Blogs from North, Cambodia, Asia - page 15

Today was a long 315 km, 6 hr drive by a comfortable public bus to Siem Reap the nearest regional centre servicing the once lost Khmer civilisation best known for the temple complex at Angkor Wat. The trip passed though typical tiny towns and scenic rural views before reaching our 3 day stay at Angkor Holiday Hotel. Took a tuk tuk into town for dinner & walked back to our hotel via pub street & the adjacent night markets. The excited chatter of the huge number of visitors on the street mixed with the blaring music & the wall of neon colour made for amazing atmosphere. The girls took up the challenge to dip their feet into tanks of hungry fish which nibble away at dead skin giving a tickling sensation. Next day our bikes really ... read more

There is much to talk about today, our first full day in Cambodia and our visit to the amazing Angkor Wat complex of temples. First some history. Cambodia was first called the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century. then, as now, it was ruled by a king. At one time the Khmer Empire was at war with Siam, now called Thailand. The Khmer won the war and decided to name this region Siem Reap, which means Siam lost! The Thai do not like the name of this region of Cambodia too much for obvious reasons! In any event, Cambodia is HOT, and I mean brutally hot. Today the temperature soared over 100F with humidity approaching 90% making this the hottest day we have had so far by a long shot. The heat was ... read more

We have left Sean at home with Alexander. Agata has gone to Brussels for a course and we are in Siem Reap for a few days. The temperature, in the late 20s, is very pleasant. Our first venture out was to a floating village on the Tonle Sap Lake, the second largest freshwater lake in the world. We have arrived when the water levels are at their highest and it goes from covering roughly 2700 sq kms to over 10,000. No wonder we thought the landscape was flooded when we flew in right over the top of it. At this time so much water rushes in from the connecting Mekong River that the current is reversed. It also meant that we didn’t have to drive so far as the village came closer to Siem Reap. As ... read more

Yes Cambodia isn’t all temples and more temples ... we had an interesting drive out in the country side through villages with houses on stilts and swept yards with cattle, rice paddies and some other agricultural fields to visit a Wildlife Conservation area. Although the USA was not officially at war with Cambodia during the Vietnam War period the country suffered from thousands of tons of bombs being dropped mainly ( as I understand it ) because the Viet Cong supply route the Ho Chi Min Trail ran through Cambodia and Laos. So of course this had a devastating effect on flora and fauna. As the country rebuilds also following from the Khmer Rouge regime in the 70s there are efforts to research and protect endangered species. And so it was to one of these centres ... read more

Heute soll es mit dem Roller zu den Tempeln gehen. Gesagt, getan. Nach ein wenig Anlaufschwierigkeiten (kein Roller da, Bremsen funktionieren nicht) finden wir ein würdiges Gefährt und machen uns auf den Weg. Den richtigen Weg zu finden erweist sich allerdings als gar nicht mal so einfach, denn wir haben beide keine mobilen Daten und die Offline-Kartenfunktionen lassen es nicht zu, dass man Routen plant und anpasst. Nun gut, am Ende verstehen wir uns eben doch als Abenteurer und fahren einfach drauf los. Natürlich verfahren wir und erst einmal gewaltig, aber das wird dann durch interessante Umgebung und lachende Gesichter belohnt, die sich noch freuen, mal eine Langnase zu Gesicht zu bekommen. Da ist es wieder - das offene, lächelnde Kambodscha. Irgendwann schaffen wir es dann natürlich doch in Richtung Angkor Wat, finden noch einen Tempel, ... read more