As part of our three-week honeymoon through southeast Asia, we spent three full days in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We toured Angkor Wat, visited a school sponsored by the Ponheary Ly Foundation and went out to the Floating Village on Tonle Sap.

First day, Siem Reap

We take an 8 a.m. Bangkok Air flight from Bangkok, arriving at Siem Reap around 9:30. We are amazed at how new the Siem Reap airport is, but it could use some signage, as there is confusion as to which line to stand in first when you go through immigration. We walk out and our driver from Bopha Angkor is waiting for us.

On the short drive to Bopha Angkor, we pass a bunch of brand-new hotels that have been built for the city’s increasing tourist trade. The luxury stands in markedly contrast to what we’re seeing on the street, which are lots of people on motorbikes, regular bikes, tuk tuks, etc. You can instantly tell that cars are a luxury here; even though the new hotels are impressive, you know that you have entered the Third World. At the same time, we are happy to see the green space in Siem Reap proper – the park outside Raffles, the trees along the river, etc. A nice change after Bangkok.

We arrive at Bopha and settle into our room. Dara and Ponheary tour in four-hour segments to beat the heat of the day (8 a.m. to noon, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.), so we don’t have anywhere to go for a while. We have an upstairs room right by the pool, with its own deck. The room itself is spacious, with a nice bed that has mosquito netting and a sitting area. The bathrooms are a little Spartan –no luxury here, but overall we are happy with our accommodation. We go to the hotel’s restaurant for lunch and are very happy with the quality of the food.

Dara picks us up at 3, and we head out to Angkor Wat complex. I am pleased to see that the place not only has the Western tourists that you’d expect, but many Cambodians as well. Dara tells us that the people of Siam Reap treat the Angkor Wat complex as a park, and frequently come out in the afternoon for picnics, family gatherings, rest and solitude, etc. Because we’re there just as the rainy season is ending, some of the active temples at the complex are having services, so we see many monks as well. There’s something very cool about seeing the monks, with their bright orange robes, up against the ruins!

Dara tells us that to avoid the crowds, we’re going to start off with Angkor Thom, which most folks see in the morning (conversely, the next day we will visit Angkor Wat in the morning). This is the temple that has all of the faces on it. On the way there, we pass by the area where people feed all of the wild monkeys. It’s tempting (and lots of Cambodian children are there, selling bananas to tourists), but we heed the advice that our travel dr gave us before the trip and simply snap photos.

It can be tough to keep all of the temples straight (there are more than 300 in the whole Angkor Wat complex), but I’ll do my best. Simplistically, Angkor Thom is the one with all of the faces, and it’s quite large, encompassing the Bayon, the Terrace of the Elephants and many others. We tour Bayon and go through a couple more (I’ve forgotten specifics, of course). Dara likes photography, so he helps my husband get the best shots.

It is deathly humid so I am not sad when it is time to leave. How humid is it, you may ask? So humid that the acrylic nails that I put on for my wedding are starting to melt!

After a shower, we venture down to Pub Street and are a little amazed by the carnival atmosphere going on – definitely backpacker central. If you can’t beat em, join ‘em, we say, and we have a slightly tipsy dinner at Dead Fish Tower. (Food was only ok – I don’t necessarily recommend this place). We decide to get a foot massage after dinner and are less than impressed – while the simple massages off the street in Bangkok were nicely done, here the girls use basic soap and little technique. We decide to hold off on foot massages until we’re back in Thailand. Obviously, we’re exahusted after such a long day.

Second day, Siem Reap

Our breakfast at Bopha Angkor gives us a choice of Khmer, western or Asian. After trying them all, I would recommend the Khmer, which is a sunny-side-up egg atop of fried rice. Yummy. Ponheary is right on time and we set off for Angkor Wat.

It’s hard to find the words to describe Angkor Wat; it’s impossible to do the place justice. Let’s just say that you know when you are there that you are at one of the man-made wonders of the world. The carvings are so intricate; the scope so immense. Not to mention the sense of history that pervades the place, from the 9th century carvings to the near-recent bullet holes where Khmer Rouge fought the Vietnamese.

Ponheary is a thorough and knowledgeable guide, although she’s not as on-the-surface perky or entertaining as Tong. (Her sense of humor and smiles emerge the next day, when we go with her to visit the school that she works with). I preferred her to Dara, although Don missed having Dara’s photographic eye.

It takes us the entire morning session to go through Angkor Wat. By noon, we are dying from the heat and I see the wisdom of always booking a hotel with a pool when traveling to Asia. Our midday break is refreshing, and I actually have a chance to start reading some of the fiction I brought along. A friend recommended Bangkok 8 by John Burdett, and I wish I would have finished it before I went to Bangkok – immensely entertaining! Definitely put it on your reading list if you are going there. I also take advantage of the Thai massage that is included in our room rate. While it’s not as good as the one we received in Bangkok, it is delivered in a cool boat-shaped outdoor space not far from the pool.

We go back out at 3 p.m. I think we may have seen another temple before this (the smaller ones blend together in my memory) but the main agenda item is Ta Prohm, more famously known as the “jungle temple.” This is the one where huge banyan trees are engulfing the building and crushing the walls with their roots. Don is excited, as he’s seen countless pictures and can’t wait to see it for himself. And, well, I’ve seen Tomb Raider so I’m looking forward to it too.

