Arrived in Phnom Penh on Saturday May 11 with my backpack of 7kgs and a right arm that was of little help following my wrist surgery. Checked into Riverside Hotel on 136 street, one street back from Pub street. Big mistake it’s just as noisy as pub street with music to 4:00am every morning but I survived the 4 nights with interrupted sleep. The pub names and the sign in the elevator says it all.
Sunday morning I set off on my own “walking tour” covering around 15 kms in 4 hours. Phnom Penh is reasonably hot 36 degrees but incredibly humid at this time of the year. Preparations around the Royal Palace were underway for the King’s birthday in two days time.
Monday visit the killing fields and the Genocidal Museum. Pol Pots horrific regime slaughtered around 2.7 million countrymen over a three year period. All executed in a barbaric way to “not waste bullets”. Over 380 such killing fields have been identified with the one we visited the only one where bodies have been exhumed, some 5000 in this field alone. The photos speak for themselves.
On to the Genocidal Museum which was formally a high school but converted by the regime into a one stop torture chamber holdin a multiple of inmates over a number of years. The phot below shows the only seven men who survived this place. A photographer has been able to capture on film every person who started in this place before execution.
Tuesday solo touring during the day including visiting the massive proposed cite centre development before resting up and doing a scooter food tour that evening.
Very enjoyable four and a half hours before finishing at a great bar area in Bassac Lane. Wish I knew about this area earlier as much more my scene. guide Kim and my driver Tainan both lovely young blokes and my co foodie Kruttikaa (Kate) from Delhi was great fun. It was the Kings birthday so we stopped on the main river road and watched the fire works for ten minutes in between food morsels. One morsel I did not try was the boiled duck egg with the baby duck still inside.
Wednesday picked up at the hotel at 7:00am and its six hours to Siem Reap. Photo above of a typical house on stumps and a very old stone bridge for scooters and Tuk Tuk only. When it rains in these regions it floods and we experienced heavy rain half way through our journey. Arrived Viator Hotel around 1:00pm and checked in. Lovely small hotel great rooms and close to night market and pub street with excellent coffee in the cafe immediately below. Spent the remainder of the day exploring local area, lunch massage and dinner with a few beers in Pub Street. It was reasonably quiet as a Wednesday night but music still went to 3:00am. Massages are fantastic $10 for 90 minute oil massage at good spas. Cheaper if you want elsewhere.
Friday the big Temple and Sunset Tour starting with the famed Angkor Wat which is still under repair. (Wat means temple or pagoda). Difficult to capture the sheer size as it includes walls and entry gates which themselves are stunning.
Angkor Wat is around 1600 metres by 1800 metres and originally surrounded by a Moat 200 metres wide much of which remains. It is now a Buddhist temple converted from an original Hindu temple as the Cambodians are now over 90% Buddhist.
As an engineering and and architectural feat it is amazing and completed in 37 years starting in the year 1113. There is no mortar between joints and stone had to be transported from mountains 50 kms away. It is estimated that 300 000 men and 6000 elephants were used during this period. The main tower is perfectly aligned North/ South and East/West such that on the equinox days of March and September thousand visit to see the sunset and sun rise over the tower.
Pleased to capture this reflection of Angkor Wat in the lake in front of the main tower.
Ta-Prohm temple was next visit. Of interest it featured in Angelina Jollie’s Tomb Raider and also on display in a smaller budget movie “Two Brothers” about tiger cubs growing up. This place was abandoned for centuries and trees not only grew through the stone bring down roof and walls but a parasitic tree often took over the the host and wrapped around stone works. Some of these are 600 years old.
Lunch followed then a visit to Takeo temple abandoned by the king because of a lightening strike who the proceeded to build baton temple a few Kms away. Bay consisted of 54 towers each with 4 Buddha faces. These towers were occupied by jungle rebels during t he civil war and surrounded by land mines up to 30 years ago. We then drove upwards to a small mountain walking for a further 20 minutes uphill to view the setting sun from the top of a temple.
Friday proved to be a relatively quiet day for me recovering from a few climbing aches and pains. Returned to the same masseuse form the previous day as she was fantastic. Some walking and found a sports bar “Harry’s”. Treated myself to a nice two course dinner, one being a lovely morning glory with a bottle of wine. During my meal the heavy rain set in and was not expected to stop until early morning so that was it for me.
Saturday and off to the floating Village mid afternoon. the village is Kampong Klout and hoses approximately 1000 families often two to a house. When the rains come the water rises around 4 metres thus houses are built above ground on Mangrove p9les which need replacing every 10 years or so. Some of their buildings shops etc are built with large drums which enables them to float up with the rising water. Schools etc are built in a similar way with students walkin/ riding in the dry season and going by boat in the wet. Predominantly fishing is the major income source. Cod ranges form fish, shrimp, pork, chicken and crocodile meat.
during the dry season most boats remain grounded with craftsmen doing necessary Shing out on the lake occurs with a number of floating restaurants.
Finished the evening with street food sitting in tiny low seats. I have taken a liking to their traditional Luc L’Ak with either chicken or Pork. Beef is an option but usually tough. Meal and a beer for $2:50 US.
Sunday departure from Siem Reap airport to Bangkok. Airport is huge with virtually no tourists and is the best part of an hour form town.
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