By Danilo P. Padua
The flight to Siem Reap is only less than three hours. Siem Reap of course is the 3rd largest city in Cambodia whose capital is Phnom Penh. It is the only place where our own Cebu Pacific Air lands-a direct flight- in that country.
While Baguio is an important tourist destination locally, it can not compare with Siem Reap which was named recently by tourists as one of the top five cities in the world to visit. That is why one can see hordes of tourists from various parts of the world roaming around the city even when it is very hot. It was a scorching 37 degrees Celsius when we were there middle of this month.
Why in the world is the city that attractive? For one, it is old but it is new! It had been the seat of the Khmer empire that dominated much of Southeast Asia more than 8 centuries ago. It is where the grandeur of Khmer cultural past is prominently displayed.
The international airport terminal in Siem Reap is fairly new. Its facelifting is ongoing all over. It’s not that big. The terminal is unmistakably Cambodian in design with its pagoda-inspired structure. As you enter the arrival area, you are immediately enticed by a replica of Angkor Wat, encased in glass. One can not resist to take a souvenir photo right there and then.
What is happening in the immigration clearing area is easily noticed. There were long lines of arrivals in all immigration booths when two late arriving passengers-obviously known to the roaming immigration officer-were allowed to enter past the immigration booths. The officer got their travel credentials, gave them to the one in the booth who dutifully and immediately processed them ahead of all those in line, amidst the quizzical looks of first timers in that country, like me! It was so blatant, it had given me a not so good first impression of the country.
I have not seen that happening in our local airports in all my days of travel. Or, maybe I wasn’t around when it happened?
The wide airport road is very noticeable. It has three middle lanes for cars and two lanes each on both sides for motorcycles, bicycles and the ubiquitous tuk-tuks, their version of a tricycle. The middle lanes were hemmed in by 1.5 meter wide, 10cm high concrete barrier where profusely-blooming banaba trees are neatly spaced at the center. So beautiful to behold. On both sides of the wide road are rows of newly constructed hotels whose names are mostly carrying the word Apsara or Angkor. We stayed in one of them.
In between the hotels are restaurants and other business establishments. The hotels and restaurants, I gathered, are funded by foreign direct investments, mainly from China and Korea.
Siem Reap is a very good example of a cosmopolitan area, a city without borders in a sense. One can easily exchange almost all kinds of currencies in the world. You can pay in pesos when buying in the city center but they first exchange it in the nearby money exchange shop. It’s cheaper though to change peso into dollar in the Philippines.
The US dollar and riel, the Cambodian currency, are actually the usual legal tenders there. You pay in dollar, you get your change in dollars too.
The city has a big night market, larger than the area of the entire Baguio city market. It has art center and souvenir portion, pub area, restaurants and food section, has also clothing and jewelry part, a whole street devoted mostly to open massage parlors and a lot more. Many actually also operate during the daytime. Shop owners and attendants can dish out passable English so communication is not much of a problem.
The old tradition of haggling is very much alive in Siem Reap. Your art of haggling will be severely tested there. As you pass by stores, attendants will immediately engage you to talk. Once you start asking the price of anything, they will spring to animated sales pitch. They will not take no for an answer. If you say, “I will come back”, they will shot back, “you buy now, I will guarantee you the price”. Be advised that when you buy items, especially in their old market, the price initially quoted is in most cases, about double the actual price of the item.
As you turn to look for something you will probably bump into a person with some limbs missing, one of the many victims of bomb explosions in that country. It is a stark reality where man’s ingenuity and lack of concern for others result in destruction.
Try to engage some young storekeepers/attendants in conversation. When they come to know that you are from the Philippines, they will say “you look like a Cambodian.” Then they hasten to add, “I am watching TV series (Pinoy telenovelas) from the Philippines, dubbed in Kmer”. Khmer could refer to an individual Cambodian or to their language. Khmers, at least those who are educated or economically more stable, treat Filipinos with fondness. One reason is due to the presence of about 10,000 Filipinos working in Cambodia mostly as managers, supervisors or highly skilled craftsmen. According to some Pinoys I talked to, they receive monthly salaries that an ordinary Khmer will earn in one year.
Siem Reap is home to some important Khmer museums, has the Cambodia cultural village where Khmer culture presentations are a daily fare. It is definitely famous due to Angkor Wat, a temple built in 35 years by approximately 100,000 people. It is a world heritage site. Angkor Wat is just 15 minutes away from the city center
To reach the temple, you can ride a tuk-tuk, for 15-20 dollars a day. There are no taxis there. The tuk-tuk is the main mode of transportation in Cambodia. It is an enlarged version of our tricycle. Instead of a sidecar, there is a carriage for four people, attached at the back of a motorcycle. In effect, it has four wheels.
Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat and is sitting on an area of 195 hectares. It is now tagged as one of the 7 new man-made wonders in the world. It is the most famous of the more than 1,000 temples in the whole of Cambodia. Just gawking at it from a short distance is already an experience. Entering its premises and climbing up to the highest level possible is like being transported in a time machine. Amazing falls pitifully short as a description. The temple is a grand display of an advanced, ancient culture. The temple was built using large, carefully-shaped sandstones and lava stones collected about 25 km away. How they were transported and raised to a height of more than 50 meters without the aid of a pulling machine is a wonder in itself. Ancient, meticulous engravings in many of the temple’s walls are clearly visible.
I was fortunate to have visited and climbed Angkor Wat. The importance of Angkor Wat is immortalized in the Cambodian flag. The grandeur of Siem Reap is the grandeur of Cambodia.**
