After more than a decade, I find myself back in Cambodia for a first glance of its capital, Phnom Penh. I traveled to Siem Reap with my dad before then and didn't really have any desire to visit the capital. That time, the country was just 'freed' from the Khmer Rouge's shackles but the stories of robberies, pick pockets and disorder in the capital were rampant. Siem Reap's Angkor Wat was the country's only saving grace. Fast forward to 2014. My travel path is taking me back to Indochina and the roads less discovered, thus Phnom Penh. Typically, before I get to a strange city, I try to read up a bit but this time I decided to be surprised. Just go with the flow. This trip being more for work rather than leisure, my mindset was framed differently. Hovering at 10,000 feet, one notices that Phnom Penh is very, very flat with the three rivers, Tonle Sap, Bassac and the mighty Mekong, forming a Y along the banks of the capital. The 3 rivers, especially Mekong, play a major role in shaping the city's current economic activities and definitely will play major roles in its future.
Prior to arrival, I had to consult on how to obtain a visa. Much to my pleasant surprise, one can apply for a tourist visa electronically. My e-visa came via email in 24 hours! Contrast to a decade ago when upon landing in Siem Reap, visa on arrival meant lining up infront of 5 dour- looking immigration officers one checking your visa form, then passed on to the next table for checking your photo, then on to the next until the last person stamps a page on your passport! Today, one arrives at designated e-visa counters, your file checked online by a shy but friendly immigration officer, finger-printed and off you go. I was met at the airport by the driver for the boutique hotel I chose based on +Trip Advisor recommendation - the White Mansion, a 30-room hotel situated in a quiet neighborhood in downtown Phnom Penh. It's a well-managed hotel and the staff are always eager (sometimes too eager) to please. One key learning, Cambodians have the tendency to want to please and confirm things to be true but actually a lot can get lost in translation. ALWAYS triple check. I learned this the hard way. I've asked the hotel reception to confirm the address for my upcoming meeting. Inspite of apparently calling, I was sent to a different location. Fortunately, Cambodians are also flexible. So things worked out in the end.
There is a palpable excitement in the city. A sense of hope for good things to come. Construction for high rise condominiums and office buildings are evident. Their very first high-end mall and organized shopping center, AEON Mall just opened. As in any newly-emerging market, the contrast between the old and the new is still very much evident. People still shop daily in open air markets with total disregard for food safety. Motorbikes, bicycles, tuk tuks (the local mode of transport), delivery trucks, luxury cars, on-call taxis snaking around the capital. There's not a lot of pedestrian lanes so crossing the street can be hazardous to ones health!
Cambodians have developed a love for big, luxury cars. How? Beats me. There seems to be a widespread demand in a nation with a per capita income of a little over $1,000. The bigger the ride, the better.
Amidst the craziness of traffic, construction and the summer heat, the city offers its own unique attraction. Phnom Penh offers charming retail shops and cafés run mostly by European artists who've traveled to Cambodia, crossed the city's path, fell in love with it and never left. It's not too difficult to get ensnared in its charms.
The locals, majority of which had been victims of Khmer Rouge's atrocities, trust foreigners more than their own kind. I can't blame them - there's only 15 million Cambodians left with majority of their kins' remains piled among millions of others in the mass graves.
Foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) are helping establish order in the country. One of the things I like is that with the NGOs' influence, locals are being taught skills they can use to earn a living - recyclable designs, jewelry and furniture-making, sculpture, hospitality, etc. I wish all emerging markets would adopt the same practices.
Cambodia and it's capital for sure still has a lot of issues to deal with including the stateless boat people (mostly from Vietnam), lining up the banks of Mekong who remain poor, uneducated simply because the government refuses to recognize and integrate them into its society.
They too, got ensnared in Phnom Penh's charms and never left.
Everything happens for a reason. Yes, it does. For a long time now, I've been trying to convince a group of friends to travel with me to Sri Lanka to visit a close hiking buddy, who together with his young family, moved to Negombo more than a decade ago. You've probably only heard of Sri Lanka because of the Asian tsunami in 2004 that killed more than 30,000 people. Or worst yet, the on-and-off insurgency by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The instability kept the country out of the world tourism radar until 2009 when then President Mahinda Rajapakse declared civil war with LTTE. More than 40,000 Tamils died in one year alone. The pros and cons of this action are not for me to opine but if there's one hopeful outcome, the country entered a moment of stability at the end of 2009 and now is slowly gaining traction economically. The opportunity I've been waiting for finally came this year when I signed up to travel to Maldives for a dream dive safari. I hatched a plan to spend a few days in this mysterious country after my dive trip. Not knowing much except what travel books and online sites have written about or expat Sri Lankans related to me over time, I started piecing together a plausible itinerary. One of my friends mentioned that her aunt had been there few years back and the area is really a road less traveled with unpaved roads. Getting from one place to the other will take a lot of time. Facilities may even be suspect. I pitched the place to both her and another friend and they agreed to rendezvous with me in Negombo. Unbeknownst to anyone, this is the kind of place I'm now more interested to explore. I like this kind of travel - exotic, mysterious, not yet touristy. It's always good to know someone from the area of course. +Jazz Aquino (my Filipino expat hiking buddy) introduced me to +Clinton Irage Perrera, a local travel guide. My rule of thumb when communicating with service people in strange places is that if they do not answer my email within 24 hours, then I don't want to do business with them. So far, I have not been proven wrong and Irage did respond immediately. Sri Lanka, how I do begin? The country is very rich in natural resources and has plenty of activities to offer depending on ones interest. You can also tailor-fit your itinerary depending on your time and budget. With limited time, I've decided to focus on a theme for the trip - nature and nurture. I love the outdoors but also like to relax and chill - a massage, yoga, perhaps?
Due to other commitments by my intended travel girlfriends, I found myself alone close to the trip. Fortunately, my ever-reliable K, who also loves discovering interesting places, agreed to visit Sri Lanka with me for a 5-day, 4-night adventure. Our chosen itinerary is called Cultural Triangle Tour - which refers to the area between Sri Lanka's former capitals and contains some of the island's, if not the world's finest ancient monuments. The tour starts in Negombo and will entail land travel throughout the entire trip. Our first stop for the evening, +Jet Wing Lagoon Resort. What a beauty! I chose the hotel based on +Trip Advisor reviews and we were not disappointed. Most hotels and tours in Sri Lanka include breakfast and dinner in their rates, which in my opinion, are absolute value for money. Buffet spreads are wonderful - choices of local cuisine, mostly Indian-influenced, as well as Western offering. Desserts are something else. Most 5-star hotels have air conditioned rooms specifically dedicated for pastries, dairy products, fruits alone.
The only meal we paid out of pocket for the entire trip is lunch and for non-inclusive beverages. I love Indian food, so I was in heaven. I also discovered new things that I adored - mallung (kale and coconut salad), brinjal eggplant, and the delicious hopper.
We were loathed to leave our hotel, especially since we got upgraded to their best suite, but we had an early morning road trip to do. To our virgin eyes, every sight and sound was a marvel. The fishing village surrounding Negombo, the local folks, the big-eyed, beautiful and curious kids, the colorful fruits, the temples...less than a few hours into the trip, we were enjoying ourselves. People were nice and respectful. First surprise - roads are well-paved with not a single pot hole. Thanks to China's investment, the entire country's infrastructure underwent a massive two-year improvement and the project was completed in late 2013. Land travel is now shorter and more comfortable at least along the major routes. Another surprise, the country is well-connected technologically. Every single hotel and restaurant we went had wifi coverage. I cannot say the same thing, sadly, in a first-world country like the United States or even Japan. Our guide's comfortable van even had a multi-adapter unit for charging cellphones! The country is so green and lush, with forests surrounding the entire route we took. Monkeys and other wild animals, like monitor lizards abound. One can have a safari tour option if one desires. Such beauty, such promise. The people regard nature with care including providing drinking huts for wild elephants in their own backyards.
