Having just returned from Cambodia, I’m still trying to readjust to the current time and date. Who knew it could be so confusing? Probably everyone but me. While I was there, my phone, which I use as my watch, didn’t want to reset to current time. So in my head I was constantly trying to change the day (it was a day later), and the time of day (am vs. pm), +/- one hour. After a few days, I realized my math skills were sub par, or I was sleep deprived. Nonetheless, I had a magnificent time and can’t wait to tell you more. I have been asked repeatedly why I chose to visit Cambodia.

There are three main reasons.

But let me back track and tell you a little more about my travel list. I have around 40 places that I want to visit around the world. Obviously, because of time, work and financial constraints, I can’t do them all this year. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy trying. These locations are on my list for various reasons: Someone told me they loved it and I liked their reasons; I heard about it, researched it, and now want to go; There is something historic that I want to see or experience; Animals; They have a culture I know nothing about; I want to scuba dive there; And well, I just want to go.

Once I narrow down my next destinations, since I travel alone, I also look at safety and personal issues that might affect me during the travels. And then I also consider the weather for the time of my travel, on/off tourist season, etc. So I do put a lot of thought into each trip.

So back to Cambodia. The temples of Angkor Wat have long-held a fascination for me. These beautiful old structures are still a working Buddhist temple. It is the largest religious complex in the world, five times larger than the Vatican. Though it was originally constructed as a Hindu temple during the Khmer Empire, near the end of the 12^th century it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple. Because it is such a popular tourist destination, with over two million tourists a year, there is continued concern about site destruction and possible limitation of the number of tourists, especially as they restore some areas. SO, I wanted to see it before nature and humans make it difficult. I understand the irony of visiting someplace that they want to limit visitation. I did make sure to be respectful and careful in everything I did.

Two, I love animals. My heart is always captured by the unique species all over the world. In Southeast Asia, there is a rare and near extinct species of dolphins that live in the Mekong River called the Irrawaddy dolphin. I wanted to see these freshwater dolphins before they become extinct (more on this later).

And finally, my grandmother loved to travel. She saw so much of the world and would always tell me these magical stories of places she visited. I am sure this is where I got the travel bug. She shared adventures from Cuba, Iran, Turkey, and India. But one of the things she asked me to promise before she died was that I would visit Asia because she never made it there. So this trip was also in honor of her.

My travel route was from Dallas, to San Fran, to Guangzhou, and finally to Siem Reap. Going there was an elapsed time of about 27 hours. Fortunately I am a good traveler and that doesn’t bother usually me. But the leg from San Fran to China was 13 hours and this was the longest leg I have ever done so I was curious how I would handle it. Report card: A+, I slept the whole trip.

Still, when I arrived in Cambodia I was a little tired and rumpled.

And wouldn’t you know it, my luggage didn’t make it.

It was still somewhere in China. Now, I dressed casual and warm for the long journey, and now I was standing in 85-degree weather with 85% humidity. With a long sleeve sweatshirt and black pants. Though I had a tank top underneath, I know that Cambodia is a conservative culture and women are not supposed to expose their shoulders. So I kept my sweatshirt on.

I made it through customs with my fabulous e-Visa, filed for my missing luggage and headed for my hotel. I did stop en route to pick up a light cover up so I could at least get a little cooler and switch out my sweatshirt – which was living up to its name. The hotel I stayed at in Siem Reap was lovely. I enjoyed looking around the neighborhood and visiting some local shops. Everyone is so warm and welcoming.

Rather quickly, I learned a few things. Many Cambodians speak French as their second language – oops, um, bon jour. And second, there are not a lot of American tourists. In fact, I only met four the entire time -A great couple on my first night there, and a mom and daughter on my last night there. Also, they use the American dollar as their usual currency. I did know this before I left so I didn’t worry about exchange rates.

The first night I attended an Apsara dinner performance. As a dancer, I found this so fascinating. The extension of their hands and feet during the moves was simply amazing. I sat on the floor at a table with an American couple, a French businessman, a Greek couple, and four German tourists. Here I was on the other side of the world, enjoying people from all over the world. I am so lucky!

So that night, I washed my fabulous travel outfit, knowing full well it wouldn’t be dry the next morning. I wasn’t there to spend money on clothes, and I had faith my luggage would arrive. There is only one flight per day by the airline into Siem Reap, so I just had to wait 24 hours for the next possible delivery.

I hired a local tour guide to take me to the temples and teach me about their history. As a note of interest, tour guides are not just someone who knows about the area. To be called a tour guide, they need to attend classes for 6 months, pass all the exams, do a presentation in front of the Ministry of Tourism, and do some additional training about various sites. It is a job of honor to be a tour guide in Cambodia. They are often referred to by locals as teachers. The advantage to having a guide was he knew the areas where they weren’t as many tourists and gave detailed explanations to any questions. So I felt in good hands.

