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Published: April 7th 2013
Fuel Stop
Our mini van and driver for Wednesday's excursion.Today is the beginning of our last week in Cambodia. This time next week we will be packed up and on our way to Bangkok. I'm excited thinking about the next three months - the countries I'll be visiting, the people I'll meet and the experiences I'll have. But the excitement is tinged with a touch of apprehension, as I will be travelling alone once I leave Thailand, to countries I have never visited before.
We have more family members arriving in Siem Reap today. Mum and my sister Suzie arrive via private taxi from Phnom Penh where they have spent the past few days. Lin, Jerry and Ginny met them half way in Kampong Thom, as mentioned in my previous blog.
They arrived in the early afternoon and went straight to their hotel, The Frangipani Villas, where Lin and Jerry will also be staying from now on. After settling into their rooms, they tuk tukked to Bou Savy Guesthouse to catch up with Petra and I. How excited they are to finally be here, and how great it was to see them again! As the afternoon was hot, we grabbed our swimming gear and went back to the
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These women were selling dried fish. Frangipani for a swim and drinks around the pool. Later that evening we dined at The Sun Restaurant in Pub Street before returning to our rooms for a reasonably early night.
The next day (Tuesday) was another slow start. By the time Ginny, Petra and I got to the Frangipani Hotel at 11.00am, no one was there. We loitered by the pool with a drink until they returned. Plans for the afternoon were discussed but I was totally confused as to what was happening so I left them to it, and come home to Bou Savy for a nap. I returned to the Frangipani later and joined everyone for dinner. We all agreed on an early night as tomorrow we have a big day.
We had an early start on Wednesday morning as we had hired an air conditioned mini van and driver for the day ($85), to take us to some outlying temples, and we knew it was going to be a long hot day. We were standing at the top of the lane to Bou Savy Guesthouse just as our driver pulled up at 6.00am. We piled in and headed to the Frangipani Hotel to pick
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This is a close up of their fish. up mum, Suzie and Lin. Jerry decided to give the day a miss as he had already seen the sites we were planning to visit today, on previous visits to Cambodia.
The beauty of having our own driver, as opposed to joining an organised day trip, was that we could ask him to stop at any time if there was something we wanted to photograph or take a closer look at. Teo, our driver, was very obliging. We stopped in a rural village to have a look at stalls along the road, buy very sticky mini sweets shaped like donuts, and made the kids laugh when we asked if we could take their photos.
First stop was Beng Mealea (water flower) temple, 77klm from Siem Reap. It was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some carvings depicting buddhist motifs. This temple remains unrestored and visitors are confronted with a mass of ruins half devoured by a ravenous jungle, with trees and undergrowth thriving amidst it's towers and courtyards. I had a local guide show me through the ruins. I followed him over piles of rubble into the interior corridors whilst he pointed out carvings and answered
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Local women selling their products. my questions. For years Beng Mealea was difficult to reach, but a road recently built to the temple complex of Koh Ker passes close by and more visitors are now coming to the site.
Our next stop was Kbal Spean, literally meaning ‘Headwater Bridge’. It's named after a natural stone formation resembling a bridge across the Kbal Spean river, a tributary of Siem Reap river. Even though this is not a temple, an Angkor pass is required to visit here.
The highlight of Kbal Spean is the carvings of hindu gods and mythical creatures on the river bed. A group of lingas, carved in rock from the bridge to a waterfall further downstream, is known as the River Of A Thousand Lingas. The linga is the symbolic image of a phallus and a representation of God Shiva’s supreme essence. At Kbal Spean, the lingas are in the form of carved discs raised from the river bed.
To reach the river we were faced with a 1500 metre walk/climb in the midday heat. The temperature was hovering at 40 degrees, but this is the only chance we have to visit here, so we refilled our water bottles and
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Local lady and her bicycle. headed off. Mum stayed in an eatery in the carpark under the watchful eye of a local lady. There was no way she would make it up the mountain so had no choice but to stay behind.
