Blogs from Angkor, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 92

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

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

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

Better than Egyptian ruins, ancient Greek ruins and Roman ruins are the incredible ruins of the ancient Khmer at Angkor. They are amazing. I had read quite a bit about them before going in but nothing could prepare me for what I saw. We woke up at 430AM so as to watch the sun rise over the massive temple of Angkor Wat. We hired a "tuk tuk' driver the day before. It is quite incredible but you pay $12 bucks and someone drives you around the entire day in one of these tuk tuk's. Tuk tuks are those two wheeled contraptions that are attached to the back of a motor bike. Sort of like a carriage for a motor bike. They are everywhere in Asia, and they are absolutely mad. It is such an experience driving ... read more

The next morning we boarded the plane to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Customs was a breeze. Along with our passports, we handed the official twenty dollars and the required extra photos, received our visas and only a half-hour later climbed into a taxi and we’re heading off to our Guest House. I’d been in touch with them earlier and two rooms were a waiting for us on this inner city, dirt road next to a house of prostitution. I must admit a little seedy, but a colorful choice of accommodations still the same. The hotel itself was clean and I kind of liked the way it looked in the photos. It had A/C, but oddly no handle on the toilet. Once we agreed to take the room, someone appeared with the toilet handle and installed ... read more