I started the day at Angkor Thom, seeing Ta Prohm (filming location for Lara Croft Tomb Raider), Banteay Kdei, Bayon and finally Angkor Wat. I walked, hiked and climbed for miles. Every view was beautiful, fantastic, and emotional. I should have spent a minimum of four days here, but there was so much of the country that I wanted to see. The history and carvings on the structures are indescribable. My pictures seem so bland in comparison. I understand why Angelina Jolie fell in love with this country. I hated history in high school – it was a boring collection of dates and treaties. But when I travel and visit places like this, history becomes alive. I relish the details and stories. I become emotional as I think about things that have happened and will never happen again. And so forth…I know, I am weird.

So 10 hours later I returned to the hotel to find…my luggage!!! Now it was just my backpack, and I did carry on the basics, but I was really happy to have new clothes. I mean, I was wearing the same clothes I started off traveling with on Sunday, and now it was Wednesday. And the next leg of my journey was to a remote island and I couldn’t imagine how I would get my luggage if it didn’t arrive that day.

Bright and early the next morning, I jumped in a car and headed to Kratie. This is about 335 km, and takes about 6 and a half hours. Fortunately my driver spoke good English and we could chat the whole time. This was a great way to learn more about the personal culture of the Khmer people. I learned about wedding traditions, politics, farming, and so many other things. Once I arrived in Kratie, I hopped on a wooden boat to travel to the island of Koh Trong, a rural fishing island with minimal electricity, no roads, and no cars. The hut I stayed in did have running water that was captured in rain barrels and heated by the sun. I took a bike around the island and met amazing locals. At one home I stopped by (they were serving lunch and invited me to join), the children and the grandmother had never seen an American. The sweet chidaun (grandmother) kept petting my face and arm and telling me I was beautiful. It made me cry. The little children hid behind their mom but when I started a game of peek-a-boo, they just laughed and finally came out, waving shyly at me. This is why I go on trips!

The next day, I did the most magical part of my vacation.

I went on a kayak journey to see the Irrawaddy dolphins. These are a rare and near extinct subspecies of freshwater dolphins. There are only about 80 left in the river, with the largest pod being about 20 in the area where I was. The species have rapidly declined because of fishing in the area. Though, the dolphins are not hunted, per se, they get caught in the fishing nets and the poor fishermen don’t want to cut and destroy their nets to save one dolphin. Other fisherman use explosives to quickly kill a large number of fish and the dolphins become innocent victims. So unlike the dolphins many people have seen in the ocean, these dolphins are afraid and wary of humans.

My kayak adventure began with a paddle across the Mekong River to the sand islands. This area is constantly changing because it is in the middle of the river and the flow of water changes the shores throughout the seasons. In some areas of the river, the water levels changes by as much as 40 feet during the rainy season. The only other person on my trip was the tour guide. This led to a very peaceful and beautiful journey.

As we continued to paddle, we got to the floating forest. Because it was the dry season, the roots of the trees are exposed and led to a beautiful eerie quality. After about 12 kilometers, we arrived at the area of the river where the dolphin pod lives. We quietly glided along and watched for any signs of these beautiful creatures. Unlike the bottlenose dolphin most people are used to seeing, these are a blunt nose, almost beluga whale-like shape, though they are more closely related to the orca whale.

Before long I saw the dorsal fin of one of these magical dolphins and by the end of several hours, I saw a mom and her baby, a large male and several other dolphins swimming around the river. One of the first things that happens before you see the dolphins is you hear them. As they reach the surface they exhale through their blow-hole and you could very clearly hear this in the kayak.  I never once took my camera out. I was there to enjoy the magic of the moment. And magical it was. My heart hurts to think that they will probably become extinct in my lifetime and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

In total, we probably kayaked about 15 kilometers. Did I mention Cambodia is probably not for someone who is not physically active? Paddling, walking, biking, hiking is more the style. During my stay, I only saw two slightly overweight natives. I returned to my hut and enjoyed the peace of the evening with no technology. The sky is so much more dramatic when there is no light contamination. Though I am glad I remembered to pack a flashlight so I could find my way around. Because I seem to be a magnet for mosquitos in Texas, I was a little concerned about being eaten alive by them in a tropical country with lots of water. So I tried taking B vitamins before and during my trip. Interestingly enough, I was never bothered once my bugs. I never even used my bug spray. Now I don’t know if this is because of the B vitamin or because I’m just not the right taste for bugs in Southeast Asia. Either way, I was very thankful not to be bitten.

This takes us about half way through my journey. Next week I will share my trip to the capital, the beach, and the things I learned during my time there. Thanks for reading!

Enjoy these photos of the flora and fauna and a floating village.

 

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