Advertisement
Published: December 7th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Our next port of call was a place I've dreamed of visiting since I was in my early teens...Cambodia!!!!! First we went Siem Reap in the north, our bus was a direct one so we didn't pass through Phnom Penh or have to fret about tranfering to a second bus.
Once we arrived at the hostel (a little guesthouse run by a guy from South Sheilds no less!?...) we were greeted by a note from the girls saying they were there and that we should meet them for a quick bevvie as they were leaving early the next mornig. We headed out to the local tourist trap 'pub street' and soon found them in a bar. It was really cool to have a catch up although it had only been about two days since we had last seen them!
The next day we got up kind of late and headed for a wander around. We had found out that whilst we were in Cambodia it was the countries national Water Festival! Three days of boat races and fireworks! It was CRAZY!! The festival is to mark the oncoming of the rainy season. It rains so much that the main
lake, Tonle Sap, floods and rises to such a degree that the current in the main river is actually reversed pushing all the fish back up stream and flooding the rice paddies so that they get really good fishing and rice crops! Walking around the streets it was like a carnival, lots of children and young teens eating fresh pineapple or cakes from the street vendors that lined the riverside. Added to that the inumerable boats that had occupied the banking ready for the races to commense, boats full of men, women and children paddling full throttle down the river!
That evening we decied to spend the following day visiting the temples at the Angkor complex, we spoke to the owner of the hostel and he organised a Tuk Tuk for us for the next day. We asked for the driver who had picked us up from the bus station as he was polite and friendly and spoke good English. We would be up at 4:30am as we wanted to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. The temples were....AMAZING!!!! We spent from 5am untill about 1pm exploring the ruins. The heat was so heavy and oppressive at times but
it seemed to add to the eerie atmoshpere of the place. We went to about 7 temples altogether, the main ones being the most recognizable, Angkor Wat, The Bayon temple and Ta Prohm. All were just so spectacular (I feel like I'm running out of adjectives whenever I talk about this place....amazing, beautiful, brilliant, spectacular....blah blah blah) But it really was so good! Walking around we were greeted by figures, carvings and releifs of every imanginable character from the Hindu and Buddhist faiths. From Garuda to Ganesh and Brama to Buddha himself! Buddha seemed to be everywhere, no more so than at the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom, however is was very calming to have so many smiles beaming down at you.
After another day of enjoying the festivities on the riverside we headed down to Phnom Penh, the nations capital. There was an amazing fireworks dispaly on the main river (the equivilent of the Thames through London) and LOADS of floats on the river all depicting different incarnations of Buddha! It was a great night to just be out in the throngs of people! The next day we were soon brought back down to earth though! There had
been a horrible accident on one of the bridges and 340 people we crushed to death!! The King went on TV and said it was the worst tragedy and the biggest single loss of human life in Cambodian history since the Khmer Rouge! It was quite a downer to walk down the streets the next day, everything was really subdued. The city seemed to be in shock. We were only there untill the next day when we would be flying to Bangkok. The only thing in the city we wanted to see was the genocide museum which is basically the old prison and torture centre! They've left the whole thing exactly as they found it when Vietnam liberated Phnom Penh in 1979. It used to be a middle school but the Khmer Rouge turned it into security prison - 21 or S-21. They turned the class rooms into cells... it was a very sobering and upsetting experience. The cells have the old black boards on the wall and blood slatter on the ceiling! I thought I was going to throw up, I nearly cried and had to leave before we had finnished looking around. I don't think I've ever been
so affected by something! We decided to give the 'killing fileds' a miss.
I know that last bit was quite depressing but Cambodia was actually a beautiful and amazing country and the people were so nice and friendly. I would LOVE to go back there again one day!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.283s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0812s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
ootyresort
non-member comment
Ooty Resorts, Coonoor resorts, Coonoor homestay, ooty homestay
Good post .. I like this very much, very useful for tourism.. if you have a little time, you can visit my website.. Welcome to stay in Ooty Resort at the Great grandfather’s Ooty home stay nestled in the Niligiri Hill Coonoor Resort in of south India.Read More.. Ooty Resort thanks for sharing ..