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Jackman Travels
How Cambodian tourism works:
We want to go to Siem Reap from Phnom Pehn so ask our hotel receptionist how to book tickets. She sends us next door to a travel agent, this getting a cut of whatever we spend. The travel agent sells us the ticket that gets him the most commission, we get the bus, we get met at Siem Reap by a tuktuk driver offering a good price, and find that his friend hops on board to sell us tuk tuk services to tour around the Temples of Angko over the next two days. Tuk tuk man gets his fee, his mate gets a cut. The hotel we fancied turns out to be expensive (genuinely - we checked) so tuk tuk man and friend take us to their mate's hotel and thus they get a cut. Tuk tuk man takes us around for two days and then, hearing that we need a boat ticket, he takes us to the travel agent where he'll get the most commission for bringing us in. We went elsewhere to buy a cheaper boat ticket including pickup from our hotel- but the pickup bus delivers all 20 of us not to the pier but rather to his mate's cafe where we're forced to wait for half an hour, the bus driver getting a cut of all we spend.
On the one hand, it's maddening- everyone is out for their cut of the tourist dollar. On the other hand, it's easy- everyone wants to help you to buy whatever ticket/food/hotel you need. The end result is somewhere between the two- you have to be careful not to be ripped off (going to a travel agent that gives money to our nice tuk tuk man is fine as long as they don't charge $6pp more than everywhere else as this one did) but also realise that if it makes life easier then it's probably worth a dollar. It can lead to real resentment- as in the case of the bus that took us to the cafe when we'd all had to get up at 5.30am. Most of the time, though, it's just a case of asking LOTS of questions- we knew the bus would stop somewhere for food, others didn't.
Anyway... What did we do in Siem Reap? What does anyone do? Go to the Temples of Angkor, that's what. A series of temple-cities from various centuries (11th to 14th-ish) which were each in turn the centre of the Khmer empire. Angkor Wat had over a million inhabitants at a time in
history when London had 50,000. Pretty big. And amazingly, the main Angkor Wat was not destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s in the way they destroyed and desecrated Buddhist temples elsewhere in the country. Rather, they saw this as such an icon of Cambodian nationhood that they not only left it intact but used an image of this intensly
religious site on their flag.
The various sites are laid out over many kilometres and you need to be driven around somehow. Our system was tuktuk. We went to Angkor Wat at 4.45pm on day one (buy a ticket for tomorrow then and get the rest of today free) supposedly to se the sunset but it was cloudy so we just explored a bit. It's stunning. And huge. Next day, we set off at 6am to catch the sunrise- still fairly cloudy but worth doing nonetheless.
The day was great- Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, the one with trees growing through it that they used in Tomb Raider... Each is different and impressive in its own way. And many of them are falling apart- it's striking that the things we were looking at today may no longer be standing if we ever return here. Some restoration work is in progress but much of it is beyond help- doing anything would have to involve rebuilding from scratch and that's hardly the point. The sites where nature has taken over (see tree root pic) are the most troubled.
The whole place feels deeply peaceful - even today, the temples are used by Buddhists for worship. Yes, there were lots and lots of tourists there, but somehow we didn't notice as the actual sites are so impressive.
Here too, though, the demand for tourist cash is intense. All around the Temples, we're haunted by cries of "you wan cold drink meester", "only one dollar", etc. In the worst example, a young girl tried to sell Andrew a soft drink, wanted to force a bangle on his wrist and, when he refused this, she informed him that not taking it would show he didn't love her, Cambodia or Cambodian children. Sigh.
Our tuk tuk driver, Sarang, was great, a really friendly man, amazed, he said, to have two tourists who were interested in chatting to him. It was dead interesting, though, chatting over breakfast ("I don't know if noodles are for you for breakfast..." he said nervously, expecting us to order bacon and eggs) as he spoke about the differences in seasons in Siem Reap. He is from the countryside but moves to SR for three months of the year, hiring the tuk tuk for $3 a day and hoping to pick up business. He doesn't see his wife and kids in that time, but returns home for the wet season to go back to normal life.
The actual town of Siem Reap is really touristy- it's got some decent bars and restaurants but they could be anywhere in the world. Not somewhere to spend a great deal of time. We did have a couple or great massages though! Our hotel was all right- no complaints for $15 a night.
Oh, and the money. Cambodia has it's own currency, the riel, but the majority of tourist transactions happen in US$. They only deal in US notes though so change under one dollar is given in local currency. And there's no fixed exchange rate so it's all a bit chaotic, and you
can't help thinking you're being at least a bit conned along the way. Moreover, it's just not a healthy way to run an economy- two currencies, one mainly for locals, one mainly for visitors but with both parties having to carry some of each currency at all times.
