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| Angkor Wat Temple |
If we had drafted a plan to visit Asia before Shannon and
Jim moved here, Cambodia likely would not have been on it.
Now, we’d say YOU MUST COME HERE! In a similar fashion to
our discovery of Romania, Cambodia is a country first off of beautiful people.
They smile a lot. And why?
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| Us at sunset |
Not so long ago, during our lifetime you will remember Po
Pot, a Khmer Rouge dictator, who ruled the country and was responsible for the ‘killing
fields’, eliminating anyone who appeared to resist his dictatorship. Now today
the country is an emerging democracy, still in infancy, but with promise. And
as we’ve witnessed here is where the UN has done some good work along with the
EU, devoting time, energy and money to helping this country develop.
Cambodia is a country that shares coastline with Thailand to
its west, Vietnam to its east and Laos to its north. The Mekong river runs
south out of Laos across Cambodia and into Vietnam before emptying into the
South China Sea. It’s importance to Siem Reap where we have flown into is such
that while it does not flow directly by Siem Reap, the Tonle Sap river does, it
flows through Phonm Penh. But during rainy season, June through October, the
rains back up the Mekong River to where it overflows its normal banks, backs up
and reverses flow into Tonle Sap lake some 11 kms from Siem Reap, and creates
the largest freshwater lake in southeast Asia.
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| Phnom Bakheng |
Siem Reap has another treasure too. It’s Angkor Wat which is
compromised of the Angkor Wat temple and several other temples. Angkor Wat has
the status of the largest religious structure in the world, first being a
Hindu, then Buddhist temple. It is a national treasure for Cambodia and the
image of the temple is emblazoned on the national flag.
Our arrival in Siem Reap was the result of catching a very
early morning flight from Phuket through Bangkok and then to Siem Reap. True to
their word, our hotel the Central Boutique Angkor Hotel had a driver waiting
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| Yep they are steep |
just outside passport control and there is nothing more reassuring than seeing
your name waved by a Tuk Tuk driver, there to pick you up. Mr. Moeun, (Moon)
immediately went into sales mode since it appears his picking us up is an
introduction to us by the hotel and he has to sell other tuk tuk services to us
to make money. No worry, after getting to know us a bit he learned quickly what
we were prepared for him to help us with, and what we’d do on our own.
That first evening he took us out to get our Angkor Wat
passes,
and we got our sunset pictures of the main temple. However we booked
our 30 km. bicycle tour of the temples with Green Bicycles for the next day.
And as good fortune would have it a pleasant Brit called Paul showed up the
next morning to accompany us as well and our tour guide, Mr. Puthy, was
excellent, spoke very good English, had a masters in sociology and loved being
an authorized temple guide. We were off to a great start.
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| Paul, Brian and Sandra |
The day went very well with us stopping at Phonm Bakheng,
then the south gates to Angkor Thom,
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| Angor Thom |
and then the Temple of Bayon,
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| Temple of Bayon |
then to Ta Prohm better known in Indiana Jones movies as the "Tomb Raider" temple.
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| 3 Smiling Faces Bayon |
and
finally returning to Angkor Wat for the afternoon finale.
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| Ta Prohm |
The day ended full of
excitement when we delayed leaving until late sunset, and Sandra had only her
sunglasses meaning that when it got dark riding back into Siem Reap she was
blind one way or the other. She was nothing short of courageous riding in insane
traffic that never obeys a traffic signal converging on every intersection as we weaved through Siem Reap back
to the bike shop. She is one gutsy and fearless lady.
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| Brian @ Ta Prohm |
Our next day’s adventure was to hire Mr. Moeun to take us
via tuk tuk to the floating villages on Tonle Sap lake, but not before adding
the destination of the Silk Worm Farms where they have a national training program
on how to raise silk worms, then spin the silk into weaves and finally create
fabric with it. This was a very interesting side trip and allowed Mr. Moeun to
earn more money. At each of these stops we would have our tour then return to
the Tuk tuk and carry on. He took us quite a few places over a period of time
for very little money, and the tuk tuk was much more intimate, almost
motorcycle like, in interacting with others. Many Cambodians would drive by 2-4
on a small motorbike and the mother on back would have the baby wave at us as
they drove past. It was so much fun.
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| Silk Worm farm trainees |
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Kids, no more than 5 or 6 yrs
of age travelling in the lake |
Finally our last destination was the floating villages and
we were unsure what to expect. Here as the lake swells to 4-5 times its dry
season size, Vietnamese boat people live tied up in the trees that are
submerged at this time.
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| Us on the Lake |
Their purpose is fishing, but it seems the lake is
producing less and less each year now, so they have turned to a lot of begging.
We have shot video footage associated to this segment and will post it when we
get a better wi-fi connection.
Youtube links http://youtu.be/_HAQd4_jKx0
out to Tonle sap and http://youtu.be/CxegM5T3CJY on tonle sap lake .
Suffice it to say it is shocking to see the
squalor these people live in.
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| Riding the Tuk Tuk |
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| Mr Moeun |
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