Blogs from Siem Reap, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 8

Woolly says – With our tummies pleasantly full we climbed back on board and continued through the shady roads, as we bumped along avoiding the puddles there was an air of expectancy and excitement as to what we would be seeing next. Chau Say Tevoda didn’t have quite the same impact as our mornings finds but climbing down from our carriage I raced over to take a closer look, built in the mid 12th century, it is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu with unique types of female sculptures of devatas enshrined in it. Although much smaller the sculptures were in abundance and had been restored to a very high standard. Prior to 2000 the temple was in ruins, in fact much of it was in the Siem Reap River, the work was carried ... read more

Woolly says – I’d been up since dawn and having crept onto the balcony I was dismayed to see that the sky was full of clouds, I tried blowing to see if I could chase them away, but they remained in place, I ambled back inside to tell Jo the bad news, for some reason she didn’t seem pleased to see me and merely grunted at my sad tidings. Who would be pleased to see him at 5.30am! Having listened to his sighs for as long as I could bear I climbed out of my comfy bed to access the weather conditions. Woolly says – The clouds hadn’t budged a single inch and as Jo checked the weather forecast I felt a sense of despondency, was this going to be the same troublesome greyness ... read more

Today is temples day, and involves a very early start, with a 5 am departure to reach Angkor Wat before sunrise. Our driver is early so we are the first people to arrive at the temple. We cross the weird squishy squashy bridge over the moat by torch light and wait for the sun to rise over a lake full of water lilies, so you can see the temple reflected in the lake. It certainly is a beautiful sight. After sunrise, we explore Angkor Wat, including climbing to the top of the Bakan (inner sanctuary). This involves negotiating a flight of around 60 very steep wooden steps. The final step is particularly deep, and as I climb, I hear an almighty tear. There is a large rip in my gap year trousers and I’m at the ... read more

We have a lunchtime flight to Cambodia so no need to rush this morning; a leisurely breakfast and one last fight through the Vietnamese traffic to reach the airport. Getting through security takes a while. Carrying epipens means I’m used to my luggage being pulled aside for a visual search. But now my ever increasing fridge magnet collection creates a large black shadow on the x Ray screen which also requires further inspection. The flight to Siem Reap is on time and only takes 70 minutes; just enough time to fill out my life history in triplicate for immigration/customs. Upon arrival we are picked up and taken to our hotel. Child no 1, who is staying at a backpackers hostel in town, is already there, chilling by our pool, drinking wine she has put on our ... read more

Fra Koh Rong Sanloam gik turen videre til den større by Siem Reap i det nordlige-vestlige Cambodia. Turen gik for en gangs skyld som planlagt, og der var ikke de store udslag ud over en lidt mærkelig evakuering af lufthavnen i Sihanoukville, som på personalet ikke virkede synderlig alvorlig, selvom alarmen gik og alle ved check in skranken blev bedt om at gå udenfor. Det var lidt svært at tyde, præcis hvad der skete, og personalet så ikke ud til at ville snakke om det efterfølgende. Der var dog ingen forsinkelser til følge, og vi kom hele igennem flyveturen og fandt en tuk-tuk som transporterede os til vores meget lækre hotel med swimmingpool midt i byen. Efter vores primitive ophold på øen var det dejligt og lettende (måske mest for det kvindelige klientel i selskabet) at ... read more