SIEM REAP - a tale of horror, extreme happiness, and some pain

I had my first two official vacations in Cambodia this past week/weekend. First vacation took place in the provincial town of Kampot which is in southern Cambodia and only about 2 hours from my village. Vacation number two was way up North in Siem Reap which holds the 8th wonder of the world: Angkor Wat. And guess what? I didn't take a single photo while I was wandering the 8th wonder of the world.

I did, however, take photos while in Kampot town. The highlight of this trip was the relaxing sunset stroll (can you stroll in a boat?) up and down Kampong Bay River which runs through the middle of the town. I plan on taking many trips to Kampot town because of it's proximity to my home and because it's really awesome/beautiful/calm. There are many riverside bungalows overrun by expats drinking, eating, and swimming in sheer bliss that I myself would like to occupy.

the lovely river walk in Kampot town




fishing boats heading up the river




a mountainous gradation




I spy a birdie


Vacation number two did not get any photos for many reasons.

Reason #1: I wanted to spare all of my fellow PCV friends the embarrassment of me and my giant camera looking like an extreme tourist.
Reason #2: There are far too many people in Siem Reap. I was worried about theft.
Reason #3: I ran my first half marathon at Angkor Wat and my camera is far too large to lug around while running 21 kilometers. Can you blame me?
Reason #4: I plan on bringing my mama to Siem Reap in which case I don't give a damn if I look like a tourist.

Siem Reap is unlike any place I've seen in Cambodia so far. To be completely honest, it's a tourist trap. And actually, a lot of Khmer people don't even go to Siem Reap because of this. It's a city catered to tourists with more western restaurants, spas, and tacky souvenirs than I thought possible in such a small country. But it's also absolutely beautiful. It's clean, bustling, and filled with beautiful old French Colonial architecture.

My first day was spent indulging and gorging myself on the immediate access to delicious western food. Have you ever eaten mashed pumpkins? Akin to mashed potatoes only SO MUCH BETTER. Those were consumed at a vegetarian restaurant called Singing Tree Cafe. We made our server giggle because we ordered our meal in Khmer. This was probably one of my favorite things to do while in Siem Reap; order my food or drinks in Khmer. Most of the Khmer people that work there speak English because of the massive amounts of tourists that come through. They are definitely not used to barangs speaking Khmer with them. And it impresses a lot of people.

Day two in SR was spent indulging and gorging myself on the immediate access to delicious western food. Yes, similar to that of day one. It was also a day of recovery from the night before and preparation for my first half marathon the next day. Oh yeah, did I mention that I signed up to do my first half marathon ever at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap? I know...pretty cool, huh?

Since I am a responsible adult and kinda a little bit serious about running races, I decided to stay away from the party scene. Instead, I spent my night gallivanting around with my friend Arnoldo. He is truly an amazing spirit. He brings out the dancer in me. We were both running the half marathon at 6:30AM the next day so we decided to have our own kind of fun. This entailed creating what I like to call "visual spectacle" but could also be considered flash mobbing or just causing a scene. We walked down the middle of Pub Street, which is the main tourist crawl, and sporadically busted into dance. We danced to live bands playing in the open air restaurants as well as to the big-bass American pop music being blasted from other restaurants.

There was something in the air that night, the stars so bright - Arnoldo. This photo is from our Thanksgiving feast the previous weekend



Unbelievably (or maybe obviously...?), our dancing caused tourists to stop in their tracks. The tourists created large crowds around us and watched as we improvised our way around with the music. People took photos and videos of us with their iPhones. Old women from Germany danced with us. Other PCVs randomly joined in the spectacle as they walked past us. People cheered and clapped for us once we were too tired and sweaty to dance anymore.

This was the most fun I have had since I've been in Cambodia. I cannot wait to be reunited with Arnoldo to create more spectacles with him.

Our dancing may not have been the best thing to do the day before running a half marathon but it was very worth it. At 5AM the next day, we piled into a tuk-tuk in the darkness and rode to Angkor Wat for an amazing race. None of us felt prepared/well trained to do a half marathon but regardless of this fact, we were ecstatic.

The first half of the race for me was wonderful; I paced myself very well and felt powerful. About 7,000 people from 72 different countries were participating in the race so I was never alone which helped me keep going. At times, I imagined I was running through the woods in Minnesota only the trees were a little more exotic and a lot taller. We passed by villages where we were cheered on by long lines of children offering high-fives and wishing us good luck. Those kids were one of my biggest energy sources throughout the race.

It wasn't until after the 12k mark that I started to feel....crummy. I'm used to my knees being kind of an issue on long runs but never my feet. And my left foot was NOT HAPPY with me. The pain came on suddenly and was so excruciating that I went against my goal of running the entire time. I had to stop and walk. It took me a while to really let go and just walk. I was very determined to stick with my goal but the pain was just too much.

I walked on and off for probably about 5 minutes when all of a sudden an angel ran past me. This French angel woman ran along side me and told me to keep going. I just said "okay" and shuffled my feet into a slog and did my best to keep up with her. My angel's name is Jocelyn, she currently lives in Singapore, and works at a microchip manufacturing company. I told her my foot hurt really bad but she told me to take in the energy and beauty of Angkor Wat. And by simply having her to talk to for a short period of time, I was able to take my mind off of the pain. She eventually ran ahead of me but with her support and my determination to have mind over matter regarding the pain, I kept on trucking.

With about 2k to go (the longest 2k of my life) I ran past elephants and through an amazingly old and corroding temple. And with great relief, Angkor Wat proper reappeared and I finished my race.

When I actually think about it, I did really well for how much I trained. The most I ever ran while training was probably 12k-14k. And this fact only makes me want to get serious and train for real for the next half marathon happening in Sihanoukville in March 2013. We shall see. As I've said before, it's difficult to run in Cambodia...because it's kinda hot.

Oh and I actually did take one photo during vacation number two. I lied when I said I didn't take a single photo.

I took this photo:

7 HOUR BUS RIDE; AIN'T NO THANG.


This photo was taken on my bus ride home from vacation number two. It's not even a good photo (actually, I think it's pretty cool) but it exists so I'm sharing it with you.


Now I'm back home in Tramkok, back to the grind...

Life is pretty sweet.