Blogs from Cambodia, Asia - page 774

We arrived in Siem Reap with about 5000 misquitoes to bring along with us from PP. The bus was loaded with bugs and at 7am no one was happy to get on the 'malaria bus' however... when in Cambodia! Siem Reap is a little more of what I expected it to be... a little less developed but in the works with hotels popping up everywhere, dirt roads with dust blowing, tiny shack side road shops and houses with people riding bikes and motobikes. Getting off the bus was a feat that I conquered quite well considering how I feel about getting harassed every 5 seconds. We arrived and the bus was literally swarmed by people with signs for their hotels, tuk-tuk drivers screaming at you to go with them, whispering in your ear free this and ... read more

Hello all!! Well we've left Vietnam. We ended up staying and relaxing in Nhatrang for a couple of days around this very nice pool and swimming endlesly and drinking diet coke! Than we took a night bus (shocking!) to Saigon...aka....Ho Chi Min City! Another big city with massive amounts of motorbikes! Shawna was really sick for a couple of days so I headed off to the Cu Chi tunnels to explore a crazy underground network built during the Vietnamese war 5km from the American base!! Really crazy and you could pay a couple of bucks to shoot some guns or even a machine gun but I opted out! The tunnels were crazy hot and small and I was only down under for 5 minutes or so and these people lived under there! No wonder they won ... read more

Have always assumed Angkor Wat refers to the group of temples somewhere in Cambodia. Only to realise that it is actually the name of only one, and the most famous one, among the many temples built over the last few hundred years. Was really impressed by Angkor Wat our first visit. Went to catch the sunset at Angkor Wat, really beautiful. The sun rays luminated the towers, giving it an orange glow. Tried to climb up to the top of the towers to get a better view of the sunset, was quite overwhelmed with their high and narrow steps at first esp with the strong wind blowing. Hmmmm..... all I can think of is how do I get down later?! But subsequently, we were so used to climbing these steps after visit the many many temples ... read more

We awoke the next morning to the roaring fan ahead, viciously swirling the cool night’s air with the brutal heat that poured in through our guesthouse window. It was only 6:30 am when our day began. We met our English friend down the hall and went for coffee at guesthouse’s restaurant. Despite the heat, it was quite a dreary day, overcast but still dry. When we went to meet the Tuk-Tuk (the go cart/taxi) driver we found that the tour guide had not yet arrived. After waiting 20 minutes we were ready to move along without, but the driver called him and insisted that he was only two minutes away. Ten minutes later he arrived, and we all piled in the Tuk-Tuk and headed to the Temples of Angkor. Driving past the five-star hotels and other ... read more

Our next stop was the grand Temple of Angkor. The day was becoming wet as we walked down the long sandstone causeway across the moat. The Moat was still other than the light tapping of raindrops that always fall lightly before a downpour. Once through the main entrance, we went in through the gate that contained a statue of Vishnu. After stepping into the dark, damp hall lit only with candles and the hovering sent of incense, our eyes were first captured by the bright orange of Vishnu’s robe. The only movement in the still darkness was a nun dressed in white attending to the candles and flowers at his feet. A unique aspect about this statue is that it is a statue of the Hindu God Vishnu, but when the government tried to rid the ... read more