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Blogs from Angkor, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 89
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February 6th 2006
You know, friends, as lead singer of that world class pop/rock combo The Fluffy Boys I am often called on by the boys in the band to share microphone duties. Now even though this is massively unpopular with our fans I am almost happy to let one of the lads take lead vocals for a song or two. Which brings me to this blog. Opening up my email the other day I found a message had dropped through that electronic portal from Singapore. It's probably just Buster Crawford-Smith congratulating me on another excellent blog, I thought. But, no. Instead I found this piece you are about to read. There was no explanation, no instruction, no message - just the heading "Notes From A Buster's Diary". Well, I thought, this must be shared with the world. And ... read more
February 5th 2006
I woke up at 3am with an awful stomach discomfort. Started throwing up until there was nothing left in my GIT, couldnt puke anymore even tho I forced myself to. Then, the purging took over thru to the next morning (am still having diarrhoea even tho been back in M'sia for a week). I haven't been eating hawker food since I left Laos, so I pindowned the source to the probably contaminated spider I ate at a Phnom Penh market. But the onset for food poisoning is usually less than 6 hours, I only started having the symptoms after over 12 hours, so maybe it was something else I ate (at a decent restaurant!!) after the spider. I think I'll probably die if I had ingested Cambodian hawker food. If you think the roadside/mamak stalls in ... read more
February 4th 2006
We have three days to explore the temples of Angkor and Gordon (the guy who runs the guesthouse) suggests we get going early and hit Angkor Wat first. Most people like to see it for the first time at sunrise. While we are eating breakfast an American guy with a beard like Abraham Lincoln also suggests we get out there early and go to Angkor Wat first. He claims that Angkor Wat "kicks ass". He then takes one look at our sandals and tells us we are mad if we don't change into more appropriate footwear. The Busters take all this advice on board and after our breakfast, a few cokes, a banana or two and an extended wait for Joe and Tez to have a bowel movement we are ready to go. We have hired ... read more
January 28th 2006
Phnom Penh - Siem Reap Up at 6.00am, downstairs eating breakfast at 7.00am. Dara adds up our bill and gives it to Tez for his perusal. We can't help but notice that Wilson has slipped his laundry onto the group bill. There is some discussion over this but Kitty Master Tez deems it appropriate and we cover the $2 cost. Today we must leave Phnom Penh for Siem Reap. A van picks us up from the hotel to take us to the bus station. As we pass the Foreign Correspondents Club a little tear comes to my eye as I remember my fellow Busters sucking on their cocktails like a couple of ageing ladyboys. Farewell FCCC! Our bus is clean but a little cramped. A Cambodian girl acts as a steward/guide handing out meals, drinks and ... read more
January 27th 2006
Aujourd'hui, nous visitons 3 temples où la nature a repris ses droits. Le plus ancien se trouve au sommet d'une montagne et s'appelle le temple des 1000 lingas (linga est un symbole phallique hindou de forme ronde, carrée ou octogonale). Nous suivons un sentier jusqu'en haut où s'écoule une source qui forme un ruisseau, lequel couvre les lingas et est bordé de rochers gravés d'autres symboles hindous (Siva, Rama, Vishnou). Je n'ai pas compté les lingas, mais il y en a beaucoup. Il ne reste aucune structure verticale de ce temple. En contrebas, le ruisseau forme des chutes pas très grosses, car c'est la saison sèche. Nous redescendons pour le lunch, puis poursuivons en voiture jusqu'à Banteay Srei, la Citadelle des femmes, un temple orné de fines sculptures. Nous terminons par la visite du Ta Prohm, ... read more
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January 27th 2006
This was the last day of visiting the countless temples of Angkor Wat. We drove past the main complex out into the countryside to a National Park to see the River of a Thousand Lingas. A linga is a Hindu phallic symbol, having a square base, an octaganal section ablve it and topped by a rounded column.. The female symbol is the uma, a square hole with an opening in the middle of one side from which water flows from the surrounding lip. Sometimes lingas are found in the middle of umas. Quite Freudian. In this river, the Kbal Speam, actually a stream at this time of year, has over a thousand lingas carved into the the stream bed. There are several umas on the riverbanksand also some faded carvings in the sandstone along the sides ... read more
January 25th 2006
After breakfast we met our driver and guide and travel the short cut {even bumpier dirt roads than Laos) to the site. Nine a.m. and already the place is packed with mostly Korean tourists. We visit the main temple complex and our guide explains the various buildings functions and tells the stories behind the frescos etched into the sandstone corridors. Back to the B&B for lunch and some R&R during the hottest part of the day before heading out to our volunteer assignment. We, mostly I, taught an English class at a Buddist temple. Most of the students are in their late teens and twenties. Thaere are also a few monks present. The students took turns reading a simple article taken from the internet about Thailand. We then went through the definitions for many of the ... read more
January 24th 2006
Just enough time to wolf down a cup of tea and a few slices of pineapple before being transferred to the airport. The guide and driver are relieved that the bags are lighter. We were the first customers to arruive and had to wait to check our baggage and verify tickets. A 2 hour wait. It will be a long day with a 6 hour layover in Vientaine before going on to Bangkok to catch a connection to Siem Reap. Direct flights from Pakse are available, but not every day. We use the time in Vientaine to visit the National Museum. A good assortment of national treasures and the displays explained some unanswered questions we had about the temples we had visited. I especially liked the section on the Plain of Jars. It was something I ... read more
January 22nd 2006
Siam Riep (Ankor Wat) The Temples The temple of Ankor Wat near the town of Siam Riep was spectacular. Shawna and I rented a tuk-tuk and toured all the major temples in one day. In hindsight we probably should have split it up into two days (especially since I got the three day pass). It was a long hot day of temple after temple. I owe Shawna a great debt for being my personal photographer. The poor girl must have taken at least 25 pics out of the 100+ to go on my camera that day. Of the countless temples we visited, the best by far were Ankor Thom, The jungle temple (forgot the name), and Ankor Wat. Later that night a good group of us (some from the bus as well as others) ended ... read more
January 18th 2006
Hello hello hello, I'm back in action. After a quick tour of Thailand and it's beautiful islands we decided to head to Cambodia to see the amazing Temples of Angkor. After a short 13 hour ride that included Dave getting sick on the highway (and all over the side of the van). The driver was nice enough to NOT stop and kept driving while Dave gave a little of himself to both the Thai and Cambodian Countryside. I had been hearing about these temples ever since we decided to go on this trip and was scared that they were not going to live up to the hype. We rolled out of bed at 4:45, stumbled downstairs and met our Tuk Tuk driver Jeng. For 12 Dollars Jen was ours for thew whole day. Cheap date. At ... read more
