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Published: November 14th 2006
A variety of architecture
The variation in home living is fascinating! There's construction everywhere.Good morning everyone! We are up and at 'em and heading out for breakfast shortly. I thought I would get a head start on the notes for today. We fly to Siem Riep and I am really looking forward to that. For 3 years, every week, I had my manicures and pedicures done by a delightful Cambodian couple in St. Albert (Alberta). They taught me a lot about Siem Riep before I left Alberta (to move to Ontario). They will be in my thoughts for the next few days as we explore this fascinating place. I am also adding 2 additional pictures from Viet Nam, that were requested by others to be posted on the blog.
So, it's Sunday morning for us right now. We will be staying at the Angkor Century hotel and have the opportunity to watch the sunset at a temple this evening (Angkor Wat). Stay tuned. This is another special spot.
And now it's Monday afternoon and I am catching up a bit. It's been very hot out in the sun, yesterday and today, so a computer break in the air-conditioning is most welcome!
Once we arrived in Cambodia yesterday, we were entertained in
The "booby pool"
We are sitting on bar stools in the water; you just swim up and order.....pretty cool! Gail and I continue our commitment to exercising regularly (no, not at the bar!) one of the ballrooms. Very beautiful young ladies performed some of the local dances for us. We were presented with silk scarves and a warm welcome! Our rooms are fabulous and you get a feeling of serenity just walking in. Finally, Leona and I have a room with a wonderful view of the pool. We had time to get a bit organized and then it was off to Angkor Wat, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Breath-taking. Lots of history. Lots of stories. (for more information on any of these, click on the map at the bottom right hand side of the page and you will see different tabs such as People, etc. and you can read about all the facts and history). We watched the sunset at Angkor Wat. This was one of my favorite stops on the journey because I have very good friends in St. Albert (Alberta), Meng and Nay (at Vo's Nails in St. Albert, if anyone is looking for a great manicure or pedicure!) who are from Cambodia. They told me so much about their home land, shared videos with me and were excited that I was coming here. So, this is special!
Cambodia from the sky
This area was recently flooded. There were lots of people touring, as you can imagine, but every now and then you would spot an adorable child just entertaining themselves in the courtyards.
It was hot, hot, hot because we got to Angkor Wat at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Whew. We were all dripping. But it was well worth it.
Back at the hotel, we had time for a cool shower, a dip in the pool, and so on before supper. Most of us had supper in the hotel, which was wonderful and then an early evening (for me, anyway). I was a bit tired and was looking forward to an early night in bed. The beds are quite hard, as are the pillows (no Heavenly Pillows here, Kate!!!!!). But, once we were out and about today, and the tour guide was showing us where some of the people lived, and explained that the children sleep on the wood floor........well, no more complaints out of any of us about the hard beds!!!!
This morning, I was up and early and waiting at the door of the Fitness Center at 6 a.m.!!! I am dedicated to my workouts and enjoying them, actually. How
Cambodia from the sky 2
This area was recently flooded. else could I possibly keep up with all the walking and climbing we are doing!!! I was working out with Alex, who is 84 years old, and taking this trip with his adult daughter. Alex is from Hong Kong and had not been back in 60 years. Many changes for him, and quite emotional (reminded me of our trip to PEI, Mom). Anne was also working out with me. She is 71 and from Toronto, and a lot of fun! They are my inspiration!!!!!
Time for a quick breakfast and then off we went to Angkor Tom. We have a great tour guide and we are learning a lot. The pictures speak for themselves and there's no way I could possibly explain all the history in this short blog. But, again, it was breath-taking. Incredible and amazing architecture. Angkor Wat (yesterday's tour) took 37 years and 40,000 people to build it.........and that's not counting the Elephant "power".
And speaking of elephants........oh my gosh.........I RODE AN ELEPHANT TODAY!!!!!! What an adventure!!! How incredibly exciting!!!! I was thinking about Heather, Brian, Kalen, Ben, Evan, Jordan........Ryan, Adam........all the young people in my life who would have loved this opportunity!!!!! It was
Coming into Siem Riep
Beautiful countryside amazing!!!! Leona and Anne went on one elephant. Tina and I went on another. We swapped cameras so we could get pictures of each other. It was incredible!!! (did I say that already??????? Well, it was!!!!!!) Man, oh man, who would have thought! We had a great guide, Sam, who was friendly and helpful. Our elephant was 40 years old!
