Viet Nam Air
(photos:
Angkor Wat,
Stairway to Paradise)
This morning started with Ban taking us to the airport at 9 A.M. He
kept talking about the “liberation” at the end of the war. When asked
he said even the South Vietnamese call it that.
The new part of the airport is for international flights. From what I can
tell, the only new part is the façade. The routine in many overseas
airports is that you send the luggage you’re going to check through
x-ray then retrieve it. You schlep it to the check-in counter and get the
paperwork done. The next step is to pay the exit tax and go through
customs: not necessarily in that order. After finding out the exit tax was
now $12/person instead of $10, David counted out the appropriate
amount in dong and we squeaked by with 4,000 dong (35 cents) to
spare. Carry-on bags are x-rayed, passports are checked and you
move to a holding pen to await your flight. When the flight is called
your carry-on may be x-rayed again, your passport and/or boarding
pass checked, and you go to the gate to wait. There’s no such thing
as boarding children first. They make the announcement, but that’s
just a signal for everyone to mob the entrance to the gate. The plane
isn’t anywhere in sight, but there’s a bus. You drag your
carry-on bags onto the bus and are taken to the plane. Today
we had a surprise. We’d been flying airbuses, but this plane
was a two-engine I-don’t –know-what-brand. We wondered
if the pilot was the one Ban said dropped the last bombs on the
South. He’s now working for some airline. The take-off was kind of
a kick. We wobbled down the runway and the lift-off was like a
roller coaster ride. I wanted to look back down the runway for the
slingshot. The landing wasn’t much better.
Siem Reap
It's the rainy season and we flew low enough to see the Mekong
River in flood. The airport in Siem Reap was basic. Bags were
lifted onto a long conveyor made of rollers, no belt. Women
pushed luggage along by hand and later validated
baggage checks before they’d let you take your bag. We were
picked up in a vintage Toyota with right side steering. Some
cars have left hand drive but are driven on the right side of the road.
The road from the airport gave us a preview of things to come.
Some roads are paved but they’re bumpy and dusty. Our guide,
Savon, a woman, seems nice but is very hard to understand.
She told us that Siem Reap means “Siam Defeated.” Siem refers
to Siam during the time when the Khmer (Cambodian’s
original name) ran the Siamese out.
All meals are included at our hotel. Dessert was fruit. We were
unfamiliar with a “moonkot.” It looks like a purple plum with
very tough inedible skin. The inside is white, fleshy, citrusy
tasting segmented fruit much like an orange.
Prices are high for non-food items. A short elephant ride up a
mountain is $15 one way. We didn’t go. The Internet charge is
$5 per half hour. They tell you up front that the telecommunication
services are unreliable. If you get dumped, you pay anyway. If
you’re online for 31 minutes it costs $10. I really get the feeling
they’re taking advantage of tourists. Foreign investors are pouring
money into development but it seems to be for hotels and they're
anticipating a windfall. It’s the first time on the trip we feel singled
out in this way. In Viet Nam we knew we were paying more for
water on the street than a native, but when our guide bought
us a bottle we realized the difference was minor.
They don’t care what currency you use but prefer U.S. dollars.
They have no coins, so everything is $1 or more. There’s no
reason to change U.S. dollars into Riels. David went to a bank
to cash a Traveler’s Check and was shocked to get U.S.
money in return minus a fee.
The New Cambodia
The government is still shaky. Although King Sihanouk is in power,
it’s the prime minister and Parliament who are in charge. When
Sihanouk dies his sons aren’t eligible for the throne because their
mother isn’t royalty. Their cousins will inherit the throne. The prime
minister is very popular, but Sihanouk isn’t at all. They say
the world likes him; Cambodians don’t. They see him as a leader
who deserted his people and left them to the Khmer Rouge. The
country isn’t strong economically and doesn’t produce enough rice
to feed itself. The blame is being placed on an ancient
king who built temples instead of maintaining the irrigation system.
They’re not as security conscious as Viet Nam where passports
were taken when we checked into our hotel. then returned after the
police checked them against a list. Here we got our
passports right back.
Although it seems cleaner than Viet Nam, this is really in the sticks.
The jungle is just around the bend. The people are darker skinned
and use Sanskrit writing. India has been a major trader and settler
here and their influence is felt in culture and religion.
Their mythos is filled with tales of Ramayana, Apsarases, and Garudas.
My eyes just glaze over at the list of multi-syllabic deities and kings.
Angkor Wat
Angkor is the name of the city and Wat means temple. Between the
6th and 15th centuries Cambodia enjoyed a long period of power.
There was a burst of temple construction with Angkor Wat built in
the mid-12th century. Three moats and four walls surround it. It
was originally a blend of Hindu and Buddhist, but, as kings
changed, it alternated sects. Each king also felt a need to move
the capital, so Angkor Wat fell into disuse. Buddhist monks moved
in and are the only reason so much of it is standing today.
The remains are as it appears on the Travel Channel: a massive
reddish sandstone tructure well beyond its prime. Carvings are
detailed and intricate. A marvelous bas-relief follows the entire
perimeter of the first level. The third level symbolizes
heaven. It’s reachable by mounting an amazing flight of steps
steeper and less defined than any Mayan temple I’ve climbed.
We managed the reach the top but thought we’d have to spend
eternity in their "heaven." When looking down from the top the
steps aren’t visible. It’s like a ladder. Fortunately we were able
to scoot down by clinging to a railing and skittering backwards.
The railing was put in after a Japanese tourist fell.
We’ve unpacked our still wet but clean laundry and it’s drying
nicely. David just informed me that the shower has no hot water,
but not to worry. The cold water isn’t very cold. Neither is the
air-conditioning. Sometimes you have to use a laptop
computer on your lap. Our hotel room has one plug and it’s not
at the desk. Although the hotel is pretty average, the food is good.
The hotel is clean and the lobby quite nice with a lovely curved
carved wood stairway. Those stairs are used a lot. Even
though there are three floors there’s no elevator.
Toby
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