I've never sweated so much in my life, doing that walk! I had to watch every step as the ground was strewn with rocks and tree roots, just waiting to trip me up. Every 100 metres there was a sign, telling us how far we had to go. I was so pleased to see the 200 metre one, nearly at the top!
The river wasn't running fast, with only a trickle of water over the waterfall. Good for taking photos of lingas which will be under water in a few months time, but I would like to visit again after the rainy season. It would spectacular in a completely different way then... We made the trek back to the carpark and joined mum for lunch. We had bought our own, mainly fruit and snack foods as we don't have an esky to keep food cold.
The Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity is located at the foot of Kbal Spean
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A very tidy local shop. right next door to the carpark. They hold an organised tour of the centre once a day, at 1.00pm. They specialise in wildlife conservation and environmental activities. Confiscated animals from the illegal wildlife trade are nursed back to health and kept safe from poachers here. Some of the rescued animals will be bred to increase the population of endangered animals, and the offspring may be trained for release over time and reintroduced into the wild in a protected area.
We all joined the tour but dropped out one by one as the heat was just too much. Mum was the first to go, accompanied by Petra, then Suzie and I, followed by Lin. I think by this time, fatigue had set in and the air conditioned van was very appealing. We had one more stop to make - Banteay Srey temple.
Banteay Srei was completed in 967, and is constructed largely from deep red sandstone that can be carved like wood. The temple is known for the beauty of it's sandstone lintels and pediments, which are the triangular spaces above the doorways. At Banteay Srei, pediments are relatively large in comparison to the openings below, and take a
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A chook helps himself to food left on a table. sweeping gabled shape. Banteay Srei means "Citadel of Women," and it is said that the reliefs on this temple are so delicate that they could only have been carved by the hand of a woman. The well-preserved relief carvings on the central buildings depict scenes from ancient Hindu tales.
From Banteay Srey it was only a half hour trip back to Seim Reap. Mum, Lin and Suzie were dropped off first and we arrived at Bou Savy Guesthouse around 4.00pm. It has been a huge day. We had a break for an hour, then headed over to the Frangipani Hotel. I'm told there's free drinks in Lin and Jerry's room....
Thursday morning was a write off, I think everyone was still getting over the day before. We met up at 11.00am in The Blue Pumpkin for an early lunch. During the afternoon, everyone went their separate ways again. I went back to Rogue to download two more novels and decided to walk home as I also needed to visit Smart phone for a credit top- up, which I could do on the way.
We had organised with Meas to pick us up at 7.00pm as tonight we
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A lot of rural families don't own motor cycles, so oxen are still used to pull carts. are attending an Apsara Theatre Restaurant at the Angkor Village Hotel & Theatre. Meas was on time, as he always is, and delivered us to the theatre with plenty of time to spare. We enjoyed a Khmer inspired meal in the only air conditioned theatre in town. Dancers, singers and musicians bought ancient Khmer culture to life in six different dances, all with beautiful costumes and played out in spectacular surroundings. The theatre stands across the road from the hotel, in a narrow street off Wat Bo Road. It's a traditionally designed and decorated timber building, with wide floorboards and hand finished walls. We were all suitably impressed!
When Meas came to collect us after the show, we organised a sunrise trip to Angkor, leaving at 5.30am in the morning. It's time to introduce Suzie to the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat. We arrived at Angkor Wat by 6.00am but we weren't the first arrivals by any means. This time I jostled for space with the other photographers for that classic five tower, reflection in the water shot.
This was my last chance to have another ramble through Angkor Wat, and I took advantage of it. It's a
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They call these 'iron cows'. They consist of a small motor out front with long handles using for steering. We see them a lot in rural areas. huge complex and I visited sections I'd not yet seen, taking more photographs, burning incense at one of the shrines for good luck, and making the obligatory donation afterwards.
An interesting find in the grounds, not far from Angkor Wat and away from the crowds, was the uncompleted formation of five sand stupas. These are created as a New Year tradition. Sand is bought to the temple grounds and formed into stupas which represent the stupa at Tavatimsa, where the Buddha's hair and cloth headband are buried. The big stupa is surrounded by four small ones, which represent the stupas of the Buddha's favorite disciples. They are then decorated with flags, flowers and white lines, and splashed with perfumed water, before being given to the monks as a way of making merit.
