Cambodia - Angkor Wat

November 16, 2017

Cambodia is a poor country with a rich heritage. The latter, of course, is what drew us here. The Khmer Empire spread over much of Southeast Asia and flourished for over 600 years until its fall in the 15^th Century. Many monumental Hindu temples (later consecrated to Buddhism) were built during this period, including those in the Angkor Archeological Park World Heritage Site. Seam Reap is our base for exploring these magnificent temples. We bought a 3-day pass, which fortunately did not have to be used on consecutive days so we could spread out our visits and avoid getting “templed out.”

We started by travelling by tuk tuk (2-wheeled carriage pulled behind a motorbike) with a pre-dawn visit to see the sunrise behind Angkor Wat, which dates to the 12^th century and is the most famous of the temples in the complex. Its towers even grace the Cambodia flag. I had made arrangements with a tuk tuk driver named Tom (they often take Western names to make it easier on tourists) to pick us up at our hotel at 4:40am (ugh) and sure enough he pulled up just as we walked out. The driver wasn’t as engaging as he was on WhatsApp, which I found strange, and indeed we later learned he wasn’t Tom at all. Instead his name was Lucky, which was fine because I knew that tuk tuk drivers often have their friends fill in for them if they have another job. So I just assumed Tom had sent Lucky in his place, although in hindsight Lucky had a kind of a blank look on his face anytime we mentioned Tom’s name. It wasn’t until the end of the day we came to realize that Lucky didn’t know Tom at all and just happened to drive up to our hotel at the right time. That turned out alright for us because Tom had gone to the wrong hotel and was a half hour late. So now we know how Lucky got his name.