The Wonders and Warmth of Siem Reap

Travel Story by Jason Gaskell

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap, Cambodia is unique. That I can say.

The city (more of a town really) is divided by the Siem Reap River, which eventually leads to Tonie Sap Lake – a lake that is populated by locals who have constructed a floating village complete with farms, schools, houses and restaurants.

I met a guide, Vannie, who took me to the floating village and the reality is even more fantastical than reading about it. I saw children rowing boats to school, a young girl holding a snake bigger than her for the tourists to see, a pig farm (yes – pigs on water!), and a whole cluster of houses complete with gardens floating in the centre of the vast lake. A fully functional village on a lake! Images of Kevin Costner in Waterworld come instantly to mind. It is a whole other world.

On the way back, Vannie started to tell me a little of the history of Siem Reap and the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime. He was telling me that his mother in law, who he lives with along with his wife in one small room, still has nightmares about the past and what happened. The past is very much still present in the hearts and minds of the people in Cambodia, especially those old enough to remember; but they go around with a smile on their faces – albeit sometimes with some sadness still lingering in their eyes.

Of course, we did the usual tourist things too like seeing the great temples at Angkor Wat and surrounding areas, the big draw card in Siem Reap, which are as impressive as you would hope. But that is so well written about that I would like to focus more on other aspects of Siem Reap – those things less talked about. The people.

You often heard it said that it is the people and not the place which lingers long in the memory – well, that is certainly a truism in my book.

After several days of travelling around with Vannie, we slowly became friends and I realised what a great sense of humour he had and what a good guy he was. We had lunch every day and talked more about his country and his plans. I learned that although Vannie was a motorcycle taxi driver during the day and night, in the mornings he attended university – studying business. He said, “I have to make money to take care of my family and pay for my studies. It is very hard.”

He also told me that when he was successful and if he had lots of money, he would like to help his people and build places in poverty stricken areas outside of Siem Reap to help the community. I saw some of those rural places and indeed, it did remind me somewhat of rural Africa the way they live. No toilets or running water – just the real basics – a shelter, a fire outside for cooking, and hand washing clothes in a bowl.

I had dinner with Vannie and his wife, Nara, and later he invited me to his home to meet his mother in-law. Although the townspeople have a higher standard of living than those in the countryside, I was still surprised by the conditions they were living in because I knew how hard he worked. His wife, also working in a nearby hotel, was also bringing in a salary but it evidently was still not enough. It was a ramshackle wooden building raised off the floor, presumably for flooding, with no modern amenities or technology other than an old television. But they seemed happy enough and gifts of chocolate brought BIG smiles.

It is only when you see how the locals live and talk to them that you really get to know about a place and realise why tipping and the consumption of tourists is so important to them. Vanny told me that his annual university fees were something in the region of four-hundred dollars, which to him, was a real stretch and a struggle to make the payments every quarter. So if you have a little to give, it really can go a long way.

FUTHER INFORMATION

If you plan to go to Siem Reap and need a reliable driver, please contact Vanny Pech on:

pechvanny@yahoo.co

Illustration by Bob Veon
(Bob Veon's Website)

Read more about the author of this story:
Jason Gaskell

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