Blogs from Cambodia, Asia - page 785

And so on we travelled on our 2day tour of the Mekong Delta, en route to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The trip started nicely, with a custard and apple shake (absolutely divine!). The tour had us out in longtail boats through a floating market, stopping at a floating fish farm on the river, sampling handmade coconut candy (I nearly broke my jaws on these sweets, so good!) and handmade Vietnamese equivalents of rice-crispie buns. We were blasted with facts and figures about Vietnam, the most interesting of which was the population explosion over past 30 years (1975: population 30m, 2006: population 84m), which the government are trying to curb by "advising" a family size of a maximum of 2 children. Just before crossing the border into Cambodia, had a fiasco of a time trying to send ... read more

Wednesday 5th July Aaargh another early morning. Poor us. Indeed we were up bright and early at 6am to catch our 'Angkor Express' boat to Siem Reap. The reception staff in the hotel phoned us twice to ask where we were because we were not waiting in the lobby 5 minutes before the given time. It reminded us of our parents... Anyway we got a minibus to the docks where our bags were thrown onto a pick up truck. "Er excuse mister pickup truck driver, where are you taking our bags?" "You can't get boat here. Take pick up truck for 20 minutes down river" "Okay, so why has the minibus brought us here? Nevermind..." So following our bags we hopped into the back of the truck, as did 20 other people. Apparently the mini bus ... read more

Since this was my last day to explore the temples I mapped out several of the smaller temples that I had breezed by on the way to the more popular spots. The first stop was Banteay Prei, built in the late 12th century. It is easy to see why this temple doesn't get much attention. It's not because it lacks anything but the small dirt road that leads to it is not well marked. It was however marked on my map and my great tuk-tuk driver knew exactly where it was. What a hidden little gem of a temple. I was the only one there and it was a great way to start the day. These smaller, out of the way temples only lack in size, not details. I have found some of my most rewarding ... read more

Hi everyone, hope all is well in the sweltering UK. Sorry its been a while since the last one but we've just been too wrapped up in the beauty of Cambodia, Vietnam and the World Cup. Here's our adventures from Cambodia: After arriving in Siem Reap from Bangkok we headed straight for Angkor Wat - an amazing 12th century templed site, set amongst a beautiful lake and tree-lined walkways. We spent 3 wonderful days here exploring the many temples but Angkor Wat itself was the most awesome - especially at sunrise. A classic moment occured on our last day when after hiking to the sites highest point to catch sunset, the heavens opened and huddled together with more than 20 monks we tried in vain to find shelter!! After braving the slippery slope down, we fought ... read more

We did our pilgrimage to Angkor Wat and it was well worth it. Everyone raves about how great it is, and for good reason. We spent two days wandering around the temples admiring the great architecture etc and it was fab. If you read the travel guides they say you need at least three days. Not so. We were pretty much templed out after two. It's all very beautiful but there is only so much you can take in. The children selling their wares add an extra dimension to the visit. Their bargaining skills are a weird mix of adult and child. They know how to bargain the numbers, but as soon as they don't get what they want they bring out the tears and tantrums. It can be hard to bare. You have to be ... read more