http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Cambodia en-us Wed, 11 Nov 09 00:45:11 +0000 Wed, 11 Nov 09 00:45:11 +0000 Hello guest blogger here so donrsquot expect the the great writing skills of my lovely lsquowifersquo Jess and wonderful daughter Jaz. This trip has far exceeded my expectations. The only real downside has not being able to talk to my BIG kids Marissa Skyler and Dylan as I often do at home. Itrsquos difficult to add to Jessrsquos entries so Irsquoll try to articulate why it has http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-452228.html it allways starts with a long flight.. 13 hours not tv and only two small bottle of water.. but managed to sleep most of it. didnt get up to much in KL apart from seeing the towers and the zoojungle in the city..but soon we left.. 2am to be precise on our much nice flight into cambodia once we got past the 15 customs desks and out of the air con its was beautiful. straight away ive rememberd why http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-452207.html part 2 already i cant keep up with this holidayWOW so much to tell you guys Well we spent 3 days at Angkor Wat. Its definitely THE place to hold an Indiana Jones party loads of places to explore and despite the myriads of people at some of the bigger temples some were like you were discovering them for the first time crawling over stones and through windows to get to hidden rooms i did loos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-451916.html I am 4 days behind in my blog so will make this quick.Last day in Siem Reap and it was raining so lucky we did all our temple stuff the 2 days before. We had a look at the markets where I managed to spend about 70 on a dress a couple of tops some cambodian pants which rock and god knows what else.We ended up getting a massage for 7 each which was abit freaky at the start. They took us up to th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-451888.html We've had a few busy days since I last wrote so it must be time to catch up a little. Thanks to the occasional blog comment I have reason to think that at least a couple of people are reading this. Remember folks a little comment and here and there provides further motivation for me to write.We left for the wedding reception soon after I wrote the last entry. We didn't leave at 400 or 430 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-451850.html As we began our descent from 30000ft I was entirely oblivious to the aircrewrsquos requests to stow our traytables return our seats to the upright position and fasten our seatbelts as I was entirely rapt by the stunning views laid out for before me from my windowseat. A vast glistening blue lake was encircled by endless emerald green fields themselves sparkling with the waters sustaining t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-451554.html We had a conversation with Ponheary about religion yesterday. I hadn't realized before all the wedding preparations for her niece this week that her family was Muslim. It's not something she makes wellknown. I suppose in a country that is 99 Buddhist being in the 1 Muslim minority has its drawbacks and there has been persecution over the years. She told us that her family was unusual as Musli http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-451132.html Landed in Siem Reap at around 0705 with only 1 hours sleep at the most after going all day and the night before. There were only about 30 people on the plane.Arrived At Siem Reap Airport which is quite lovely reminded me a bit of Koh Samui airport but not as beautiful.We had already arranged a guide a month earlier called Darith Touch who we found on Trip Advisor and had booked him to pick us up http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/blog-450727.html awesome http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kampong-Cham/blog-450542.html Arriving late at night in Phnom Penh the city is eerily quiet and deserted but not so in the daytime as I found out the next morning Phnom Penh is a bustling place but the wide expanse of boulevards serve to open up the city and make it a breathable and pleasant place. Visiting the killing fields 15 km out of the centre of town is something that undoubtedly leaves it's mark to say the least http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-450467.html Itrsquos 130 Tuesday afternoon in Siem Reap. I am sitting on the balcony outside our room where the temperature is a very pleasant 75 degrees or so. Rain is falling softly I can hear a little noise from the street and the Ly family below me in their outdoor kitchen. The smell of the chicken on their fire is wafting up and it smells delicious. I am supremely content. And for once I am not swea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-450400.html What is it that makes you fall in love with a country With 4 weeks cut off my intended trip by my stupid Sandhurst precommissioning course I had had to abandon my plans to spend part of my trip in Laos and Cambodia and restrict myself to a 10 day whirlwind transit through the latter on my way back overland to Bangkok to fly home on the 7th. I had made this revision without too much angst as I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Kampot/blog-450186.html I remain in remarkable health. Still no sign of Swine Flu despite checks at all the boardersI didnrsquot think it was possible to fall so completely in love with a country. From the moment I crossed over the boarder Cambodia worked its magic on me. I was fascinated by the greeness of the fields and the little wooden shacks that formed the houses on the way to Siem Reap. My first impression http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-449845.html In our post last week we told you that we had a bus ticket for the 34 of our next trip to Sen Monorom far East of Cambodia... After that stop at 130km away from our destination we planed to catch a minibus. This minibus left our station 2 hours earlier than our bus... Not synchronized at all... So when we arrived at 1pm people in the station told us we had 2 options either sleep in the vi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-449672.html After a few amazing but exhausting days we leave Siem Reap Cambodia and head towards Chiang Rai Thailand. We start with a 2 hour drive back to the border and the uniquely distasteful city of Poipet Cambodia. I hate to be disparaging of other cultures but this town gives me the creeps. It's just a dirty slimy lil craphole. It's just an overall feeling of confuse then screw the tourist.The car http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-449621.html Sorry for the late blog but finally finishing up the Cambodian temple descriptions and pics. By the way Prasat is Cambodian for temple ...go figure.Prasat Ta Som Temple is also in a fantastic ruined condition. It is still unrestored. At both the entrance and waaay at the back are those great King Jay gates with his face at the top. The one in the back on the outside face has a magnificent http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-449620.html REVISED 11109 TO INCLUDE PRE RUP TEMPLE AND RELABEL PHOTOS heh all these temples start to look the same after a while.Prasat Kraven Temple also called the Cardamom Sanctuary is an unusual temple for this area. Itrsquos simple in design and it uses small red brick and sandstone which gives it a strange orangey color. Itrsquos a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi. S http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-449488.html Cambodia is about half the size of Germany about as big as the state of Missouri. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and the literacy rate is approximately 35. Infant mortality is over 10 prostitution sadly child prostitution is very common and disease especially AIDS are rampant. We started our antimalarials here and there are signs warning against dengue fever there i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-449369.html Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. It is so large that it resembles the size of a sea. In early spring itrsquos at itrsquos lowest and covers 2500 square kilometers. However when monsoon rains begin and the Himalayan waters rush down the Mekong River where the Tonle Sap drains into the amount of water reverses the flow of the Tonle Sap and all the water rushes back i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Tonle-Sap/blog-449166.html Ta Keo temple. This temple is very imposing. Massive blocks of unadorned stone. This might be one of the highest in Angkor. The steps are at about a 70 to 75 degree angle and only 46 inches wide. What a mother to climb but so worth it. You are about 70 feet up at the summit and can see over the Cambodian jungle. The temple was never finished and was intentionally undecorated. The climb wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-449144.html