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Published: January 11th 2008
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What an end to 2007....
On the 28th December, I flew from Hanoi to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the temples of Angkor. It was a two hour flight with some nice aerial views. The flight path took us over Thailand and Laos onto Cambodia.
On the descent it looked very marshy, and I could see the Tonle Sap lake which was huge. Siem Reap airport was lovely, and there was no trouble in getting my 'Kingdom of Cambodia' visa there. Outside, we couldn't see anyone from our hotel so we were looking at the payphone to see if we could use it when someone asked if we needed help. We said that we couldn't see our hotel, and they said "Jennifer" was a bit of a surprise, and then he whipped out a big "Welcome Jennifer Greaves" which did make me laugh! The hotel was lovely and we went for an evening swim and dinner.
Our first morning at the Angkor temples was a hot one! Suffering from some dodgy food or water and dehydration a bit, but we were still very much impressed by the temples! Angkor Thom was the first one we saw, and it
was vast. There were lots and lots of tourists there, but it was still amazing. We had an excellent tour guide as well. The temples are very spread out, so we hired a van to take us round. You would have to spend weeks there to see everything! It's amazing that they built them all!
Ta Prohm was one of my favourites. It has trees growing all around it, and the tree roots have just taken over in some parts. It really proved how old these temples are. The giant tree roots are completely moulded around the stone.
In the afternoon we went to see the famous Angkor Wat temple which certainly deserves its fame. We saw monkeys around the temple too! The temple looked magnificent reflected in the lake.
We took a boat ride out to Tonle Sap lake which was a thought provoking experience. The lake itself was pretty with trees submerged under water and the sunset was lovely. All along the river leading into the lake there were lots of floating houses, floating schools and a floating church. There was a lot of poverty, and I hadn't really seen it in that circumstance before,
in such a community, seeing the way these people lived and the poor hygeine due to living on the lake.
We saw in the new year at the Siem Reap street party. We didn't know it was taking place until we headed into town for a drink after watching some Apsara dancing at a restaurant. Everyone (ie the tourists!) was out in the street dancing and having a beer from the vendors for $1. It was a great atmoshere and lovely to be able to be outside on the 31st December!
New years day we returned to Hong Kong via Bangkok, all in all an adventurous jam-packed trip!
I will certainly remember the stunning Angkor temples for a long time to come. Watching the sunset over the surrounding land was just beautiful.
J x
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