Sri Lanka's history dates back 3,500 years ago. Medicine and surgery were taught in schools as early as 3rd century AD - some 400 years before the first hospital in Europe! Advanced engineering principles as evidenced by a sophisticated irrigation and water system were developed during the reign of King Vattagamini in 88 B.C. Our first stop, Anuradhapura, was the heart of Sri Lankan civilization over a millennium. It is "the greatest monastic city of the ancient world," and the royal capital of 113 successive kings (and 4 queens). Thousands of Buddhist monks in dozens of monasteries served by lay people lived around this city. The ruins are breathtaking and the artifacts, though not as we'll organized as in a first world museum, are impressive and bears witness to the former glory of this area. The twin pools at the Abhagayiri complex are stunning in their simplicity and functionality. Irage, hired a local guide to show us around (I liked that in order to spread the benefits of tourism, the government encourages tour operators to use locals as guides for small groups). We were told that they had to pass an exam to quality as one. Our guide was very knowledgeable. I was also pleasantly surprised that at the end of our day's tour, before he parted ways with us, he handed me a small bouquet of lotus flower, a gesture of his thanks for the pleasure of our company. I was almost in tears and was very touched by the gesture.
We used the city of Habanara as our home central and stayed at the +Cinnamon Lodge, located in a beautiful tree-shaded grounds and right next to a lake. The setting reminded me of the hunting lodges in Africa. The cottages were beautiful, food was excellent, service - though not yet top notch - is fine if you're like us who are not fussy about these things. More importantly, the hotel has a spa. Ahh, the spa where I had the most healing and glorious Ayuvedic and Balinese combination massage from a woman from Nepal. I highly recommend a session if you ever stay here.
On our second day we visited Polunnaruwa (2nd ancient capital) where remains of a glorious palace and grounds lay witness to a once-rich civilization. This is where I also saw, in my opinion, the most stunning 14-meter reclining Buddha carved out of a single rock - Gal Vihara. Then on to Sigiriya, a towering and spectacular rock outcrop whose peak at 200 meters above sea level housed one of the country's medieval royal palaces of King Kassapa. After negotiating the winding 600 steps and reaching the summit, I can see why the king, setting aside strategic reasons during his time, settled on this rock. The view is amazing particularly on a clear day such as our ascent. I could see as far as Kandy. Along the route, one can also admire the Sigiriya Damsels, a mural (maybe the largest attempted on a rock face) commissioned by the king during the 5th century featuring 21 beautiful bare chested women, wrapped in a layer of fluffy cloud from the waist down, shown scattering flower petals or making fruit offerings. The painting reminds me of the Ajanta caves in India.
This country is so rich in natural and man-made wonders. Another magnificent reminder is the 160-meter Dambulla Rock which houses the famous Buddhist Dambulla Cave Temples. These temples were created by King Valagambahu I in the 1st century BC. Here the king sought refuge for 14 years after being driven out of Anuradhapura by Tamil invaders. To-date, the cave temples still function as such and houses one of the most impressive and well-preserved Buddha statues and friezes in the world.
The landscapes we've navigated while visiting these sites were a thing of beauty. Rolling hills, farmlands lined with crops, forests and on our last evening as we we're returning to Habanara, we chanced upon a herd of elephants (more than 40) grazing in an open field.
Our final stop along the cultural triangle was Kandy, the island's second largest city and the center of Sinhalese traditional arts, crafts and religious pageantry. The city's centre is the picturesque Kandy Lake bounded by elegant white balustrades and fire trees. Along the lake is the Temple of the Tooth, the country's most important Buddhist Temple. This is the resting place of one of Buddhism's most sacred objects, the Tooth Relic, attracting pilgrims from all over the island and Asia.
Strolling by the lake as the sun begins to set is so peaceful, I can't do justice to the serenity one feels while a slight breeze lulls the spirit.
After having tea at the historic Queen's Hotel (reconstructed for a visit from QE) we proceeded to the Kandyan Cultural Center to watch the Kandyan (upcountry) traditional dances for which the city is famous.
Our time was short but we had a glorious visit. K and I looked at each other on our way back to +Jet Wing Lagoon in Negombo on our last night and simultaneously uttered, we will be back! PS - Irage Perrera can be reached at irage_perrera@yahoo.com
