Blogs from Kampong Thom, Central, Cambodia, Asia

The reason for staying in Kampong Thom was to see the nearby temple complexes of Sambor Prei Kuk. These temples were built between the 6th and 10th century AD and are all tributes to the Hindu God Shiva or his consorts. They pre-date Angkor Wat and were recommended by the Lonely Planet as being more jungly and thus more like Angkor Wat used to be like before it was cleared. It recently became a World Heritage Site (2017). The temples are around 25km from town. You can get tuk tuks or a moto there but this works out quite expensive ($30 return for tuk tuk). We chose to rent a scooter for the day. Our hotel rents them out for $10 a day, and there’s somewhere else in town. These bikes are less well looked after ... read more

The one armed man, former Khmer Rouge (although he was introduced as a Suryavarman supporter who had defected), was a lot more welcoming than he was in during the 90's. Back then, he'd greeted Sokum's tourist bus with guns and a rocket launcher, Sukum had to run out with his hands up shouting "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I have a bus of 30 tourists and it won't be good to shoot foreign nationals!" Sokum was laughing so hard as he recalled this to us, equally so was the one armed man. People move on I guess, especially when you consider that the Khmer Rouge killed 16 of Sokum's family. I didn't quite get how the arm was lost, but it was through conflict, the guy was miming all sorts of stuff and I think he also ... read more

So the time came on Tuesday to say goodbye to Siem reap :-( We had a few new travel buddies, all ladies which was lovely. Camille Crome the USA, Evi fro Belgium and Carrie from the USA. We were heading to Kampong Thom before getting back into Phnom Penh. Our first stop was the Phnom Kulen National Park. Phnom Kulen is considered by Khmers to be the most sacred mountain in Cambodia and is a popular place of pilgrimage during weekends and festivals. We had the opportunity to see the riverbed rock carvings better known as the 1,000 lingas. The lingam (also, linga, ling, Shiva linga, Shiv ling, Sanskrit लिङ्गं, liṅgaṃ, meaning "mark", "sign", or "inference")is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples. In traditional Indian society, the linga is rather ... read more

Kampong Thom to Seam Reap Sunday morning and we can have a lie in? No the funeral started again this morning at 5.30 and we can hear the lamenting voice of a woman singing out loud and clear, it makes you realise you are in a foreign country. After this came the gutterall tones of a man, it seemed like we were in Morocco and were being called to prayer. The religion here however is Buddhism and the funeral continues. Next we hear the cockerels and then the ducks and birds and figure we might as well join in. Quite surreal, singing on a Sunday morning with the light shining through pinpoint holes in the roof so that it looks like stars however we soon gave up as we didn't know the words.Breakfast overlooking the pool ... read more

Vi har i dag vært på guidet tur til et tempel som lå på en fjelltopp..dvs. en høyde på sånn ca. 300 meter. På denne "fjelltoppen" var det flere templer av diverse størelser. Vår guide som lyder navnet Som holdte et lengre foredrag om Buddismen. Men da hans engelsk kunnskaper ikke er blant de beste er det ikke riktig alt man får med seg. Selv passasjer som kommer fra engelskspråklige land har store problemer med å skjønne hva han snakker/babler om. Senere på dagen var vi klare for nok en utflukt, denne gangen skulle vi på en annen høyde og se på... Ja akkurat nok et tempel! Men i dette tempel område var det i tillegg masse frekke apekatter som vi matet med bananer. Etter dette tempel besøket fortsatte ferden videre til en økolandsby. Denne byen ... read more