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Published: March 15th 2009
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Hello from Cambodia!!
Just wanted to do some picture uploading as I am off to Thailand tomorrow and I think I will be traveling for the next two days.
I am still in Cambodia. I am in Siem Reap right now and I spent the day touring the many temples of Angkor. I will catch you up.
My last blog I was in Phnom Penh. I like the city a lot. Unfortunately it went from one extreme to the other. You were either standing looking at the most beautiful hotel, bank or monument you have ever seen or you were looking at broken down shacks that people somehow use as their homes. It seems like a country where you have the rich and the poor and nothing in between.
I spent a day touring around and got to see a lot of the city. I went to the Tuol Sleng Museum. This museum was originally a high school that was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge "revolution". In 1975 the high school was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and it was a holding place for over 17,000 people before they were
taken to the killing fields. It soon became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country during Pol Pot's time. Unfortunately this place was far from uplifting and it was tough to look at the photos of those who died and the horribles ways in which they died. I was glad I went to the museum but decided not to go to the killing fields to see the sites of the mass graves. I got enough information from the museum.
After that I walked around the city with a girl named Sarah who is working in Cambodia at an animal conservation site. It is so hot here that during the afternoon hours walking around is not an option so we quickly decided that cold beers at our guest house sounded like a much better idea. We walked into the main part of town that night with a few people from the guest house and had a very expensive drink on a boat that has been turned into a restaurant on the river. Lots of lizards had found places to catch bugs inside the tables. They made for good pictures.
The next morning
I got up early to take my bus to Siem Reap. I think that the local people should not eat so many spiders and bugs and maybe they wouldn't get so sick on the bus. When we all got on the bus the driver walked through the bus handing out sick bags to all the locals. A few of them got sick during the journey. It wasn't as bad as my bus in Laos as we made frequent stops and they were able to dispose of the vommit. It was a fun journey as I ran into a guy I met in Nha Trang who is from Langley named Darren. We had fun at each stop as you are basically attacked by children selling everything from pineapple to spiders, from turtles (see picture) to deep fried snake. I decided on some pineapple. One little girl had a tarantula(not sure how to spell that), that she scared the tourists with. She showed me that it would not bite me and put it on my shirt when I was not looking. Haha not funny. Glad I haven't seen to many of those around.
We made it to Siem Reap
Tuol Sleng Museum
Tough to look at these pictures and found a nice guest house. I decided since I am only here for two days that I should waste no time and head for Angkor Wat. I went and watched the sun set. It was beautiful but very busy. Watched the Manchester United vs Liverpool game with some British people and headed for bed.
This morning Darren and I arranged to have a tuktuk take us to tour the temples for the day. There is so much walking around the temples themselves that walking between the temples would leave us with very little time to explore the temples. We first went to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest temple and is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world. It was very difficult to capture the size of it from the ground with my little camera so I will need to buy a poste card of that one. We walked around it for at least an hour and I am sure we didn't see it all. Absolutely breath taking!!
Next we went to Bayon. It is famous for the 216 faces that look out at you from the 54 gothic
Killing fields
Mass grave sites. Tuol Sleng Museum towers. My favorite one of the day. After that we visited some of the temples of Ankor Thom. This was a great city in its day and it stretches over 10 sq. kms. In its time it is estimated that over a million people lived in its surroundings. Included in it is the temple of Bayon, Baphuon, the Royal Enclosure & Phimeanakas and the Terrace of the Elephants. Only a few of the many temples but those are the ones we saw. Next we visited Ta Prohm. This temple looks as if it has been swallowed by the jungle. The trees have literally grown over top of the buildings and have compromised many of the buildings structures. It is hard to believe that the building is able to hold up some of the amazing trees.
Every where you go little kids try to sell you stuff. Their English is amazing and it is too bad that at such a young age they already have a full time job. Each one will ask you where you are from. When you say Canada they start listing off facts about the country. One little kid new the capital, the name of
our priminister, all the provinces and the population. I started asking him the capitals of other countries and he knew a lot more than I did. It is their way of impressing you and making conversation so that you will hopefully buy something from them. It worked on me. I bought a lot more water than I needed today haha. They are so cute. I wish that they were able to just be kids though and not spend their days working.
We visited a few other temples and decided that 8 hours of walking and temple viewing was more than enough for both of us. We saw so many people and I couldn't believe the scale of this place. No wonder some people decided to explore the area by elephant, helicopter, bike, 4wheel drive, motorbike etc. Our feet held up pretty well and we had fun climbing all over the temples (something else I was surprised you could do).
Tonight my plan is laundry and internet. Heading back to Bangkok tomorrow. 10hr bus they tell me. We'll see. Vietnam buses were by far the most efficient. Always leaving on time and usually getting there
Phnom Penh
See the Canada flag! early but the rest of these countries have not quite figured out how to pave roads yet haha. Should be another adventure. I am heading for Ko Tao. One of the many Thai islands. The plan is over a week of relaxation, beach time, scuba diving and reading a book. Should be a good way to end my trip. The I only have to endure a few days in Bangkok and home I come.
Hope you enjoy all the pictures. Sure have enjoyed Cambodia. The land of the skinny cow and a place where the people will eat anything!
Hope all is well, Miss you guys,
Talk soon,
Alicia.
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Mitch
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By the time you read this I'm sure you will have finished your bus ride to Bangkok. I hope for your sake that they've inproved the road to Bangkok since I was there... if not... well... you'll know by now what true travel pain is! :) Glad you liked Cambodia, sounds like you had a similar reaction to the place that I did, but not quite as negative. The prison was very difficult for me too. Stil can't believe you're there right now. ENJOY KOH TAO!!!!!!!