On the way in, we hear some musicians playing some haunting music. Ponheary tells us that we’ll see them periodically around the complex; they are victims of landmines. Once we get to the temple, it’s packed with tour groups. There’s a lot of maneuvering to get the same shots, although no one is obnoxious about it. We easily spend a couple hours here, marveling at the trees.

Third day, Siem Reap.

While I’ve loved the temples, I’m excited that we’re doing something different today. Ponheary has told us that Lori Carlson, who manages the Ponheary Lys Foundation, will be visiting the school with us, so I’m also interested in talking with her.

Ponheary is all smiles when she pulls up. I can tell that for her, guiding is her job, but the work that she does with the schools is her passion. We meet Lori in the van. (I have to say, after days of just being with my husband, it’s kinda fun to have another American to talk to. Bad wife!) She’s taken about six months off from her job to be in southeast Asia and work with the Foundation (we had given some money before we came, so I suppose I was kinda interviewing to see where it all went). Her impressions of Cambodia, based on numerous visits, were extremely interesting.

Driving out in through the countryside was fascinating. We see men on bikes, toting huge crates filled with live baby pigs. We pass by huts that are practically open to the road, where kids are playing in the dirt. I think this is when it really sinks in for both my husband that Cambodia is truly in a different sphere economically than Thailand (he had been a little overly focused on Angkor Wat photography).

We had given Ponheary $40 US to buy noodles for the kids’ breakfast. But when we pull up, it turns out that the new principal had already cooked them breakfast. So we drop off Lori and head over to Banteay Srei. I’m a little disappointed that we’re going to another temple, but Banteay is really beautiful – reddish in color, and full of intricate carvings. We end up spending more time here than I think.

When we’re done, it’s still too early for lunch, so Ponheary takes us to the Land Mine Museum. I wouldn’t characterize this as a “must do,” as it really seems like the pet project of one man, but it did have some information about Pol Pot. As we’re looking at the exhibits, I ask Ponheary about her experiences with the Khmer Rouge as she was about 13 when they came to power. Dara had already told us that their father, a teacher, had been killed, but I’m a little unprepared for how truly horrible her story is. She and her siblings survived, mainly because villagers who had been friends with her father would leave food for the family at night (she said that Dara would “crawl on all fours, like a cat” to get the food). As other families were dying, the Khmer Rouge asked her mother why her own children were still alive. When she refused to answer, she was horribly beaten (she is still alive today). And then she tells me the worst part of the story: when the family did have access to food, she and her sister ended up overfeeding their youngest sibling – a baby girl – too much flat rice and the baby ended up dying. “I murdered my sister,” Ponheary said, in a very matter-a-fact tone.

I’m a journalist, so I’ve heard horrible and tragic stories on the job. But Ponheary’s story is one of the worst I’ve heard. Lori later told me that most Cambodians don’t like to talk about the time under the Khmer Rouge. As part of their Buddhist beliefs, they feel that those who committed the atrocities will have to pay for their actions through karma, and they eschew war crime prosecution (indeed, it’s the UN who recently ordered the arrest of the top Khmer officials). Ponheary and Dara are different, Lori said – they understand that it’s important to talk about it so it doesn’t happen again. In any case, I was humbled that Ponheary chose to talk about her experiences. I’m sure no matter how many times she tells it, it is still difficult.

It’s lunchtime so we head back to the school to visit the children and hand out the noodle packets. Our $40 buys two noodle packets – essential, Lori says, because people realized that when the children only received one packet, they would bring it home to their families instead of eating it. Handing out the noodle packets to the happy kids, and then hanging out and playing with them after they ate lunch, was the best experience of the trip. My husband really got into it, and seeing this side of him brought tears to my eyes.

Lori and Ponheary showed me around the school and talked about the improvements that have been made. The kids go only for a half-day, because their families need them at home to work. Incentives such as bicycles, uniforms and extra noodle packets are important, as it shows the family that there are tangible benefits to their children attending.

After we return from the school, we take our lunch break at the Grand Café on pub street, and really enjoy the Franco-Cambodian food here. It’s starting to rain – a nice change from the heat, although little do we know that much of our trip from here on out will be rather soggy, due to a monsoon in Vietnam. Despite the rain, we decide to head out to the Floating Village on Tonle Sap lake, about 45 minutes out of town. Here again, as soon as we leave the tourist area of Siem Reap, the poverty of Cambodia is stark, and Ponheary points out the squatters who live along the riverbanks.

We get into a boat and head out. The Floating Village is just that – houses that float so fishermen and others who live off of the lake can move with the seasons. Of course, tourism is also a factor: once we reach the middle of the lake, I watch as a small boat approaches. It’s a woman and her son, selling soda and beer to tourists. On the way back, we stop at a fish farm. It’s a bit of a tourist trap, but it’s raining pretty hard now, so it’s not a bad stop. Overall, a worthwhile visit.

That night, however, I awake with a sharp pain in my abdomen. It seems to go away in the morning and I decide not to bother Don about it until I see how I feel the next day when we fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok and then onward to Chiang Mai and the north country.

Siem Reap Summary: We are simultaneously enchanted, awed, overwhelmed, moved, and saddened by our time in Cambodia. The country really hits you on so many levels, from the abject poverty to the sublime beauty to the horrifying history. Our trip would have been a tad soulless without our stop here.

Wait, there’s more! Read about the Thailand portion of our trip here.