We want to go to Siem Reap from Phnom Pehn so ask our hotel receptionist how to book tickets. She sends us next door to a travel agent, this getting a cut of whatever we spend. The travel agent sells us the ticket that gets him the most commission, we get the bus, we get met at Siem Reap by a tuktuk driver offering a good price, and find that his friend hops on board to sell us tuk tuk services to tour around the Temples of Angko over the next two days. Tuk tuk man gets his fee, his mate gets a cut. The hotel we fancied turns out to be expensive (genuinely - we checked) so tuk tuk man and friend take us to their mate's hotel and thus they get a cut. Tuk tuk man takes us around for two days and then, hearing that we need a boat ticket, he takes us to the travel agent where he'll get the most commission for bringing us in. We went elsewhere to buy a cheaper boat ticket including pickup from our hotel- but the pickup bus delivers all 20 of us not to the pier but rather to his mate's cafe where we're forced to wait for half an hour, the bus driver getting a cut of all we spend.
On the one hand, it's maddening- everyone is out for their cut of the tourist dollar. On the other hand, it's easy- everyone wants to help you to buy whatever ticket/food/hotel you need. The end result is somewhere between the two- you have to be careful not to be ripped off (going to a travel agent that gives money to our nice tuk tuk man is fine as long as they don't charge $6pp more than everywhere else as this one did) but also realise that if it makes life easier then it's probably worth a dollar. It can lead to real resentment- as in the case of the bus that took us to the cafe when we'd all had to get up at 5.30am. Most of the time, though, it's just a case of asking LOTS of questions- we knew the bus would stop somewhere for food, others didn't.
Anyway... What did we do in Siem Reap? What does anyone do? Go to the Temples of Angkor, that's what. A series of temple-cities from various centuries (11th to 14th-ish) which were each in turn the centre of the Khmer empire. Angkor Wat had over a million inhabitants at a time in
history when London had 50,000. Pretty big. And amazingly, the main Angkor Wat was not destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s in the way they destroyed and desecrated Buddhist temples elsewhere in the country. Rather, they saw this as such an icon of Cambodian nationhood that they not only left it intact but used an image of this intensly
religious site on their flag.
The various sites are laid out over many kilometres and you need to be driven around somehow. Our system was tuktuk. We went to Angkor Wat at 4.45pm on day one (buy a ticket for tomorrow then and get the rest of today free) supposedly to se the sunset but it was cloudy so we just explored a bit. It's stunning. And huge. Next day, we set off at 6am to catch the sunrise- still fairly cloudy but worth doing nonetheless.
The day was great- Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, the one with trees growing through it that they used in Tomb Raider... Each is different and impressive in its own way. And many of them are falling apart- it's striking that the things we were looking at today may no longer be standing if we ever return here. Some restoration work is in progress but much of it is beyond help- doing anything would have to involve rebuilding from scratch and that's hardly the point. The sites where nature has taken over (see tree root pic) are the most troubled.
The whole place feels deeply peaceful - even today, the temples are used by Buddhists for worship. Yes, there were lots and lots of tourists there, but somehow we didn't notice as the actual sites are so impressive.
Here too, though, the demand for tourist cash is intense. All around the Temples, we're haunted by cries of "you wan cold drink meester", "only one dollar", etc. In the worst example, a young girl tried to sell Andrew a soft drink, wanted to force a bangle on his wrist and, when he refused this, she informed him that not taking it would show he didn't love her, Cambodia or Cambodian children. Sigh.
Our tuk tuk driver, Sarang, was great, a really friendly man, amazed, he said, to have two tourists who were interested in chatting to him. It was dead interesting, though, chatting over breakfast ("I don't know if noodles are for you for breakfast..." he said nervously, expecting us to order bacon and eggs) as he spoke about the differences in seasons in Siem Reap. He is from the countryside but moves to SR for three months of the year, hiring the tuk tuk for $3 a day and hoping to pick up business. He doesn't see his wife and kids in that time, but returns home for the wet season to go back to normal life.
The actual town of Siem Reap is really touristy- it's got some decent bars and restaurants but they could be anywhere in the world. Not somewhere to spend a great deal of time. We did have a couple or great massages though! Our hotel was all right- no complaints for $15 a night.
Oh, and the money. Cambodia has it's own currency, the riel, but the majority of tourist transactions happen in US$. They only deal in US notes though so change under one dollar is given in local currency. And there's no fixed exchange rate so it's all a bit chaotic, and you
can't help thinking you're being at least a bit conned along the way. Moreover, it's just not a healthy way to run an economy- two currencies, one mainly for locals, one mainly for visitors but with both parties having to carry some of each currency at all times.
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