldn’t, so I continued scrolling until I found a hostel without a pool. What I found was the Drop Inn, a hostel built to provide accommodation for volunteers at the New Dream for Cambodian Children Organisation, an NGO English school for kids who otherwise wouldn’t have a good education. These days, speaking English is a prerequisite for getting a good job in Siem Reap, so without the school, these children from poorer backgrounds would have little education and be unlikely to ever improve on the quality of life they grow up with. The school, run selflessly and tirelessly by a wonderful man called Kim, has already helped such children get jobs in fields they would otherwise not be able to access, leading to improved living conditions for them and their families. I didn’t plan to volunteer, but immediately I was struck by the family atmosphere and the way the volunteers spoke about the children they teach. This felt like something I wanted to be a part of, and after spending the weekend with the group, and becoming part of Kim’s family (looking after and playing with his kids, going out for a family dinner with him etc.) I decided to extend my stay and volunteer some time. 

Having taught many children in the UK and Brazil, I wasn’t expecting much of a new experience, but just like all the other Khmer people I’ve met, the children were warm, welcoming, playful and fun. I’m aware of sounding like a cliché, volunteering in Cambodia and saying the children there are so much more appreciative… but it’s true. They are. Love for others pours out of them. They ask you questions, they show your their drawings, they climb on your back, they hang off your arms, they want to include everyone in every game they play. They chant hello to each teacher in English at the start of lessons, and the tenth teacher receives exactly as much energy as the first did. After volunteering a couple of days I found myself unable to leave such a special place, and extended my stay further. It took some real determination to leave. I managed, but I’m going to miss those kids. 

For me to get this far through a blog post and not have mentioned the main reason people come to Siem Reap shows what a special place it is. Of course while I was in town I also visited the temples of Angkor. After arriving at night, the next morning I woke up at 4.30am to see the sun rise behind Angkor Wat, the biggest and most famous temple of the many examples in the area. It was quite mesmerising to have my first real sunlight in Cambodia to be beautiful colours in the sky behind an ancient, otherworldly temple. What an introduction. Over the next days I saw Ta Keo, Pre Rup, Near Poan (the water temple), Preah Khan, Bayon temples and a few others, but my favourite was Ta Prohm, also known as the Lara Croft temple for its use in the Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider film. Nature has started to reclaim the ruins of this temple, with huge trees growing in, around a through it. One tree has managed to grow on the roof, starting in the humidity of cracks in the sandstone, and now has huge roots working their way down the sides of the building in to the ground. Frankly the fact that the Temples of Angkor, as they’re collectively known, aren’t on any of the world wonder lists makes me wonder (pun intended) about the competence of whoever created such lists.

I also very much enjoyed the spontaneity of Siem Reap. It’s a city (although it feels like a town) where you run in to people you know and things happen. One morning as I left the dorm, Alissia and Florence - two volunteers - were heading to New York Bagels, a favourite spot of ours. I jumped in the tuk tuk with them, and when there we ran in to Demi and Lil - two more volunteers - and Orla - who I’d met in Malaysia. Afterwards we went our separate ways and I headed to a bookshop. About to head back to the hostel, I ran in to Sarah - another volunteer - who was about to visit a free art gallery attached to an NGO art school, so I went with her and saw some art. This kind of thing kept happening. I didn’t need plans, because things just happened - it reminded me of Rio weekends.

While in Siem Reap I also explored the National Angkor Museum, visited very sweet landmine sniffing rats at the Apopo non-profit museum, learned some Khmer language taught by Kim’s daughter, went for dinner with Kim’s family, was guided on a sunrise meditation by Sarah at a second Angkor Wat sunrise, visited the botanical gardens and attended a wedding party for Kim’s friends. The city started to feel like home. Not somewhere I was travelling and sight seeing, somewhere I was living and doing normal, every day things. 

I came in to Cambodia without many expectations, but it’s really blown me away. I feel more connected to this country that any of the others on this trip so far, and I’ve only just arrived. I’m excited to see what the rest of it has to offer.