mikeapp

On Saturday I decided to have another day off for a bit more sight-seeing. I had read in the Cambodia guide book about a Buddhist temple built at the bottom of a limestone outcrop containing many caves, so I decided to make that the focus of a day trip. The temple is called Wat Kiri Sela and is just outside a town called Kompong Trach. After asking around I learnt that get a bus to Kompong Trach I would first need to get to another town called Angk Ta Saom. This town is on the main route from the capital Phnom Penh to the coastal resorts in southern Cambodia, and the buses that travel that route make a rest stop at Angk Ta Saom. I was told that a bus should arrive at about 9am so ... read more

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 ... read more

I had no problems on the flights and finally arrived in Phnom Penh which is 6 hours ahead of BST. I was very impressed with Incheon airport in Seoul, South Korea, where I had to change flights. Phnom Penh airport was also much better organised than I had anticipated, well certainly better than Kathmandu and Accra. Getting a visa on arrival was very straight forward, you just need one passport photo and 20 dollars in cash. The currency in Cambodia is the Cambodian Real (currently about 6000 reals for one pound sterling) but US dollars are effectively a second parallel currency here and just about everywhere happily accepts either. I finally arrived at my hotel in Phnom Penh at about midnight local time, 20 hours after leaving home. I had a short walk outside then went ... read more

Thursday 12th August 2010 Ada Foah is the town at the estuary of the River Volta - after it has left Akasombo it meets the Altlantic Ocean at Ada Foah. Just beyond the town of Ada Foah is an idyllic fishing village with lots of colourful fishing boats and clean sand. I made a day trip to here, about 2hrs 15mins by trotro each way. Friday 13th August 2010 The coast road going east from Accra passes through two towns called Teshie and Nungua. The weather was overcast but still quite warm and there was a nice breeze coming off the sea, so it was an ideal day for just wandering along looking at all the local shops. I took a trotro to Nungua and walked back through Nungua and Teshie as I'd heard that there ... read more

Accra - Kumasi - Bole - Larabanga - Mole National Park - Tamale My plan is to do a round trip from Accra, the main destination being Mole National Park. The park is normally accessed from the town of Tamale (to the East of Mole) as there is a bus from there direct to the park, but as that would entail doing that stretch of road twice, I decided to try and approach from the West instead, and go to Tamale afterwards. Monday 2nd August Had a lie in because there are plenty of buses from Accra to Kumasi. I packed and caught to tro-tro to the centre of Accra then walked to the bus station buying some food for the journey on the way. As luck would have it a Kumasi bus was just leaving. ... read more