Cambodia
04 Dec 2007
Angkor Wat, here we come. Since living in Japan means we are "in the neighborhood" of Cambodia, we took the opportunity to take this country off our wishlist. In the neighborhood is really only a figure of speech. It was a long trip, especially due to the 8 hour layover at Bangkok airport. This is no fun when you are talking about 11pm to 7am...
We had arranged a room at the FCC in Phnom Penh, but of course we arrived too early, and couldn't check in. But no time to waste, so we left our luggage and went for a walk to explore the city.
We visited the Royal Palace with the silver pagoda, the independence monument and Wat Pnom. Just as we got settled on a nice terrace for a well deserved break, it started to rain very heavily. Not strange, afterall it was the rainy season...
The second day was very emotional. We visited the killing fields and the S21 museum. It is very difficult to describe, the horror of the war is just too much. When walking around the monument at the killing fields, you could still see clothes and bones lying around.
The photos and rooms at S21 describe situations of which you think they are not humanly possible. If you ever visit Cambodia, this has to be on your list of things to do, if only to make sure you realize that these things shouldn't happen anymore.
In the afternoon we visited the National Museum, which showed another side of Cambodia's history. A much nicer one too, and it is very relaxing to just sit down in the museum's courtyard and enjoy the silence
We take the boat to Siem Reap. It takes 6 hours over Thonle Sap lake. The water level is high, one of the advantages of the rainy season. The weather is great, sunshine all day, and we get burned to a crisp. With the constant breeze we didn't feel it till the evening, not very charming, those tomato red faces.
We arrange a guide to take us to the temples at Angkor Wat. In the evening he takes us to Pnom Bakheng to watch the sunset, together with about 300 other tourists... Still, we can count ourselves lucky, in the high season it is even more crowded.
Pina, our guide, comes to pick us up from our hotel. He takes us on our first day of the temple tour. It is very comfortable in the back of his tuktuk. We visit Prasat Kravan, Banteay, Kolei, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Bayon en Angkor Thom. Some of the temples are embraced by trees, killing and at the same time supporting the old temple. Just when it was time to visit Angkor Wat, it started to rain. We decided to visit it first thing in the morning.
At seven am we're at Angkor Wat. We are one of the first visitors and immediately walk to the back of the temple to be able to enjoy it in peace and quiet. This turns out to be a good idea, there was nobody around. The rest of the day we visit Preah Kan, Neak Pran, Ta Som, East Meb and Prerup. You'd think that only visiting temples for two days in a row is overkill, but it is not. They all have their own distinct features and all are well worth a visit. The hassle of the kids trying to sell t-shirts (watch the movie), books, cards etc can be a bit too much at times, but hey, they need to make a living as well. So we did buy some presents from them.
The next day we have a very early start. At 6am the truck comes to pick us up to go to the boat. Today we go to Batambang. The boattrip takes 6 hours and most of the time it rains very heavily. The water level is very high. What looks like bushes, are actually the tree tops (watch the movie). When we get to the hotel, the weather has cleared and we go for a walk to explore the city.
We also explored our cooking abilities. Together with an Australian mother and her daughter, we joined a Cambodian cooking class. It was a lot of fun, first we all went to the market to buy the ingredients and we cooked some very nice dishes.
We met Terry Trethowan, former CEO of the AIDS foundation in Australia. He is involved in the Hope for Children orphanage in Battambang. He invited us to the "gate ceremony". Gavin and Jason, two Australians organized collections in Australia to build a wall and gate around the orphanage. During the ceremony the gate would be officially blessed by the monks. We heard that the youngest orphan there was 6 months old, and that they have a school at the orphanage. We prepared for the ceremony by buying diapers for the baby and notebooks and pencils for the school. It was a very emotional experience.
In the afternoon we went on a moto tour. Two guides took us around the area of Battambang. We visited the killing cave, some temples and experienced a ride on the bamboo train (watch the movie). In the evening we met with the people from the orphanage and all had dinner together to celebrate Carlos' birthday. Sorry, no photos, but it was a lot of fun. A memorable end to a memorable vacation.
Click here for our movie about Cambodia
We visited the Royal Palace with the silver pagoda, the independence monument and Wat Pnom. Just as we got settled on a nice terrace for a well deserved break, it started to rain very heavily. Not strange, afterall it was the rainy season...
The second day was very emotional. We visited the killing fields and the S21 museum. It is very difficult to describe, the horror of the war is just too much. When walking around the monument at the killing fields, you could still see clothes and bones lying around.
The photos and rooms at S21 describe situations of which you think they are not humanly possible. If you ever visit Cambodia, this has to be on your list of things to do, if only to make sure you realize that these things shouldn't happen anymore.
In the afternoon we visited the National Museum, which showed another side of Cambodia's history. A much nicer one too, and it is very relaxing to just sit down in the museum's courtyard and enjoy the silence
We take the boat to Siem Reap. It takes 6 hours over Thonle Sap lake. The water level is high, one of the advantages of the rainy season. The weather is great, sunshine all day, and we get burned to a crisp. With the constant breeze we didn't feel it till the evening, not very charming, those tomato red faces.
We arrange a guide to take us to the temples at Angkor Wat. In the evening he takes us to Pnom Bakheng to watch the sunset, together with about 300 other tourists... Still, we can count ourselves lucky, in the high season it is even more crowded.
Pina, our guide, comes to pick us up from our hotel. He takes us on our first day of the temple tour. It is very comfortable in the back of his tuktuk. We visit Prasat Kravan, Banteay, Kolei, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Bayon en Angkor Thom. Some of the temples are embraced by trees, killing and at the same time supporting the old temple. Just when it was time to visit Angkor Wat, it started to rain. We decided to visit it first thing in the morning.
At seven am we're at Angkor Wat. We are one of the first visitors and immediately walk to the back of the temple to be able to enjoy it in peace and quiet. This turns out to be a good idea, there was nobody around. The rest of the day we visit Preah Kan, Neak Pran, Ta Som, East Meb and Prerup. You'd think that only visiting temples for two days in a row is overkill, but it is not. They all have their own distinct features and all are well worth a visit. The hassle of the kids trying to sell t-shirts (watch the movie), books, cards etc can be a bit too much at times, but hey, they need to make a living as well. So we did buy some presents from them.
The next day we have a very early start. At 6am the truck comes to pick us up to go to the boat. Today we go to Batambang. The boattrip takes 6 hours and most of the time it rains very heavily. The water level is very high. What looks like bushes, are actually the tree tops (watch the movie). When we get to the hotel, the weather has cleared and we go for a walk to explore the city.
We also explored our cooking abilities. Together with an Australian mother and her daughter, we joined a Cambodian cooking class. It was a lot of fun, first we all went to the market to buy the ingredients and we cooked some very nice dishes.
We met Terry Trethowan, former CEO of the AIDS foundation in Australia. He is involved in the Hope for Children orphanage in Battambang. He invited us to the "gate ceremony". Gavin and Jason, two Australians organized collections in Australia to build a wall and gate around the orphanage. During the ceremony the gate would be officially blessed by the monks. We heard that the youngest orphan there was 6 months old, and that they have a school at the orphanage. We prepared for the ceremony by buying diapers for the baby and notebooks and pencils for the school. It was a very emotional experience.
In the afternoon we went on a moto tour. Two guides took us around the area of Battambang. We visited the killing cave, some temples and experienced a ride on the bamboo train (watch the movie). In the evening we met with the people from the orphanage and all had dinner together to celebrate Carlos' birthday. Sorry, no photos, but it was a lot of fun. A memorable end to a memorable vacation.
Click here for our movie about Cambodia