Purple Orchids and Bashful Smiles

Turning into the corner of Taphul Road, our tuk-tuk takes us into a small street lined with guesthouses and residences. There's nothing much to see on this road, really, but on the morning of our arrival we were lucky to have encountered another wedding celebration in full swing, just a few houses across the road from The Villa.

Still on a cultural high that morning (we blame the airport for driving us crazy), we exclaimed in delight as we drove past the wedding tent, especially when we saw the newlyweds in their colorful Cambodian wedding garb. What added to our delight and amusement was the sight of the bride and groom dancing a lively traditional Cambodian dance, to the tune of what must only be traditional Cambodian music, with the guests sitting around them, clapping to the music's beat. To be honest though, we found it amusing because the whole scene seemed like a Bollywood movie being filmed right before our eyes (and we all know how *enthralling* those Bollywood movies could be).

As it was with our purple tuk-tuk, we instantly recognized The Villa from a distance because of the color purple that flooded the place. It was a homey little guesthouse fronted by plants outside its gate, and where everyone who entered was greeted by a quaint restaurant-cafe. Stuck to its purple walls were colorful gecko cut-outs, which blended well with the plants that lined those walls. Its rattan (or rattan-like) weave chairs, wooden tables, cloth placemats, thatch roof and small ceiling fans created a temptingly lazy atmosphere, just one notch below Hollywood's stereotyped depiction of cafes in third world countries. The only thing missing in the picture was muffled music being cranked out from an old music player.

The Villa's restaurant-cafe

Walking straight past the restaurant's tables, we found the step leading to the door that opens to the living room, reception area and first floor rooms littered with shoes and slippers. We weren't sure if it was a Cambodian thing, but we saw the wisdom of leaving our shoes outside to keep the house's floor as clean as possible. After all, a day of walking at the temples or anywhere in Siem Reap Town means accumulating dust on your footwear, and nobody really wants to have to clean dust if it can be avoided in the first place, right?

Our room at The Villa (don't mind the crap lying around)

The first two things we noticed about the place were purple orchids and bashful smiles served in abundance. Purple, obviously, is the color scheme of the place, but we didn't quite expect to find purple orchids in every corner of the house. Everything they gave us – our food, our wet hand towels before meals, our beds, our soap dish – were presented with purple orchids, which they buy every morning at the market. These were always served with bashful smiles from the staff, without fail.

We would soon befriend the staff despite their shyness, perhaps because they feel an affinity to Filipinos; in one of our awkward conversations with them (they struggled with their English), they told us that Filipino movies and soap operas were very popular in Siem Reap, although they could not remember the titles of these movies and TV series in Filipino (they were translated into the vernacular). Perhaps they also felt more comfortable with us than the other guests from other countries because it was easier for them to ask us to help them with their English.

Our favorite thing about The Villa, aside from its impressive service and gracious staff, is its food. Oh, the food! Vegetables were always fresh, and the food they served us were always tasty and scrumptious. We kid you not when we say everything we ordered there was great – very tasty and very filling indeed. Add that to the fact that food there was cheap (actually, everything was cheap), so there really was no reason for us not to love the place. If you are planning to visit Siem Reap and the Angkor Archaeological Temples, staying at The Villa is something we would definitely recommend.

Banana Pancake, with a purple orchid by the syrup bowl

Orchids galore: Asian Breakfast, wet towels and water all served with -- yes, you guessed it -- purple orchids.

Big Breaky: Aussie bacon, sausages, eggs, grilled tomatoes, wheat bread and butter

The package that we got at The Villa was their Three-day Temple Package, which cost us only US$110 per person on a twin-sharing basis. The package includes a dedicated tuk-tuk driver who will patiently drive you around and wait for you as you tour the temples (which takes pretty much the whole day); breakfast for three days; “Take Away Temple Packs” (food and drinks contained in an “esky,” or cooler) for your second and third days of temple-hopping; wine, cheese and olives on your first afternoon at the temples, to be consumed as you watch the sunset in one of the temples (or wherever you wish); and a choice between a hot-air balloon or elephant ride.