We toured Angkor Tom, had a break on some of the rocks and chatted with our guide. I know some of you are wondering who else is on this tour with me. You will see in this one group photo some of those people.........Bonnie and her husband (I just forgot his name) from Calgary; he is a home developer and they are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. They are the "babies" in the group, in their mid-40th. There is Larry and Mary-Jane, who owned a scrap metal business in Red Deer; John and Bette, who were also in land development in Victoria.......and my buddies: Leona, Tina and Anne.
From there, we went to a Cambodian restaurant for lunch. Yummmmmmmmmmmm, is all I can say. I took some shots for you Louise and Elizabeth! Yummmmmmmmmmm. There were so many
Anne and Leona on the bus
Another beautiful country, another fabulous guide, another air-conditioned bus! choices! And Katie, I must add that I am sooooo very grateful to you for the gift of the camera. My pictures are turning out so beautiful, and so very clear!!! Thank you so much!!! I feel like you are travelling along with me. (And Wilda, your suitcase is having a pretty good time too !)
Now that I've cooled off, it's time to head out again. We have an optional tour available and I'm not missing a thing!!! We are going on a boat ride (yup, I'm going out on water again!) to a floating village, to a fisherman's village, we will take an ox cart ride and do some shopping. Life is so very good!!!! The weather is very hot here but I'm not complaining because some of you are sending e-mails with the weather reports back in Canada. Yuk!
Gotta run. Thinking of you. I know the blog is now being followed by people from BC to Nfld., to Kentucy, to France to England and probably far beyond that..........
More later.
Happy Pat 😊 (and all her travelling buddies who are enjoying this blog as much as I am!)
Ok, I'm back!
Angkor Wat
One of the 7 Wonders of the World It's now later in the evening. We have had an AMAZING, PHENOMENAL, INCREDIBLE, OUTSTANDING, OVERHWELMING, MIND-BOGGLING DAY (and yes, I know I'm writing in capital letters, because I don't know how else to describe the day!)
After I left you earlier, we went off on a tour of the Art School. It's like an Apprenticeship school where students are selected from the poor families in the country. One child from a family is given the opportunity to come to this school for a period of 6-8 months to train in the arts. They are given a living allowance and study each day. You will see some of the pictures. Amazing skills and delightful people. Some of the students are deaf and mute (cannot hear or speak) and are taught in sign language.
Then, we had the incredible opportunity, thanks to our tour guide (there were only 15 of us who had this invitation) to go to his village in the country and have a tour by ox cart. Wow. Each of the carts took 2-3 people and then the drivers very kindly invited us into their home (such as they are!!!). These people are very poor, but have
A Cambodian Welcome
A traditional dance performance hearts of gold! We saw children everywhere and what was incredible is that while many of them were naked, they were playing in the dirt, lots of laughter and happy faces. Hmmmmmm, what's wrong with our style of living??? We're missing something! Anyway, these people opened their homes to us and it was humbling, to say the least. Then, off on a boat tour to the Floating Village. We saw homes along the water (which are flooded out each monsoon season! .....and then they start from scratch again. These people have very little in the way of possessions!). What we saw was unbelievable: a floating Catholic church, a floating school, a floating Seniors Center, a woman and her 2 little children rowing their little hearts out to catch up with the tour boats and sell us cold drinks, and so on and so on. It's hard to describe in words! It touched our hearts!
Then.......back to the hotel where we had an amazing (I know I use that word a lot and I asked the people at my table at dinner to give me some other words to use.........they said: incredible, phenomenal, outstanding, .......we're all on the same happy
Hard working people
They were on the grounds at Angkor Wat, gathering what appeared to be some kind of weed (to me) that they boil and make into a "medicine" for arthritis. page! Oh, pinch me! I still can't believe I am living this dream!) There was a huge buffet offering the best of everything possible from fish, to squid, to (believe it or not) Kentucky Fried chicken and french fries. I couldn't believe my eyes! Fruit, appetizers, pasta dishes, salads (which we don't eat because of concern of contamination), chicken, and so on and so on. The pool area was lit, entertainment was fantastic, and a great time was had by all. It's HOT as heck during the day, but evenings are quite comfortable.
What a day! How can we top this????? We're off to India tomorrow. We leave the hotel at 9 a.m.. It's a 5 hour flight to Agra and then a 5 hour bus ride to Delhi. It will be a long travel day. Don't know if you'll hear from me for a day or so. Stay tuned though, because we're only at the beginning of Week 2.
Enjoy. Keep your notes coming. The group love to hear from home!
Happy Pat
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Dorothy C
non-member comment
Thanks
Your commentary and pictures are fabulous. I almost feel like I am there too. Thanks so much for including me in your blog. Cant wait to receive more.