Thru Other Eyes

Give and You Shall Receive

When I first decided to visit Cambodia it was to fulfill a long-standing wish to experience the Khmer ruins of Angkor Wat. I imagined the wonder and bewonderment of seeing such ancient and exotic temples. I imagined the magic of the jungle setting, especially of those temples that are still half overgrown by majestic trees. I imagined a near-spiritual experience and not just a run-of-the-mill week of travel to a new destination. What I didn’t know is I hadn’t imagined the half of it.

As I was searching the internet for accommodations I came across the Shinta Mani hotel. Although I would end up not staying there, this hotel was going to give my visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat quite an unexpected focus. The hotel appeared to be a very nice boutique hotel with spa but as I continued to read I discovered that Shinta Mani was quite a bit more than that.

Shinta Mani is Sanscript for

Welcome to Cambodia

I left Cambodia four days ago and the flood of impressions I had and emotions I experienced are just beginning to settle. And of course, it is not so easy to find enough time to get things on paper as our busy vacation is continuing in Malaysia. Here are my first impressions of Cambodia and general introduction. (All images can be clicked to view full size).

Although Cambodia has begun to experience growth in tourism, primarily in Siem Reap, the tourist base for the famous Angkor Wat temples, and also in Phnom Penh, the country is still largely rural and extremely poor. Siem Reap with all its restaurants, day spas, guest houses and hotels, many of them very nice, is still very much a chaotic, dusty and in many ways 3rd world place. The development of the tourism infrastructure and tourism based economy has begun to plant the seeds for a modest middle class but has not yet spread much beyond the city limits. It is only now beginning to reach into the indigenous urban population.

In the Siem Reap tourism sector

Man's search for meaning - or maybe some sleep

You know that age-old question. It’s haunted man since he took those first exploratory forays from his primordial cave. It gets to the very philosophical heart of our existence as human beings; it probes the existential quest for happiness and fulfillment. The question has been asked by men and women on great spiritual quests. And sometimes, it’s uttered, usually in tones of frustration by a weary traveller, usually but not always under the age of twelve: “Are we there yet?”

The flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia