Day Fifteen and Sixteen: A Tale of Two Cities

One thing that really struck me during my Khmer New Year travels was the level of poverty surrounding the city of Siem Riep. Lining the road to Angkor Wat are village upon village of thatched-roof huts and barren rice fields. Everyone and everything--from adults and children to the cattle--looks dried out and emaciated. It's a strange juxtaposition amidst the striking majesty of the Angkor temple ruins. After all, who would ever think that such poverty could exist along side one of the seven greatest man-made wonders in the world?

Contrast this with some of the sights around town. I took the majority of Saturday to do a walking tour around town with my friends. We walked around the area, taking note of the lavishness of some of the area hotels and stores and observing the lively hustle and bustle of tourists and locals alike. But what was really striking were some of the pagodas. The city of Siem Riep has a population of roughly 150,000, and to it's credit, there are 13 major pagodas. These so called "wats" are both where monks reside and where the locals come for worship and other Buddhist ceremonies. While each varies slightly in its construction, they all have in common a "preah vihear" or "sacred sanctuary" that's absolutely extravagant. Here's a picture of one (Wat Bo):

Obviously my camera does not do any justice to how grand this building is. And things only get more intricate inside, with walls covered with elegant murals and handcrafted tapestries.

For me, at least, it's difficult to reconcile the wealth of these pagodas with the abject poverty of the people who live around here. Of course, many of the pagodas were constructed at another time. Together, they form the voice of the Siem Riep city that thrived before Cambodia got sucked up in the Vietnam War and before its abject destruction at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

I was talking to B, the Brown ID fellow, the other day, and he mentioned that Siem Riep had changed dramatically since the last time he was here in 2002. With tourism booming, the city itself is definitely becoming a key source of national splendor. But the real story, I think, is much more complex than that, with corruption and governmental disorganization still the norm around here. So long as that's the case, I know I'll always be haunted by the duplicity of wealth and poverty that is Siem Riep.