Blogs from Phnom Penh, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 195

I'm back in Phnom Penh. The Angkor temples have been an amazing experience. But first, a little history: Angkor was the capital of the ancient Khmer empire, which stretched from present day Burma to Vietnam. The series of temples were built between the 9th and 13th century by the Cambodian devarajas. The temples feature both hindu and buddhist themes, often featuring carvings based on hindu fables as well as statues of buddhas. In 1860's, the temples of Angkor became extremely popular after a French naturalist Henri Mouhot published Le Tour de Mondi, an account of his adventures. Ok, enough mumble-jumble. The temples are magnficent, HUGE, structures. The ones I found most impressive were: 1) Bayon, with it's gigantic Avalokiteshvara faces (more than 170 of them, 216 as per Lonely Planet). There are faces staring at every ... read more

Nachdem ich schon am Ankunftstag einen ganz kurzen Blick auf Angkor Wat geworfen habe (das 3-Tage-Ticket gilt naemlich schon ab 17h des Vortags) und den Wahnsinn des Ansturms zum Sonnenuntergang auf dem benachbarten Huegel des Phnom Bakheng live miterleben durfte, gehe ich das "Weltwunder" langsam an. Also mit dem gecharterten Moto Driver erst mal zu den weiter entfernt gelegenen Sehenswuerdigkeiten. Erstes Ziel ist der Tempel Beng Mealea, beste Indiana Jones Kulisse die man sich vorstellen kann. Von Wald nicht nur umgeben, sondern sozusagen halb von diesem aufgefressen praesentiert sich der ehemals praechtige Tempel. Dank fruehem Aufstehen (5:40 - und das im Urlaub!!!) bin ich trotz zwei Stunden Anfahrt mit dem Moped einer der ersten. Ohnehin kommen aufgrund der Entfernung von Siem Reap nicht so viele Bescuher hierher - zum Glueck! So herrscht tatsaechlich Stille bis auf ... read more

It's inevitable. You visit a country, you meet the people, you endure the rustic living conditions and you fall in love with the place. Cambodia has a way about it that I'm not sure how to describe. It hit me the other day that I really want you to experience this with me...to really understand the tastes, the smells, the sights, the sounds. There have been times on my travels where I find myself in the strangest situations and I wish there was a way to bottle those moments and open them later over a cup of coffee. Like in Siem Reap during our visit to Angkor Wat, I sat at the highest point of the main temple during sun rise and somehow at was a rare couple of minutes where there were no other tourists ... read more

Nach all den recht "freudlosen" historischen Sehenswuerdigkeiten gibt's in Phnom Penh natuerlich auch noch anderes zu sehen: hier mal ohne viel Kommentare ein paar Bilder...... read more

So let's start with the motorbikes. Yes, I rode around on a motorbike for a bit, 100cc Honda. And yes, it has been reconfirmed that I have no sense of balance. But Amit is quite good on those things, so we rented one, and I've been staring at the back of his head the whole day yesterday. First we went to the Killing Fields. located 12km outside of Phnom Pehn, it is the site of the Khmer Rouge massacre. The journey there was bumpy and dusty. The road was lined by construction. We frequently found ourselves behind large trucks spewing out clouds of dust and smoke. A few hidden "speed-bumps" sent us into the air occasionally. We were making good time, until we realized that we'd taken a wrong turn at some point. That's when we ... read more