CAMBODIA - SIEM REAP

 ANGKOR WAT

After a short one hour and forty-five minute flight, our Laos Airlines plane touched down in Siem Reap. Once again, visas are available on arrival. Pay $20.00, hand over one passport photo and you have a thirty day visa.

 ANGKOR SCULPTURE

Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor, the world famous temples in northwest Cambodia. Spiritually, politically and geographically Angkor was at the heart of the great Khmer empire.

 ANGKOR TEMPLE

In 802AD, King Jayavarman II became the first god-king of Angkor, and established a unified “Kambuja” which was ruled by his descendants until the fifteenth century. Thirty years after his death, King Indravarman I constructed the temple of “Preah Ko” in his honour. Several temples and grand water projects were built over the next few centuries, until Jayavarman VII took over in 1118. He proceeded to build hundreds of monuments over the next forty years. He also expanded the kingdom in all directions through an aggressive military campaign. After his death in 1220, the Khmer kingdom declined in influence and size. In 1432 the capital was moved from this area to Phnom Penh, and Angkor fell into ruins and the jungle took over.

ANGKOR WARRIORS

In 1860 the Frenchman Henri Mouhot is credited with discovering Angkor Wat, and his book “Travel in Siam, Cambodia, Laos and Annam” helped spark Angkor’s first tourist boom in the late 19^th century.

 ANGKOR RUINS

We took a taxi from the airport, to a hotel that our driver recommended, the Mekong Anchor Palace Hotel. For just $25.00 we had a large room with separate sitting area, aircon, fridge, hot water, bath, shower, T.V. free breakfast, swimming pool and in the centre of town. Truly fantastic!

 HOTEL IN SIEM REAP

The taxi driver suggested he pick us up at 4.00pm to take us out to Tonle Sap Lake for the sunset. And so it was arranged.

 TONLE SAP RIVER

We spent the rest of the day settling in and wandering around town. It was really too hot to be out after 1.00 o’clock, so we stayed in during the hottest time of the day. Not exactly a hardship!

 FLOATING VILLAGE

What came next was, to me, the highlight of the trip. Our taxi driver turned up promptly at 4.00pm and out we went to Tonle Sap. While it was very touristy, expensive and a rip off, I wouldn’t have missed the next four hours for anything. 

 BOATS AT THE JETTY

Arriving at the jetty, we paid $20.00 dollars each for the boat trip. We did have a boat to ourselves, and our guide grew up on the lake, and his family still lived there, so was very knowledgeable about the area. He was training to be a guide and had to attend English classes at 7.00am, then other classes until 11.00am and then work on the boats until 8.00 pm. He is the first in his family to get an education, learning not only English, but also about conserving and managing the great Tonle Sap Lake. 

 

 HOME SWEET HOME

The lake is the most prominent feature on the map of Cambodia- in the wet season it is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia, measuring some 12,000 square kilometres, while during the dry season it can shrink to as small as 2,500 sq. km.

 AT EASE ON THE WATER

 

On the edge of the lake you will find villages built on stilts, but go further onto the lake and you come across a floating village. Everything floats. There is a church, shops, a basketball court on 10 metre stilts, boat houses, piggeries, chook houses, gardens, schools and an orphanage. 

 THE ROAD TRAIN EQUIVALENT ON WATER

 VEGIE GARDEN

 ORPHANAGE AND SCHOOL

The children are not permitted to attend school until they can swim. Because the school is open and only small, and there are 300 students who attend in 2 shifts, children often fall in, and so need to be able to stay afloat and climb back up again. There are approximately 30 orphans who live there permanently.

 FLOATING PIGS

Once the children in the village can swim at an early age, they paddle around in what appear to be very large soup pots. Often with a pet python wrapped around them!

 SOUP POT

There is also a crocodile farm, a viewing platform and an information centre on a central platform. This platform is where they take us tourists to photograph the sunset, but unfortunately it was overcast that evening. 

 FLOATING SHOP

The evening ended far too soon for my liking, but tomorrow was a new day with perhaps new adventures waiting.

 THE RACE HOME

 SUNSET

Wednesday we were up bright and early, as we were being picked up at 8.00am by tuk-tuk to head out to Angkor Wat.  Words really cannot describe the splendour and beauty of these temples, the carvings, the architecture and the sheer size of some of the Wats (temple) are extraordinary.

 ANGKOR WAT 59

We spent most of the day out there, until we were all templed out. It was also very hot, so back to the hotel for a cool off in the pool.

 ANGKOR WAT 86

The next day was a rest day, so we wandered around Siem Reap, lazed around the pool and generally chilled out. There is a very large night market, where anything is possible. You can have a massage, buy souvenirs, sample Thai, Cambodian, Western, Vietnamese and many other cuisines, and even have a fish foot massage! Yes, you sit with your feet dangling in a pool full of fish. They begin to nibble (gently cos they are only little) on your feet and remove the dead skin. This cost $2.00 with a free beer! It was good fun and I got a foot massage as well. We also bought the requisite presents for the grandchildren (and children).

 

 FISH FOOT MASSAGE

I wanted to make some sort of contribution to the community so decided to donate blood at the Children’s Hospital. They are desperately short of blood, and most of the donations come from foreigners. Off we went in a tuk-tuk, who promised to wait for us. They took some blood to test first, and when that came back all good we were all set to go. Okay, let’s take your blood pressure first; says I, it is always around 120/70 so no problem. Well it appears that traveling is more stressful than I could have imagined, cos my BP was 190/105! Good grief, I have never had anything like that. But no matter how often he took it, or how much I tried to relax it stayed high. Once back on the boat, it was back to normal! Go figure!

 BLOOD ANYONE?

We booked our bus trip to Phnom Penh for the Friday which is a 7 hour trip over some fairly basic roads, but that is for the next blog. Siem Reap is a wonderful place, and we probably could have stayed another couple of days, but there comes an end to everything.

 PHNOM PENH BUS