ruminations from this corner: September 2013

I'm glad I went to Siem Reap. I don't think anyone ever regretted touring Siem Reap. The place is packed with history and ancient engineering marvels, and if you don't care for those, there's Tonle Sap for nature lovers (although it doesn't come close to our very own Puerto Princesa).

The place feels like a provincial city in the Philippines except that:

It has a much much chicer airport (When you step into the airport from the plane, it feels like you're entering your hotel already. You can say it's cozy and resorty because it's not a massive structure. Also, I like that it's small, just single storey. No long treks required typical of any international airport. I hope the airports in our country can be as efficient and clean as Siem Reap's.)

.. and really really old temples. (Angkot Wat is of course the crowd drawer. I didn't know though that Angkor is some sort of a district and within/around it are SO many temples, some of which are built as early as 900 AD. I wonder what our ancestors have been up to around that time. Making intricate gold bracelets, perhaps, or boats. It's hard to imagine how Cambodia ended up being a poor country given its rich and glorious past. Well, there was Pol Pot, but he happened in the 1970s, at a time when Cambodia had been a poor country for years already. And even then (although the comparison is quite a stretch), Germany also had a Hitler, but it still is a great country. I will probably write about my fascination with Germany someday.)

Everywhere in Siem Reap, dollar is accepted for payment and prices are quoted in dollars. (I don't really know if this is symptomatic of the country's political and economic instability or simply a reflection of the fact that the city is filled to the brim with dollar-carrying tourists, which leads me to bullet #4)

Siem Reap has infinitely more tourists. (They have all types of tourists: French, Americans, Brits, Spaniards, all sorts of Asians, Latin Americans, backpackers, high-end travelers, families, couples, teens, retired. It's very different from the profile of our share of tourists. You know what I mean right? No? Google what former US Ambassador Harry Thomas said about 40% of our male tourists.)

There's no mall in Siem Reap. (There's a place called National Musuem Mall which is annexed to (whatelse) the museum. It looks like it used to be a functioning mall (a posh one by Siem Reap standards) with stores and kiosks but now it's empty with the stalls slapped with "for rent" signs. I guess the mall was built primarily for tourist but it didn't fly because tourist don't go to Cambodia to buy stuff. In Manila, a mall or a structure of a mall going totally abandoned seems unthinkable. Because if this was in Manila, the place would in no time be filled with dibidi and cellphone vendors ala Makati Cinema Square or Harrison Plaza.)

I'll stop here and tell you to go and see Siem Reap for yourself. It's not quite Thailand but it has its all its own charm. Enjoy!