See Cambodia beyond the tourist trail

The Herald Sun | September 13, 2014

Sunrise at Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap. Picture: Angela Saurine

 

OUR elephant stoops his head to accept a pineapple being offered by a lady with one leg and two missing teeth. 

The woman – no doubt a land mine victim - looks up at us and grins, stroking the animal’s wrinkly trunk with affection. 

An elephant at Angkor Thom temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Picture: Angela Saurine

Appetite temporarily satisfied, we continue on the path around the Bayon temple, bouncing from side to side as we go.

Open-mouthed children step out of a car and stare up at us, macaque monkeys scurry along the grass beside us and countless tourists stop to take our photo.

We pass a marquee where a film crew is hard at work and tuk-tuk drivers standing in a circle playing hacky sack as they wait for customers to finish their sightseeing.

We nearly run over one man standing on the road gazing at the Khmer temple in awe.

“Beep! Beep!” I call out to warn him.

He turns around in surprise at the size of the animal coming towards him and jumps out of the way quickly.

Turning a corner we come to a stop at a particularly pretty spot to admire the crumbling grey stone building, surrounded by a mossy, leaf-littered moat. 

Bayon temple at Angkor Thom, Siem Reap. Picture: Angela Saurine

We’d toured the temple the previous day, but it is great to return on the back of an elephant and see it from another angle.

Built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site is the most beautiful temple in the ancient city of Angkor Thom – one of three temple complexes near Cambodia’s fastest-growing city, Siem Reap.

All towers and smiling faces, the religious monument was built of grey sandstone - soft and good for carving – which was transported from quarries up to 50km away on wooden carts and bamboo rafts pulled by elephants along the river.

Each tower had one sacred room for a Buddha statue; looted by treasure hunters long ago.

It was rediscovered by French explorers in the 19th century – overgrown and covered in vines.

“I see this nearly every day but I’m still amazed at how they built it,” our guide Vuthy says in wonder. 

Tree roots growing over Ta Phrom temple, where Tomb Raider was filmed.

The next morning we are up before dawn to see the most famous, largest and best-preserved of the three temples – Angkor Wat.

Our plan is to see the temple at the best time of the day and beat the crowds and heat.

Unfortunately, everyone else seems to have the same idea, and tourists jostle for position to get the highly-sought sunrise photo.

While most temples were built to the east for good luck Angkor Wat was built as a funeral temple and thus faces the west.

It has five towers designed in the shape of closed lotus flowers and three levels representing heaven, the world and the underworld.

Four pools at the entrance represent the elements – fire, water, earth and wind – which were used to purify before continuing to the most sacred tower and to collect water during rainy season.

It took 37 years to build, between 1113 and 1150, and was originally a Hindu temple, converted to a Buddhist temple in the 16th century.

There are more than 1000 images around temple of deities and Apsara dancers. The sculptors who carved them couldn’t make a mistake because the stones were already in place.

Each of the temples has their own personality.

While the jungle vegetation was removed from the other temples, the fingers of tree roots still stretch down over the ruins of Ta Phrom, pulling the stone to the ground in many places. 

A young boy dances the Orphans and Disabled Arts Association in Siem Reap.

It is not hard to see why it was chosen as the location for the 2003 film Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie.

Jolie became so attached to Cambodia during her time there she adopted her first son Maddox from an orphanage there.

We are also privileged to visit an orphanage just down the road from Ta Phrom - the Orphans and Disabled Arts Association – which is supported by our tour company APT.

Home to 32 children, some who are HIV positive, the non-government organisation was founded by professional artist Leng On, who wanted to help children learn to draw and paint.

On and his father were separated from his mum and sister when he was six when the Khmer Rouge evacuated the city of Phnom Penh.

A few months later he saw his father killed in front of him during Pol Pot’s genocide, and didn’t see his mother or sister for 20 years. 

Artist Soun Soklong at Cambolac shop in Siem Reap.

He was raised by an aunt and uncle who heard he had survived and sent him to school and university.

When On decided to travel around Cambodia to see what had happened to his country he found homeless children sleeping in ditches and under trees.

The ODA provides food and shelter, while children are also taught English, computer skills and traditional dancing.

They enthusiastically perform a flirtatious dance for us. I find myself completely enamoured by one small boy who does not lose the smile from his face the whole time, bending on his knee to hand a flower to a young girl.

After the performance the children take our hands and show us around the orphanage, practising their English as they point out the dormitories, kitchen and computer room.

We later learn that orphan is a somewhat loose term in Cambodia. 

Children play in front of a buddha statue in Angkor Ban village.

Child protection laws and services in the country are weak and some of the children at the orphanage have been victims of neglect, as well as physical and sexual abuse.

Some were raised by grandparents who became too old or could no longer afford to look after them; others had parents who were addicted to drugs or rice wine.

While many orphanages show children the door once they turn 18, the ODA lets them stay as long as they can contribute through helping On and mentoring.

The organisation has even helped two students go on to university where one is studying civil engineering and the other computer science.

Back in the vibrant city of Siem Reap I discover more inspiring social enterprises.

Opposite the markets, the profits from arts and crafts shop Cambolac go towards the welfare of children.

A few stores down, Khmer Yeung sells natural stone jewellery crafted by women with HIV and wallets and jewellery cases made by polio and landmine victims.

The writer was a guest of APT.

GO2 SIEM REAP

Touring there: APT has a range of tours that include Siem Reap. It is offering a fly free deal when you book any of its Vietnam & Cambodia holidays of 12 days or more departing June to September or December 2014, including air taxes of up to $600. Offer is subject to availability and terms and conditions apply. Phone 1300 196 420, see aptouring.com.au or visit your local travel agent.