Bun Seda Angkor Villa Siem Reap

... they don't celebrate it there. Not to mention that during the Khmer Rouge years, I'm sure calendars were probably not so common either... Since talking to him, I've heard of other Cambodians who only know how old they are because someone told them their birth year... I find this very sad...

- People here are relatively poor. But EVERYONE seems to have a cell phone. I have seen more iPhones here than in Canada!

- at many of the ...

... this was one of our favourites. It was used in the filming of Tomb Raider. You get a real sense of age here, all around there are giant trees that have grown on top of the crumbled walls of the temple at all sorts of angles. Giant roots have found there way to the ground from walls up to 5 meters high; its really something else.

Angkor Wat is the highlight of the visit to the temples. We kept that to last, which in retrospect was quite ...

... the Battle of Kurukshetra starts
out in an orderly fashion with soldiers marching in formation and the
leaders on horse back or elephants and then culminates with hand to
hand battle at the center. Many other stories are told on the walls
of Angkor Wat throughout this entire complex in bas -relief. It
really is a phenomenal undertaking to view it all. To have done the
work had to have been a painstaking ordeal both during its original
Siem Reap, Cambodia mrcwoodsman

... Stadt war von ca. 800-1400 die Hauptstadt des Khmer Reichs von der heute bis auf die Tempel die als einzige Gebaeude aus Stein gebaut waren nichts mehr erhalten.
Die Tempel besichtigten wir mittels TukTuk. Wir besichtigten natuerlich Angkor Wat, den weltgroessten Tempel und die Stadt Angkor Thom mit dem mystischen Bayon Tempel den ...

... tired I didn't make it to the temples for the second day, and we decided to move on to the capital Phonm Pehn, so I could seek some medical advice. I was worried it might be malaria - or something worse (I'd swallowed some river water during my rafting trip and thought it might have given me something nasty!).

Another friend from my CELTA, Rusty, was living in the capital and looking for teaching work, so we all met up with him and he helped me track down a ...

... turn into a faux embassy to fool travelers. Our full attention turned to the delightful Tuk Tuk driver.

Turns out we were overcharged for the visa in the embassy proper anyway, woop woop!!

WELCOME TO CAMBODIA!

The border at Poipet is pretty mad. It's a dirt track with four or five official buildings on each side where tourists queue to have their various documents checked and ...

... one of Cambodia’s god-kings as a monument to, what else, himself. There are no less than 216 enormous matching faces carved into Banyon. It is a little eerie to see them staring down at you from every angle. The “enigmatic smile” on the faces has been compared to the Mona Lisa.

Our third stop was Ta Phrom. This ‘jungle temple’ is partially taken over by the surrounding forest. This was our ...

... They all follow us saying No,no, not fair! But keep coming down and down. By the time we walk 20m its 25USD between us and we say ok lets go. We walk to the taxi, still followed by other drivers and as we get in the price changes! Shocker. So we walk off, and due to other drivers around, it comes down back to 25USD pretty quickly..

So we get in (well, Aly does) but me and IG stay about until the boot is shut (with out packs in it) and the driver gets in. Things get ...

... five tiers to represent Mount Meru. It had been dedicated to Shiva.

The causeway that crossed the moat (with water, many no longer do) has nagas, flowers and trees. This is currently an operating monestary. The inner part of the temple has a pyramid shaped temple which is surrounded by towers. There are statues of Nandis, lions and elephants here. On the 4th tier there is one tiny section of bas-relief that is in good conditon. It depicts the asuras ...

... but we could see the heavy stuff was only a few minutes away. Luckily, we all got aboard before the downpour.

Walking the few meters across the border was remarkable. On the Thai side, paved roads were prevalent and the area was stocked with restaurants, shops and ATMs - a typical busy border crossing. The Cambodian side couldn't have been more different. Dirt (read muddy pits filled with potholes) were filled with naked children playing. Plastic bags and styrofoam containers ...