Advertisement
Published: April 9th 2023
Edit Blog Post
The Jewel
View of the rain shower at the Jewel Did you know that extreme frisbee is a big deal of a sport? We learnt a lot about extreme frisbee from a member of the Perth team flying to compete in an international friendly tournament in Singapore who was waiting in the queue to board our flight.
Anyway this is the first stage in our latest family adventure Which begins with a flight to Singapore, overnight in a transit hotel and on to Cambodia. We are breaking up our journey with a visit to the Jewel at Changi Airport - the multi level mall and indoor garden, waterfall and interactive zone. It is an incredible place and we are keen to check out the upper canopy park with bouncing nets and mazes. You need to have enough time in transit to make it through customs and immigration and then back through again to your departure gate. We had five hours and this was plenty of time.
After arriving we bought tickets for our chosen experience which was the bouncing nets (yes E waited on the ground!) This is such an incredibly well designed experience with fully enclosed trampoline style nets suspended from the roof on multiple levels with net
Canopy Park.
The amazing bouncing nets in the Canopy Park at the Jewel paths connecting them. So much fun!
We hurried back through customs and immigration to ensure no risk to making our flight then relaxed and window shopped the departure area mall. I couldn't resist topping up my TWG Party Tea stocks!
From Singapore it was a short flight to Siem Reap - gateway for Angkor Wat. We have a passion for visiting ancient monuments and Angkor Wat had long been on our list. Built in the 1100's it is the worlds largest religious structure ever built. To put this in perspective the pyramids were built in 2500BC and the Incans built Macchu Picchu in the 1400's. Construction took at least 30+ years and involved carting volcanic rock over vast distances Using slave and elephant labour.
It is the hot dry season in Cambodia and we feel the heat as we leave the airport. The driver explains that it is nearly Cambodian New Year and the town is getting its party frock on - brightly coloured lanterns and bunting are festooned across every bridge, building and street creating a joyously festive mood. We are told that everyone has a very good time during New Year!!
After checking in
Siem Reap
New year festive lanterns on bridge in Siem Reap to the delightful Angkor Village Hotel we focus on booking our temple tour. we decide on a private car and driver through the hotel book. To avoid the heat we book an early start. Arriving at Angkor Wat at 7am it is already steamy and humid And we get why many people start at sunrise. The famously distinctive shapes of the main towers are magical to see in person and create an impressive silhouette against the vast blue sky; and the steamy jungle air and noisy insects combine to create an otherworldly sensation as we explore the massive site.
One of the most impressive things about Angkor Wat is the way it has been continually in use as a site of worship since construction - even today there are fresh floral offerings brightening the dark stony rooms.
Next is the walled and intimidatingly gated Angkor Thom - once the capital city of the Khmer Empire. Built also in the 1100's. The site occupies a total area of 10 square kilometres and contains multiple temples and structures Including the moody and mysterious Bayon with is 216 carved faces.
Just outside the complex is the intriguing Ta Prohm temple.
It is distinctive for the ongoing battle between the surrounding jungle which has encroached in unexpected ways with gigantic tree roots entwined with the walls of the ruins. Famous as a key location from the Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider movie it was a real highlight.
The oppressive humidity and heat meant we didn't do a full day and we headed back to the hotel pool after about six hours of exploring. This meant we were well placed for a visit to the local Phare Circus which is a social enterprise set up by some returning refugees after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Local disadvantaged children are given an education and trained for careers in the visual and performing arts partially funded by the nightly professional performances in a purpose built big top on the edge of town a ten minute Tuk Tuk ride rim our hotel. The performers were amazing demonstrating incredible acrobatic and comedic storytelling and musical skills. The hour long performance was met with thunderous applause from the nearly full house. The circus troupe regularly performs across the world including Australia. Such a great experience!
One of the tours we had researched was to visit
a local elephant sanctuary. in the bad old days you could take an elephant ride around Angkor Wat before more enlightened animal welfare practices led to them to being banned. The downside of this was a lot of homeless and unemployed elephants Which need to be fed up to 300kg day of food - each! Elephant sanctuaries were set up to provide retirement housing To them and their mahouts.One such place is the Kulen Elephant Forest which in a terrible piece of timing was opened up in late 2019. As the tourists dried up the local villagers around the forest adopted the elephants and donated sugar cane and water to help keep them alive until the tourists could return.
Unfortunately E couldn't find the details of our booking and we were worried as K had her heart absolutely set on this experience. we knew there was one office in town the tours left from and we couldn't remember where it was. With some anxiety had all fingers and toes crossed we could deliver this experience. E went out to try and find the tour office and then in a miracle of travellers serendipity there office was located directly over
Elephant
A cheeky elephant asking for more bananas at Kulen Forest the road from our hotel!
At the Kulen Forest there are 11 former working elephants with the oldest being 40+ years old. They are unchained and allowed to demonstrate natural behaviours. A true highlight was joining them for their morning walk around their huge forest and actually feeling their wrinkled, sun warmed hides and hand feeding them nutritious snacks we made ourselves.
Back to our hotel for a ride to the airport and on to Vietnam!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0929s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb