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Published: July 24th 2011
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Takeo Canal
The start of the canal to Angkor Borei A Day Off
Since the monks' English class only seems to run Monday to Friday I decided to go and do my first bit of sight-seeing on Saturday. Takeo province is very flat and low-lying so it is always affected quite badly in the wet season. Cambodia basically has only two seasons, the dry season and the wet season, and we are currently in the middle of the wet season. To the north of Takeo there is a year-round lake but the farm land to the east, as far as the Mekong river, floods dramatically during the wet season.
There is also a major canal starting in Takeo and running east. About 20 miles to the east there is a small town called Angkor Borei which straddles this canal, and this was where I headed. Near Angkor Borei there is an important temple at a place called Phnom Da. Phnom simply means 'hill' in Khmer, the language spoken in Cambodia. The temple at Phnom Da is not magnificent in any way similar to those at Angkor Wat, but it is quite important historically in the creation of the Khmer republic because it was the first to be built by
Angkor Borei
The boat I travelled on at Angkor Borei the newly independant Khmer people.
As well as the main canal mentioned, there is a major network of canals between Takeo and the Mekong river. During the wet season, though, it becomes almost impossible to tell where the canals are as they simply merge with the flooded farm land. The easiest way to get to Angkor Borei and Phnom Da, then, is by water, and there are a number of entrepreneurs who offer high-speed rides in their fibreglass & outboard motor boats. To get to where they start is only a 15-20 minute walk from the volunteers' centre so I set off about 9am. There is no trouble finding a boat-man as as soon as they see a foreigner standing by the canalside, one will come up to tout for business. You basically hire the man and boat for the return trip to both Angkor Borei and Phnom Da. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get to Angkor Borei where you land to make a short visit to the local museum which contains some of the carvings from Phnom Da but the best ones are all in museums in Phnom Penh and Paris.
After visiting the museum I
Phnom Da
Approaching the twin hills of Phnom Da got back in the boat for another 20-minute ride to Phnom Da. There are actually two temples here, each on the top of its own hill with the two hills right next to each other sticking up from the flat flooded plain. The second temple is quite a bit older than the main one - I believe the main one is 11th century and the other is 7th century, but it is quie a bit smaller as well. After spending a couple of hours wandering around these two temples, I went back to the boat for the ride back to Takeo. During both journeys we passed a number of people trying to make a living in the flooded fields, pulling up various plants to collect and sell. The canal is also an important thoroughfare for freight traffic.
Arriving back in Takeo at about 1pm I then wandered into the nearby old market where there are a number of food stalls, and bought a few delicacies for lunch. Back to te centre then as it was looking like the daily deluge of rain was due quite soon, so I sat doing sudokus on the balcony until the rain had cleared.
Phnom Da
The main Khmer temple I then cycled up towards the main shopping area near the new market to try and get a local SIM card for my phone and a few other items that I hadn't been able to find in the market a couple days ago - tea bags especially!
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Craig
non-member comment
Great reading
Mike, great reading about your trip. Glad that you're having a nice time