After Angkor Wat we moved on to Bayon, where I took more photos, this time concentrating on profiles of the enormous faces. Then we walked across the Terrace of the Elephants to the Terrace of The Leper King. I showed Suzie and Lin the hidden carvings between the terraces. We decided to head out to the North Gate of Angkor Thom as I wanted to take
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The local police station. photos. By the time we left here it was starting to get really hot, so a unanimous decision was made - let's go home to our air conditioning!
Saturday is Petra's 32nd birthday. It's not every year you get to spend your birthday in Cambodia with your mum and five other family members, so we planned to make the most of it. Massages were enjoyed in the morning at the spa attached to the Frangipani Hotel. Petra has also booked for 'high tea' at the Victoria Angkor Resort, one of Siem Reap's luxury five star hotels, just across the park opposite the King's residence. We sat back and enjoyed it's rich colonial charm. The afternoon tea they served was superb and the service faultless, all for $14.50 per head.
I enjoy having a look around these luxury hotels when I get the chance. They are so beautifully and expensively decorated and have that aura of quiet elegance about them. They are way outside my budget for this trip, but no harm in dreaming....
Next stop was Raffles, as they had a small buddha exhibition I wanted to see and it was free to visit. We had to
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Cheeky local kids walk past the gorgeous shops in the foyer to reach the exhibition. They were full of the most exquisite products - clothing, homewares, Asian artifacts. I have included a photo of the Indian carpet shop in this blog. If you're a serious buyer, take a seat and they will pull out carpet after carpet, creating a big mound of colour and pattern on the floor. Mum purchased some beautiful silk products in another branch of this shop at the Victoria Angkor Resort. I walked into the shop to find a pile of brightly coloured silk runners on the floor. They kept pulling them out, and tossing them down, until mum found one she liked, which was, incidentally, hanging on the wall!
We left Raffles, and headed to the 'Made in Cambodia' monthly market, which was written about in a previous blog. A quick look at a quirky little shop under the Foreign Corespondent's Club, to purchase Petra a bright pink resin buddha for her birthday, and I was ready for home.
Sunday - the day all our visitors leave, and our last day in Cambodia. Not a day I've been looking forward too, but as the saying goes,
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He was all smiles until I took his photograph... all good things come to an end, eventually.
We were at the Frangipani Hotel at 10.30am, to wave Mum and Suzie off in Meas's bright pink tuk tuk. Goodbyes and hugs all around, even Meas said he would miss us. We have kept him busy running us around Siem Reap. Good for him to have the work, and good for us to have such a pleasant and reliable driver.
Lin and Jerry weren't leaving until 2.30pm, so we arranged to have lunch at The Blue Pumpkin and say our goodbyes from there. They had some last minute packing to do and Meas was collecting them from the Frangipani Hotel, so after lunch we went our separate ways. More waves from the back of a tuk tuk as it disappeared down the street. We've had a great time together - lots of swims, drinks, meals, talks, shopping and sight seeing. See you in three months when I get home. Love you all, stay safe...
I went back to my room to stare at my suitcase. Some culling has to be done, and I have to be ruthless. For the next three months, after ten days in Bangkok, I
Beng Mealea
Approaching the temple, I found this little boy playing in the dirt. will be on the move every few days. It will be my responsibility to pull, lift and man-handle my own luggage and I want to be able to do it with ease. So, no extra weight! Clothes aren't the problem, I haven't got many with me. It's all the other stuff - a first aid kit and 'just in case' medicines, a travel jug and eating utensils, a laundry in a zip case, my iPod with it's mini speakers, an iPad, chargers and electrical plugs, travel documents, a tiny tripod and camera, runners, toiletries. Everything I need to be reasonably comfortable, and safe, for the next three months. So, tomorrow it's goodbye Cambodia and hello Thailand!
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Linny
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Great blog as usual!
Travel safe Deb.. Enjoy! Xxx