Blogs from Angkor, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 12

So it’s my turn to write the blog for our next section of our adventure Cambodia. This isn’t going to be the happiest blog you’ve ever read, Cambodia has had its challenges and we wanted to experience as much of it as we could. It does get happier though peeps so grab a cup of tea. We booked onto a coach from Vietnam to drive down to Phnom Penh. It was clear that the storage lockers under the coach were full so the back seats were now filling up with backpacks and cases. Taking our seats we prepared for the drive down, the coach was quite comfy and as always it gave me the perfect people watching opportunity. When we arrived at the border we handed our passports and cash to the coordinator on the coach ... read more

Went back to the Northern stretch of the main Angkor area, the only area I missed on day one, because of the bicycle tire blow-out. Well, after visiting Preah Khan, the largest of all the temple structures at Angkor, it was time for more vehicle trouble. The tuk-tuk stalled and would not re-start. Bad gas. The driver filled up with petrol near Banteay Srei, and the road-side Johnny-Walker bottles of petrol he bought must have been adulterated with water. After a little tinkering, the tuk-tuk started again, and I was back in Siem Reap, after another exhausting day. I'm eating as much as I can, and still continue to lose inches around my hips and waist. I really should have brought a belt, and not left it behind "to travel light". The Cambodian food is half ... read more

What an incredible story of the founder of the Cambodian Land Mine Museum - Aki Ra. He was forcibly recruited as child soldier by the Khemer Rouge, then at 14 years switched allegiances to the Vietnamese backed Cambodian Army fighting the Khemer Rouge, many of whom were his friends or relatives. He described being sent out to hunt for food with his AK-47 or M-16 and coming across his friends in the Khemer Rouge who were also hunting for food. He'd play with them at night and they'd end up trying to kill each other by day. After the fighting, he took on unorthodox de-mining work, often de-activating 30 or more mines per hour! He now runs an orphanage/school for child victims of land mines and funds those activities with his museum proceeds and donations. The ... read more

Angkor is the largest set of ruins in the world. Larger than Machu-Pichu, Pyramids at Giza, Borobodur, Petra, Tikal, Anuradhapura, Ayuthaya, Great Zimbabwe, etc. It's a great way to finish this part of the trip. I'm spending 4 days in this area to take as much in as practicable. Got up early and was ready to leave before sunrise to catch the sunrise at Angkor ... but, nobody in the guest house was up, so I couldn't take out a bike. I had to wait until 06:00 to have breakfast and then wait a bit more to get a bike. Made sure the brakes worked and the tires were full. No such thing as gears or bike helmets in this part of the world. No helmets is probably a good thing too, considering it would have ... read more

I decided to take an organized tour to some of the further out landmarks, specifically Kbal Spean, Beng Mealea and Banteay Srey. Peace of Angkor is a tour company that specializes in photography tours, so they know where to take you to get the best light and smallest crowds, and they give you some insight into the history as well. We started at Banteay Srey temple, which is amazing to see even if you’re already templed out. Banteay Srey looks very different from the other temples because it’s a Hindu temple, unlike the many Bhudist temples around Angkor. It is smaller than a lot of the others, but rose coloured stone and intricately carved detail is stunningly beautiful and well worth the trip. If you want to get nice photos, a good idea with this temple ... read more