MaryB
Mary Bird Joined: December 1st 2005
Logged in: August 20th 2009
Logged in: August 20th 2009
Travel Blog Posts
Early morning skyline
All good things must come to an end, and so does my time in this country. Boarding a plane tonight. These last days have been taken at a far more leisurely pace and have been more contemplative than their predecessors. Lingering lazily ... Walking on the riverfront is easy from where I am staying. The footpath is wide so there is no problem dodging oncoming traffic or reversing cars, with fewer fumes and generally a lot of space between people. The breeze that blows also helps with cooling - it has been rather hot and humid these last few days - 36 degree days, (it is winter by the way ... perish the thought of summer days). So I walked quite a way until I found that lake area. Down narrow streets and winding around to ... read more
Snake skinners in action
You have to work a bit harder in Cambodia, to get to the softer side of people. I have had some lovely moments these last couple of days ... a warm feeling after considering the sadness that must lurk inside many Cambodians. In fact, one moto driver told me as much. He said that they won't show it, but suggested a residual sadness is there in young and old alike. Restorative start to the day ... One morning I wandered down to the market place in search of breakfast local-style. It was early - about 7 to 7.30 am and stall holders were setting up. I passed a man and his friend skinning snakes to cook and sell that day! I also saw a man unloading his motobike which had a frame over it that was ... read more
Cell with leg iron & instrument of torture
On Boxing Day I headed for the Killing Fields and Genocide Museum. A stark contrast to the symmetry of the architecture of the regal buildings and gardens, these 2 venues are a testament to a very asymmetrical time democratically. Sobering sites Tuol Sleng Museum is the site of a former high school that was taken over by Pol Pot and his security forces and transformed into a venue for detention and torture. Some classrooms were divided into cells for torture, others were used to house detainees en masse. It was known as Security Prison 21 or S21. In this place, the rooms remain intact and the instruments of torture are on display as evidence of the atrocities committed. Thousands of people were held prisoner here. They were all photographed and records kept of their backgrounds and ... read more
Palace buildings 1
After a comfortable bus ride from Battambang through villages, towns and farming districts, I arrived in the mayhem of Phnom Penh. Tuk tuk and moto drivers tout for rides, people clamour for their luggage being offloaded on a narrow footpath beside an eating place where the leftovers of the lunch crowd still linger ... a far cry from the quiet place I have left. Buses to Sihanoukville all gone, I face the prospect of a night in town and then a trip south to spend two half days and then a trip back ... all sounds too rushed ... I want to end my trip languidly. So I decided to stay in the capital for four nights! Palatial places A visit to the royal palace and silver pagoda reveals a cluster of ornate buildings set in ... read more
Some of the items we passed on
On to cook today, and discover secrets of Khmer cuisine at the 'Smokin Pot' restaurant. Ate there last night with a French woman I ran into at a temple ... and it was her second meal there in the same day ... thought that was a good sign! I had amok fish ... delicieux! Some like it hot... Cooking class Khmer style started at the market with lots of tasty treats to see. We pass on the cockroaches, turtles and catfish. Our teacher, Vannak did a wonderful job of explaining the ingredients available. We bought freshly grated coconut, as well as various herbs and spices. However, we also smelled lots of ingredients, had a good look at others and even tasted a couple of things! As usual, the market was a busy place, and rich in ... read more
Floating home (1)
Got the boat ... a slow boat to Battambang the second largest city in Cambodia in a province known as the 'rice bowl' of the country as it produces the best? or the most? pr both? rice in the nation. And ... Cambodians cannot go without rice ... The boat trip was good - firstly because I was on it! Secondly because it was scenic - at times on a large expanse of water - Tonle Sap lake, at others in narrow passageways through water bushes. Floating villages along the way were houses on floating platforms, many of them painted in pretty colours - principally blues. Some dwellings were rather ramshackle, others more ornate. There was a very important building (concrete) on very high stilts (about twice the height of your average queenslander (house)) built in ... read more
Well I was packed and ready to leave on the Battambang leg of the journey at 5:45 am. The boat company sends a minibus or similar to collect customers at 6. However, my bus driver 'forgot' me ... so at 6:30 I started agitating for something to happen and in a last ditch effort I was raced out to the area where the boat departs ... in a tuk tuk that literally bounced from rut to rut tossing me, my backpack and the carriage about so much that I thought we might all be separated at some stage ... and we were hurtling along a narrow strip of land with water on both sides as well as huts and people having breakfast, children walking to school (start at 7am) - not exactly a place to speed ... read more
God is watching
The temples of Angkor are located in what was once the capital of Cambodia's ancient Khmer empire. The sheer size and number of the temple remains is impressive, let alone imagining what they were like in their heyday. The Cambodian god-kings of old tried to outdo their predecessors in the construction of these religious buildings. I spent the best part of three days scrambling over ruins, climbing up to the highest of accessible parts and then limbering down again (a steep, and precarious exercise!) to cover a wide range of these religious buildings. Day one was tiring as I covered some of the main ones. Days 2 and 3 took me into the countryside a bit more and I managed the very touristy elephant ride! Will bring home the photo! Juxtasposing jungle and Jayavarmen ... The ... read more
Old markets - dried fish!
Siem Reap is a bustling town, with the streets busied by cars, tuk tuks, motos, bicycles, pedestrians ... the footpaths pounded by many a tourist and trailing beggars or juvenile hawkers. In fact they are everywhere ... part of the backdrop at every site, and market place. The hawkers are well practiced ... they start off with... "hello ladÿ ... where you from?" "Australia" "Äustralia - the capital is Canberra. Australia has 21 million people. You buy postcard from me lady. Just one dollar. 10 for one dollar ..."etc You can tell its a real tourist town when ... the menus are mostly in US dollars, and aimed at the western palate. Not interested. Have had to work a bit harder here for good local nosh, and have given in to the limitations of a town ... read more
