Land of The Gods

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Arrived safely after a six hour double decker bus journey and checked into our weirdest hotel yet! Well, we have never seen anything like it in our lives. The first room I rejected as it had no window, so he showed us to another room, which seemed to be in the attic of a warehouse. Little rooms added on higgledy, piggledy. But, it was clean, had a bathroom and most importantly air conditioning as as the outside temperature was now 32 degrees, so we accepted it. The walls were painted brick and the ceiling was unplastered, unpainted plasterboard, and two of the walls were unfinished bright orange studwork. Johnny Andrews would have cringed as none of it was either square or straight. But, hey it had character. Loads of it. However, when we went exploring, we found the restaurant to be even more mind boggling. We had to walk over a bamboo gangplank over a fish pond to get into it and there must have been about fifteen different tiers serviced by a block and tackle tray system for delivering drinks and meals to the various heights. There was an area in the centre which was floor seating on cushions. And in the corner was an alligator pit, with ten live alligators that had been saved from a local alligator farm. Signs around mentioned that they keep them because the customers love them. Also the odd duck was seen to waddle around as these are apparently great for keeping down the insects!! Not sure that it will be added to our kitchen plans. Great place though and will stick in our memory. The room was $14 per night and by the way was called The Dead Fish Inn.

Wandered into town that evening looking for information on how to visit Angkor. Found our way to The Boom Boom Room where we again bumped into Taff our third time in the last two weeks. But more importantly found Paul who had just done Angkor with a guide and highly recommended him telling us about the guides character and passion along with massive amounts of detail. Wouldn't normally do this, but we used him for two days and he was fantastic so here's his name and number should anyone else wish to use him: Mr Choeun Chang (English speaking guide) (855) 12 21 50 39 email [e-mail]

Mr Chang and his tuk tuk driver (Mr Run) picked us up at 8am on Friday morning and we were very excited as to what we were going to see. We were not disappointed, after 12 hours and a great sunset Mr Chang had managed to take us to The Angkor area where he used all his guile, knowledge and experience to take us around some of the most fantastic temples, shrines and cities you have ever seen, but still avoiding the main throng of tourists.

These are not just temples, they date back to the 9th century and are massive, impressive, awesome, unbelievable, confusing and makes you want to learn more about them. The most amazing thing for us were the size of the moats surrounding these huge complexes that had been dug by hand thousands of years ago, a 190m wide by 2kms long and mainly 3m deep. After they had completed this, they then decided to move the sandstone over 70kms onto site. Each block ranging from 60 kilo to 6 ton. No lorries, no roads, no crane and we have no idea how they did it! But boy are we glad they did.

After a thoroughly exhausting, but exhilerating day getting back to our hotel we realised we needed shovels to get the dust and dirt off our bodies. We were filthy! But showered and refreshed, off to town we went and thanked Paul for recommending such a great guide. He was so enthused about our tales, that he decided to join us the following day on our 37 km journey to Banteai Srei (the Ladies temple).

The ladies temple was very different from those the day before, smaller, daintier with much detailed and defined carvings. The stone was also a pink colour which made it look very pretty. Considering that many of these were abandoned for many hundreds of years and rediscovered in the 1920s, the amount that is left gives you a picture of a civilisation long long ago. Again, another full 12 hour day with more information than we could handle, but could only thanks Mr Chang for his passionate knowledge and Mr Run for his safe driving.

The day was rounded off with a cool shower and plans to meet Paul and Dave (the Indian Guru) for a cold beer later.

Met at the Boom Boom Bar, cold drinks in hand and in wandered two fellow travellers, Stephen (New York) and Caroline (Darlington) that we had met on Don Khon, last week. Had a brilliant evening that ended with the street vendors drinking mango and pineapple shakes. This followed Paul and Daves previous research whereon Wednesday night they went to all street vendors testing the various shakes to find the ultimate shake. See what travelling does to you!

Now in Phnom Penh (Sunday) for two nights looking to do the Killing Fields Museums before moving on Tuesday to Silhanoukiville, Bamboo Island and the beach for a well earned rest.

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Photos

Bantey Srei
The beautiful Lady Temple

Angkor Wat
Awesome water reflection of Angkor Wat, the temple of all temples

Eaten by the jungle
Where's Angelina Jolie?

Hidden in the jungle
One of the many ruins which have been recovered from the jungle.

What every traveller should carry
Angela, Paul and Mr Chang holding the priceless "Pit surf Shop" wet bag

Sunset
This is how beautiful the temple stones look in the sunset.

Refreshing cold beer
Angela, Paul and Dave (Indian Guru) relaxing after gruelling day.

Comments

[Anne Jones]

Hi, hope this gets to you previous ones I've sent have'nt arrived, you seem to be having a very hectic but nice time, Dave you'll have to hire yourself out to all the local groups ie;Jam and jerusalem, with talks of your holidays. Your friends look interesting!. Amy won a cup in her drama exam! keeping my eye on boys and Beba, alls well. Love you Mum and Dadxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[karen]

looks fab
Well I am impressed you must spend a lot of time writing, looks like a fantastic adventure. Some bits sound a little trying (cant see me ever doing this) but love reading your reports (you should write for a travel company). Lovely to hear from you on monday loved daves asian dialect. take care xxxx