Temple-tastic

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Bry speaking: After a day in Bangkok, we got a plane to Siem Reap. I know, I know... totally against my envirnomental credentials but the choice was two full days travelling there and back or an hour each way on the plane and I'm afraid time won out. There's just too much to see here to spend time on buses all the time.

We got a moto each into town and found a place a little off the main strip, where our $12 (6 quid) got us bath, balcony, etc. Then 2.5 days of temples. They are absolutely amazing... I was quite taken with how different they each were from each other, the larger ones at least. Angkor Wat is the most famous and swarming with tourists even at 5am. My personal favourite was Thom, the one with all the faces. Really eerie, feels like you're being watched by ancient gods or something. Close second was Ta Phrom, the one where Tombraider was filmed... the tree roots look like melting wax dripping down the walls. The pass was $40, which seemed a lot, but we did spend well over 14 hours across the three days and I'm sure the conservation work is expensive. If the tourist income helps to maintain them, then that is at least something, although I do suspect it only covers the damage we all do climbing all over them. Every temple is surrounded with hawkers, many of them kids from about 4 yrs old. They kept telling me they went to school in the morning or the afternoon, depending on what time of day we saw them, but I'm a cynic. We decided that not buying from the kids was better than supporting a situation where they earn too much money for their parents to be willing to lose their income by being at school.

On our last night we happened across a bar with a roof top screening of a film called 'New Year Baby' - it was a documentary following one girl's journey to discover her Cambodian family's history. Now living in the USA with her Mum, Dad, a brother and two sisters, she discovered that her brother was from her Mum's first marriage... which had been brough to an untimely end by her husband being killed by the Khmer Rouge. Her sisters turned out to be her cousins, whose parents had died in a labour camp. Her parents had been forced to marry in a camp. They managed to escape on foot, with her father doing three trips across the border to rescue the two girls. Then, to our surprise the film maker got up and did a Q&A... a lucky evening or what?! She was fascinating, talking about the need for a trial of somesort. I left my email address to be sent more info and will put the details here when I get them.

After the sobering film, we needed a little light relief so after a few pitchers of cocktails we met a British woman called Jo, headed off the the local night club and boogied 'til 3am or so. All in all and amazing few days. Then it was a hungover plane trip back to Bangkok before working out which of the beautiful islands we fancy checking out.

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Photos

Lucy on map
Our 3 year old niece Lucy finding Cambodia on the map.

Bullet scars
Angkor Wat - bullet scars from battles (with Khmer Rouge I think)

Stone spindles
These sandstone spindles were lathe-turned apparently. Not bad for 1000 years ago.

Trees eating temples
This is the famous one from Tombraider (the temple is called Ta Prohm)

Comments

[Lucy age 3]

"I'm famous"
"Hey, that's me!"