Not bad for US$110, right? If the package didn't include the tuk-tuk, on the average we would have spent around US$10-13 per day for the rent of a separate tuk-tuk. The hot air balloon and elephant ride would have cost US$15 if it were not included in the package.

So if you do find yourself in Cambodia someday, do drop Fiona and Anthony of The Villa a line, and tell them you're looking forward to seeing their purple orchids served with bashful smiles.

Siamese Defeated

Cambodia Fact File:

Country Name: Kingdom of Cambodia
Capital City: Phnom Penh
Government: Constitutional Monarchy
Important/Major Cities: Siem Reap (gateway to the temples of Angkor), Sihanoukville (port and beach town), Battambang, Kampong Cham
International Airports: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap
Language: Khmer, secondarily English and French
Ethnic Groups: Khmer (90-95%), ethnic-Chinese, Cham, ethnic-Vietnamese, several ‘hill tribes’ in the northeast
Religion: Theravada Buddhism (97%), Islam, Christianity, Animism
Population of Cambodia: 13.1 million (2001 estimate)
Land Area of Cambodia: 181,035 sq. km.
Land Area of Siem Reap: 10,299 sq. km.
Currency: Riel (US$1=~4100R). US dollars are as commonly used as riel

* * *

Thank goodness the Philippines and Cambodia are ASEAN member countries. While the passengers from non-ASEAN countries aboard our flight (or about 98 percent of the passengers) lined up to get their visas, we humble citizens of the Philippines were led straight to the immigration counter for the stamping of our passports.

The 3-month old Siem Reap International Airport is small yet charming and pristine, easily putting all the Philippines’ airports to shame. As a gateway to the provincial capital of Siem Reap Town, it offers a very enchanting welcome to its guests and gives a very a unique and local touch to what is otherwise a borderless, international, and cosmopolitan structure. They may be poorer than the Philippines, but their airport still does very well in welcoming and whetting their guests’ imaginations. Maybe it’s because the airport is brand-spankin’ new (it opened just last August 2006), but still, we believe this doesn’t give Philippine airports a very good excuse for looking so sloppy.

The Siem Reap International Airport's architecture touches on local culture

Buddha installation (made of wrought iron or some similar material) adorning the airport's ceiling

Clean and spacious, the airport features a number of real artifacts from the temples

The tuk-tuk ride to The Villa, our home in Siem Reap, took about 30 minutes from there, courtesy of our beloved tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Lim Hav. (The airport is 6 kilometers from the town center.) Early mornings in Siem Reap are cool, albeit dusty, because most of the town’s roads are only partially paved -- revealing the deep, rich red clay soil that would be as common a sight to us as the temples. Riding the open tuk-tuk during the duration of our trip meant dealing with the dust clouds head-on, which was probably the only thing we didn’t find so endearing about Cambodia.

Our purple tuk-tuk

The airport as gateway to the provincial capital is of course, rather deceiving, as we soon found out. Along the dusty road the scenery resembled that of rural areas in the Philippines, with little wooden stalls selling various knick-knacks, gasoline in soft drink bottles, and other such small items. Here and there were tents housing various celebrations, most probably weddings, because November is wedding month there, we were told.

Further on we entered what seemed like the tourist belt of the town, a great contrast to the rural offerings of the road behind us. The change in scenery was anything but slight. Suddenly there were more people on the road, most of them on bicycles (just like in China or Vietnam). On each side of the road hotels seemed to have sprouted one after another, each boasting grand – sometimes to the point of being gaudy – structures, akin to the designs of the more popular temples. If anything, these hotels are sure indications that tourism is the lifeblood of the city.

