Cambodia
Trip Start
Jan 28, 2008
1
22
42
Trip End
May 27, 2008
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Monday, April 7, 2008
After an early start in KL we took the hotel limo sraight out to the airport. About the same cost and no hassles about moving the bags onto trains and into cabs. The government has moved almost all its offices outside KL and set up a new city (Ottawa?) and closer to the airport. A one-hour flight and a four hour wait in Bankok then on to Phnom Penh.
When going to Cambodia carry US cash. We knew this and tried to get some in the Bangkok airport. They woud only sell us baht (Thai money). We thought, ok, we have US travellers cheques. Not ok. The stern looking Cambodian officials want US cash. No ATM in sight. There was a row of 6 or 7 officials passing along our 3 declaration forms each, each inspecting them and processing with a heavy thud of a rubber stamp. We scrambled and were able to pay the $50 entry fee with a combination of baht and leftover Malaysian money. There on the other side of yet again another electronic scanning was an English friendly ATM. Good thing too as one clerk folowed us and said we still needed to pay another $5 US. A $9 cab ride later, at 9:00 p.m. 12 hours after we had left our hotel in KL we were at Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh.
Raffles is an old hotel, with character. A bit like the Chateau Laurier or the Chateau Montibello. I suspect it survived the Pol Pot Khymer Rouge era by being a headquarters for the ruling leaders. Unfortunately we were there less than 12 hours ($15 an hour) before we headed back to the airport for a 55 min. flight to Siem Reap.
Siem Reap Airlines. A new coat of paint (colourful graphics) on a 1950s prop plane. Will it last one more flight? All 70 passengers hoped so.
$12 (for 2) departure tax and we were in the air again. For most of the flight we were able to see the jungle and the rice paddies below. I even saw what looked to be a standoff with 2 water buffalo facing each other on a narrow path between the rice fields. It was almost like a dare. Which one was going to turn aside to let the other pass?
After arrival we were met by Seing and Mr. Han who were to be our tour guide and driver for the rest of our stay in Siem Reap. We were their only tourists this time so we had our own private guides (Destination Asia was the tour company). We were taken to our hotel (Borei) equally nice and newer than Raffles for a relaxing afternoon around the pool. We took a tuk tuk ( a motor scooter pulling a 2 wheeled carriage) into the town (city?) to the Old Market to scout out bargains then worked our way up to Bar Street where we ate at the Red Piano. This apparently was where Angelique Joli hung out (not literally(?)) whilst she was filming Tomb Raider at the nearby Temples.
Next day after a buffet breakfast we were taken to the first of the many temples in the area. I won't bore you with all the details of al the temples now (I'll do that later once I've sorted out all the pictures) other than to give you an overall impression......WOW.
Imagine walls 1 mile (1.6 km Kim) on each side surrounded by even bigger moats. On all of the walls and there were walls and towers inside walls and towers there was intricate carvings depicting scenes from the Hindu mythology Ramayana and stories of the various Kymer kings who had these temples built. Some were built by Hindu kings, others by Buddhist kings. Many of the Buddhist figures had been destroyed by subsequent Hindu kings and some were removed by locals and sold in the Black Market probably to wealthy westerners. In one temple, the Woman's Temple, the carvings were particularly intricate and you could read the writings on the pillars (if you could read 11th century Sanscrit that is). Yes some of it is still jungle covered. They left banyan and fig tres growing at one temple to show how the jungle had reclaimed these sites until rediscovered 400 years later by the french. There's ongoing restoration (with a lot of work still to be done) financed by UNESCO.
The pace was good as we toured for 2 hours or so (plied with water and wet cloths in the 35 degree heat and 90 % humidity) then taken back to the hotel for lunch and a refreshing swim before setting out again for more temples at 3:00 Another couple of hours tour then we were back at the hotel to freshen up and then out to dinner. One night dinner included a show with dancers showing some of the same poses as depicted on scenes from the walls.
On the 3rd day of the tour we were also taken to the lake (SE Asia's largest) to see how the other half lives. We thought we had seen poverty in town but this was much worse. Whole families lived in a bamboo and thatch 10 x 10 hut on poles stuck into the mud. Other families lived on floating rafts out of the lake. We took a picture of one 4 year old holding a 8 foot python around his body. Picture $1 please.
On the way back to Phnom Penh at check-in both of our bags were overweight (surprise, surprise) but no problem. This time it was a $10 ride to Raffles, same hotel, as the driver told us about his 8 kids and paying to have the kids go to school. If I understood correctly the first son will be going to England. He's 25, the youngest, twins, are 8.
I'm going to sign off now and get this onto the blog. Tomorrow Bangkok.
