The Two Cambodias

In a similar vein to the previous post, my second trip to Cambodia showed how different the same place can appear on two separate visits.

I originally went to Siem Reap before the beginning of my internship. I thought that my company would never pay to send me to their projects there. That is exactly what they did.

There were a few differences in the itinerary. First off, we traveled by van. This meant we had to pass through the infamous Cambodian border town of Poipet. Think of it as the Khmer Tijuana: a dirty border town rife with corruption. It is also where most blue-collar Thais go to gamble. As one frequent traveler put it “Poipet rhymes with toilet for a reason”. 

Other travelers’ stories of Poipet were so horrendous that I previously choose to pay a high air fare, rather than attempt to cross through Poipet on my own.

The stories did not disappoint. The Cambodian border police, however, did. We successfully argued our way out of paying visa the officials off to simply give us a Cambodian visa. Then, they discovered that I had no more visa pages in my passport. After a 15 minute argument and 500 Bhat ‘fine’, they finally agreed to stamp it on an endorsements page and let me in the country.

I later found that the government was even more depraved than I’d thought. Those in power rely on donations from other countries for the majority of governmental income.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip went much better. We rousted ourselves the next morning at 4:30 for a different perspective of Angkor Wat. I enjoyed watching as daylight broke across the temple.

We also got the chance to sample some of the real Cambodia. Our company took us out to the villages. We bounced across dirt roads to remote villages and met the locals. Previously, I had only seen the center of Siem Reap. The differential was amazing as I took in the countryside of Cambodia’s second poorest province.

When I arrived in Siem Reap the first time, I settled back in my remorque and decided that the city and it’s immediately surrounding vicinity were unlike anything else. My second trip made me check my premises. I’m not only talking about my visits to Cambodian villages. After spending weeks in rural Thailand, the town which once seemed so exotic looked downright western. Before, I never really questioned the fact that shop owners spoke some English. I took it for granted that the restaurants served western food and, above all, cheese. Now, Siem Reap looked more like a tourist trap, albeit still an enjoyable one.

Returning to the theme of perspective’s influence on travel, my most recent adventure in Cambodia shows the pivotal role one’s viewpoint plays in forming one’s opinions. I’d been to the same Cambodian city twice. Once, as a American tourist newly arrived from America; the second time, on a business trip for a Thai NGO. The buildings were the same. But, I saw two different places. A city or country may be just as you have read of, or seen. Yet, there is always more to its picture, painted by the experiences you’ve had -- or more importantly--those you have not.