Thailand

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Since our last installment....

Thursday 10th July in Siem Reap

This was our last day in Cambodia so Connie and I went in the tuk tuk again with the same driver to see more of the Angkor sites scattered further out than the ones we had visited on Tuesday but not as far as the remote ones on the Wednesday. Rosemary opted to hire a bike and cycle round alone. She had been there before.

The ruins of the various temples and royal facilities are very widely spread around , each part surrounded by a substantial moat, on account of the torrential downpours in the rainy season. Now they look most imposing and presumably deter the encroachment of the ever present jungle to some extent. Of course that never fully works. Birds are responsible for most seed dispersal. However, the large tracts of jungle are beautiful and have a wonderfully cooling effect in between the ruins.

After a couple of hours we decided that we had seen enough temples and palaces and so opted to go to a location about 10 kilometers outside the town to a silk farm. This is a marvellous French initiative. Les artisans d'Angkor...Young people are selected and trained in various traditional crafts and trades including silk spinning and weaving, stone masonry, as well as hospitality and business. These in traditional crafts were almost lost after the strife of recent decades.There are about 1000 involved currently. They are paid and trained as well as accommodated in these activities to encourage pride in their traditional crafts. Needless to say, the outcomes are superb.

We were fascinated by the silk farm,....orchards of mulberry trees, special airy screened buildings built with the stilts in pools of water to deter ants ...young people engaged in the extraordinarily intricate tasks of threading looms...it take two weeks to thread one up ready to weave particular fabrics. When you see what is involved you realise that even with the cost of labour so cheap the price of the products is fair. Truly beautiful products.

We wanted to go to the Natioanal museum which seems to be the repository for many of the missing statue parts at which had been vandalised and looted. However the museum seems to have been built as a Japanese or Korean enterprise and charges accordingly. There is a whole separate world of super luxury hotels frequented by these tourists, Lots of airconditioned buses labelled in Korean. A separate world superimposed on the local life.

It is wonderful to seem such a huge range of tourists sharing common ground...of course the temples were originally Hindu, but by the 16th century had been adopted by the Buddhists. So there are lots of Indians, Malaysians, Sri Lankans as well.

Our final treat before going to the airport was a traditional Khmer style massage. 1 hour...$6! The 55 minutes to Bangkok. Connie had randomly selected a hostel in the city from the "Lonely Plant" and emailed a reservation. What a great choice...reasonable price , right on the river. We get around by ferry along the river. $3 for a day pass.


Friday 11th July Bangkok

If asked I would have to confess that since our time teaching in Thailand 30 years ago. Bangkok has always been one of my very favourite cities in the world. And it still is. The sophistication of the people and the integrity of their culture has always attracted me. And now... what an astounding superimposition of modern development! Magnificent high rise buildings as far as the eye can see, connected by modern flyover roadways, pedestrian walkways and the sky train. But still everywhere the same lovely old shop houses of the merchants, crammed alleyways and ramshackle old shanties amongst the klongs. (still no improvement in the smell)

We took the sky train from the end of the ferry route...overwhelmed ...got off at the wrong stop and found ourselves in an incredible department store complex that makes Sydney look like a hick town. I saw nothing like it in Paris , either! And the goods for sale amazed us too.

On the return we visited Wat Arun across the river. This is another Angkor style temple, built more recently and decorated with a wonderful mosaic of china. Another scarily challenging steep climb up.

Then another stop along the river...cocktails at the Oriental! The gatekeepers scrutinised us carefully before admitting us. (They do not like against back packs and thongs) Once inside... Perfection! In every respect. But to tell the truth our cheapie has a very similar terrace on the river. Not as elegant but affordable.

Eva came to have dinner at our hotel with us. She is staying with an International House friend here for e week en route to Cambodia. She is coming with us tomorrow to the River Kwai.

Saturday 12th July

Today we set off to see more sights and temples at the Grand Palace. Somehow we got scammed and sent on a detour in a tuk tuk via some clothing and jewellery shops and we never got to the palace. Apparently the Beloved King's older sister has died and there are ceremonies every Saturday for 6 months. So we could not go inside this morning and by the time we returned from our wild goose chase it was closed!

We ended up at Jim Thompson's superb traditional teak house where we had a delicious lunch in the adjoining cafe.

I am tired tonight and so stayed here and ate on the terrace. Connie and Rosie went to China town.
Meant to go to bed early but have been detained doing this and waiting for Eva. Have to get up early tomorrow for a 7am departure. Travel is such hard work!

I don't know why mosquitoes plague me at computers here. Am concerned about malaria and taking medication for it as well as applying "Rid" when I remember. Apparently they are endemic at Angkor. The disadvantage of moats I guess.

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Photos

Sunset at Angkor
OUR FIRST NIGHT WE CLIMBED HIGH TO GET A GOOD VIEW OF THE SUNSET FROM THIS TEMPLE, THE NAME OF WHICH i SHALL TELL YOU LATER.