As we approached the town proper the neighborhood again turned into a rather rural setting, but this time with the big, swanky hotels side by side smaller guesthouses, souvenir shops, restaurants, markets, etc. It was here where life in Siem Reap Town was abuzz, and where the influences of varying cultures converged. (The town is actually a cluster of old pagoda villages later overlain with a French colonial-era center. Colonial and Chinese-style architecture can be found in the town’s Old French Quarter and Old Market.)

Aside from its architecture, Siem Reap is indeed a town of irony and contrast – of the old and new, the resplendent and shoddy all sitting side by side. It is a poor city rich in heritage, blessed with the gift of proximity to the old Khmer civilization’s temples; a poor city rich in heritage but blessed and kept alive mostly by what comes from outside – the aid it receives and the visitors it welcomes from countries the world over.

There is something sad and ironic in this picture, especially for a town whose name commemorates the defeat of invaders from outside.

The Adventure Begins with a Lot of Fumbling

31 Oct. 2006, 5.15 am,
Changi Airport, Singapore

After chillin’ at a friend’s place waiting for 4 am to arrive, it was actually funny how we found ourselves chasing after time to catch our 6 am flight to Cambodia. We arrived in Singapore hours before our check-in time and yet, there we were, unpredictably late. As we ran around the airport with zero hours of sleep from the previous night, it seemed like it was just the adrenaline rush we needed to jumpstart our journey.

Admittedly, we left our friend’s place a wee bit later than originally planned, but getting lost in Changi’s web of terminals wasn’t part of the plan either. We finally arrived at the right airport terminal at around 5.15 am, missing the check-in counter’s closing time only by a hairline.

The walk to the boarding gate was another matter. Did we mention that Changi Airport is a massive complex of terminals? To get to our gate we had to walk what seemed like miles and miles of walkalators; and halfway through to our designated gate the last call for our flight was already being made (yikes!), prompting us to make a silly dash for it. It was then 5.30 am.

We obviously made it there on time, in all our sleepless, unbathed, and rather famished glory:

The flight thankfully took off as scheduled, and we slept soundly throughout the one-and-a-half hour flight... well, at least Charlie did, even while the flight was experiencing turbulence. Unfortunately for Nins, she didn’t get much rest during the trip.

Boohoo.

Prologue to the Trip

Thank the movie “In the Mood for Love” – no, not the more popular “Tomb Raider” – for planting in Nins’ head the idea of visiting Cambodia; and the added thought that time is running out for us, what with climate change and all, to get close to Cambodia’s spiritual history and culture made the prospect even more appealing, the splendors of Lara Croft’s adventures notwithstanding.

For sure, Nins knew what she wanted to do and see when she broached the idea of flying to Cambodia. Ever the happy traveler, Charlie seized the opportunity to travel – just to travel, never mind where – and discovered Cambodia as serendipity waiting to happen.

There is much to love in Siem Reap – its proximity to the intricate and majestic temples, its warm and friendly people, its quaint and charming culture. It was a trip worth remembering and savoring, and one indeed worth sharing. Although some have asked us upon our return if, “Once you’ve seen one temple, you’ve seen them all,” the only reply they will ever get for this rather dismissive question is a smile. No amount of words can do justice to the experience of being at the temples. More than just saying we’ve been there, seen them and done that, we prefer to say that we’ve experienced them -- plus a whole lot more. (We, of course, do not discount the fact that appreciating the temples is a matter of taste and interest.)

Although the experience we boast of may be incomplete, it is one we are greatly enamored with and proud to have. Our stay in Cambodia would not have been the same without The Villa Siem Reap staff, whose graciousness, hospitality and warmth made our stay even more wonderful. We don’t know if all Cambodians are like them, but if they are, we must say Cambodians are a very lovely people.

To everyone reading this, we hope the chronicles of our trip to Cambodia will somehow invoke in you the same passions it did in us (but we definitely recommend first-hand experience!). We would have camwhored ourselves to death during the trip, but fortunately for whomever, the temples were much more beautiful than we were.

Starry-eyed tourists? Perhaps.

But definitely, Cambodia is love.

A Toast to Cambodia