Just one more photo.....
Trip Start
Sep 19, 2002
1
106
129
Trip End
Sep 22, 2003
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Monday, June 23, 2003
Ta Prohm
. This was very shocking and we felt forced to move on.Next up was Banteai Samre. Here we were the only tourists and it was kind of weird to be the only people wandering round this old ruin. From here it was on to Ta Prohm and probably our favourite temple of all. Unlike most of the other ruins Ta Prohm has been left at the mercy of mother nature and the jungle. The result is a temple that in varying stages of falling down but is also very overgrown. You can't help but marvel at the sight of buildings almost totally engulfed by huge trees that are hundreds of years old themselves. If you tried to take away the trees the buildings would simply collapse. We couldn't help but take loads of photos here and even got one of the old man who features on the front of the Cambodia Lonely Planet
23rd - Another longish trip to start the day and this time to visit the Rolous group of ruins. These are the oldest of all the sites around Angkor dating back to the 9th century. Strangely these were brick built rather than the stone we had seen so far. Even here though we were amazed by the scale of it all and the carvings done in the brickwork. This has inspired me to get out my chisel when I return and carve a few buddhas in the front room wall. Not sure how this will go down in Droxford. On the way back we visited more smaller ruins which are too numerous to mention.
24th - A day of rest. After 4 days of looking at ancient monuments we needed it!
25th - Our last day out at Angkor and as it turned out our last full day in Cambodia too. Had a pretty hectic day trying to visit all the bits we had missed so far that we were interested in. If you tried to go to every single structure you would be here all year! Saw another overgrown site (Ta Som) which seemed even more crumbling than the other ones. It's great because you feel like a real explorer and it is easy to imagine what it must have been like when the sites were first "discovered". On our way back to the hotel we decided to stop off at the local children's hospital to give blood. We had been a bit wary of how safe this would all be and our concerns were made worse as we were led to donation room. On the way we were taken through the waiting area which was just full of parents, with their sick children, sitting in rows on the floor. They were obviously in for a long wait. When we entered the room for giving blood it all changed. It was air-conditioned and very high tech and extremely hygenic. LJ went first but as usual they struggled to find a vein so I jumped the queue. I had soon squirted out the required amount but the problem was I couldn't stop giving and the blood leaked out all over the bed. We also got to meet Dr Beat (yes that is his real name) who is a Swiss doctor who owns the hospital which tries to give free medical help to any child who needs it. At home they give you a cuppa and biscuit and send you on your way. Here they gave us a can of fanta and then a bag of goodies including t-shirt, a whole pack of biscuits and vitamin pills. We felt rather guilty having been given all this but they are really desperate for the blood - 30% of blood donated by the locals is infected with HIV or hepatitis. On the way out LJ felt so sorry for the families waiting for treatment she gave one of them her biscuits (Yes LJ gave away food!)
As it was our last night, LJ convinced me that we should go to a cultural dancing show and I eventually gave in. For $12 we got a large buffet of fairly nice food and about an hours apsara dancing which means heavenly nimph. Not really my cup of tea but nice to do something different.
So after a week in Siem Reap we are much lighter of pocket and we've taken over 7 rolls of film including a black and white. Definitely worth every click and every dollar though!
