Temples in the Khmer Empire
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2008
1
11
14
Trip End
Sep 24, 2008
Siemreab,
Cambodia
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The temple was probably the size of a city back them but as far as I can remember nobody ever lived in the temple, not the king or priests. It took 500,000 people 37 years to build it. It is really so pretty, nearly all the walls have carvings on them depicting life in those times.
It is amazing that these temples survived the troubled times of this country. The genocide in this country has left a population with hardly any elderly
Angkor Thom
. Pol Pot, was the Cambodian version of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, tried to reform the country into a pure communist society. They murdered most of the intellectuals and those who survived were sent to the country to live off the land or die. He also split families into men, women and children on their own. Education also went out the window as he tried to create an ignorant nation, killing anyone in his way. In between this the Northern Vietnamese and American fought some of their war in Cambodia.We went for lunch on our way to Angkor Wat temple, I really missed the food in Vietnam and was not impressed with lunch, it was a back to the stewed food we got in Malaysia. I think it is just too hot for such "heavy" food, the noodles in Vietnam were much better!
I forgot to charge my camera and could not take any photos here. I am sorry I didn't research Cambodia before we came, so the temples were a bit overwhelming for me and I was quite templed out by the end of the afternoon. The houses here are mostly on stilts because the Mekong River overflows in the rainy season. Nearly every household sells water and other bits and pieces outside their houses, the most fascinating item is bottles with petrol. There are no garages on these country roads so the population sells petrol by the litre outside their houses, I have no idea where they get the petrol, but just about every house sells it!
Back to the hotel, traffic is really no problem here - people are still very poor and most of them still ride on bicycles. Terry had asked Thoun to take us to go and see traditional dancing and he arranged with a restaurant, but I needed a time out and decided to stay in the hotel. I went for a swim, but got bitten by mosquito's and decided to go for a nice long massage. I had a two hour body exfoliation and deep tissue massage and felt like a different person.
