Cambodia - Day 1
If Cambodia is NOT on your list of places to visit, it should be. In fact, it oughta be near the top. The smiles alone made my trip worthwhile. For friendliness, I have never been to a place that surpasses Cambodia. From the moment I was picked up at the Siem Reap International Airport to the time I sadly boarded the plane for my flight home I saw nothing but enthusiastic courtesy and a very real curiosity and friendliness. You can see from the pictures I have posted that it's true.
Since my college years, I have wanted to see Angkor Wat. It's been in the back of my mind for many years. It seems that whenever I had time to go or could afford to go, the political situation precluded it. For years the land mines left over from the Vietnam war made visiting most anywhere in Cambodia too dangerous. The stability or lack thereof with the Khmer Rouge made visiting a no-no. But in the past few years, the land mines have been cleaned up at least in all the major tourist areas and the political situation has become stable. With the opportunity in front of me, I finally made the trip. I could not have imagined how great the trip would be.
I'll start with the place I stayed. It is called Peace of Angkor Villa. It's owned by a couple of expat Brits, Dave and Colleen. The website is: http://www.peaceofangkor.com/
They have a great staff of Khmer locals who do much of the day to day operational stuff. One of the specialties of the place is photographic tours. Between Dave and some of his local tour guide friends I was able to absolutely make the most of my time. The first morning I was taken at Dave's recommendation to Phnom Bakheng. Phnom Bakheng is the first known temple built in the Angkor area. To get there I dragged my raggedy rear end out of bed at 4:30 am and in a Tuk Tuk was driven to get my pass to enter the Angkor complex. Once I got that I was driven to a totally dark place and pointed in the right direction. Yikes!!! If I did not already trust the staff from the Villa, I would have turned around right then and made the driver take me back. But I did trust the driver and thus headed up a steep hill with poor footing in the dark.
When I got to the top of the hill I was amazed to find an incredible temple built some time in the late 9th century. I was astounded to find 4 other hearty souls up there already. Fortunately it was a fairly large temple area so there was room for some solitude and to create some custom photo ops. As Dave told me, it was not crowded. I spent about 90 minutes wandering around and taking some pics. The temple is high on a hill surrounded by lush jungle which I was grateful to NOT be in. I could see the Prasats (towers) of Angkor Wat in the distance as the sun rose behind them. What a great way to start the day!
After I carefully descended the hill, the next stop was Angkor Wat itself. As we pulled up to Angkor Wat, it was clear that the vast hordes of tourists that arrived for sunrise were leaving for breakfast or their next venue. Another spot on recommendation from Dave. I virtually had the place to myself. I wandered around for about 3 hours, 2 in the main historical temple area the other hour in an active Buddhist temple. I met a young monk who gave me a tour and assisted me in getting some great photos. He was splitting time between being a monk in the temple and going to school to learn English. His ambition is to be a teacher. Some of the pictures he assisted me in taking are already up and more will be posted soon.
Since we left the Villa so early, I had promised Sang, my tuk tuk driver/guide for the day that I would buy him breakfast. Breakfast had turned to brunch and I asked him to pick the place. We went across the road to an outdoor restaurant which obviously catered to both Khmer and barang (Khmer for foreigner). As we drove up, several young teenage girls besieged me with offers of postcards, books, bracelets and scarves. I politely declined but one girl in particular was very persistent. She followed us to the restaurant and waited while we ate. At one point she sent me a note since she could not come close to the restaurant. I included the note among the pictures in today's post. She spoke remarkably good english and I'd bet that she actually wrote the note. Many of these children work as vendors in the area part time and go to school the rest of the time. In the Siem Reap area, school lasts 1/2 day. If the children can pay for tutoring, they often can get another hour or two of instruction. Some children go to school in the morning and the rest in the afternoon. I ended up buying some post cards from Lee and and her friends. No doubt they thought I would buy more, but seemed happy that I had at least bought something.
All for now! More on the afternoon and evening of day one to come! As always email comments to andym528@hotmail.com
OH! And book your trip to Cambodia today and be sure to stay at Peace of Angkor Villa!
Since my college years, I have wanted to see Angkor Wat. It's been in the back of my mind for many years. It seems that whenever I had time to go or could afford to go, the political situation precluded it. For years the land mines left over from the Vietnam war made visiting most anywhere in Cambodia too dangerous. The stability or lack thereof with the Khmer Rouge made visiting a no-no. But in the past few years, the land mines have been cleaned up at least in all the major tourist areas and the political situation has become stable. With the opportunity in front of me, I finally made the trip. I could not have imagined how great the trip would be.
I'll start with the place I stayed. It is called Peace of Angkor Villa. It's owned by a couple of expat Brits, Dave and Colleen. The website is: http://www.peaceofangkor.com/
They have a great staff of Khmer locals who do much of the day to day operational stuff. One of the specialties of the place is photographic tours. Between Dave and some of his local tour guide friends I was able to absolutely make the most of my time. The first morning I was taken at Dave's recommendation to Phnom Bakheng. Phnom Bakheng is the first known temple built in the Angkor area. To get there I dragged my raggedy rear end out of bed at 4:30 am and in a Tuk Tuk was driven to get my pass to enter the Angkor complex. Once I got that I was driven to a totally dark place and pointed in the right direction. Yikes!!! If I did not already trust the staff from the Villa, I would have turned around right then and made the driver take me back. But I did trust the driver and thus headed up a steep hill with poor footing in the dark.
When I got to the top of the hill I was amazed to find an incredible temple built some time in the late 9th century. I was astounded to find 4 other hearty souls up there already. Fortunately it was a fairly large temple area so there was room for some solitude and to create some custom photo ops. As Dave told me, it was not crowded. I spent about 90 minutes wandering around and taking some pics. The temple is high on a hill surrounded by lush jungle which I was grateful to NOT be in. I could see the Prasats (towers) of Angkor Wat in the distance as the sun rose behind them. What a great way to start the day!
After I carefully descended the hill, the next stop was Angkor Wat itself. As we pulled up to Angkor Wat, it was clear that the vast hordes of tourists that arrived for sunrise were leaving for breakfast or their next venue. Another spot on recommendation from Dave. I virtually had the place to myself. I wandered around for about 3 hours, 2 in the main historical temple area the other hour in an active Buddhist temple. I met a young monk who gave me a tour and assisted me in getting some great photos. He was splitting time between being a monk in the temple and going to school to learn English. His ambition is to be a teacher. Some of the pictures he assisted me in taking are already up and more will be posted soon.
Since we left the Villa so early, I had promised Sang, my tuk tuk driver/guide for the day that I would buy him breakfast. Breakfast had turned to brunch and I asked him to pick the place. We went across the road to an outdoor restaurant which obviously catered to both Khmer and barang (Khmer for foreigner). As we drove up, several young teenage girls besieged me with offers of postcards, books, bracelets and scarves. I politely declined but one girl in particular was very persistent. She followed us to the restaurant and waited while we ate. At one point she sent me a note since she could not come close to the restaurant. I included the note among the pictures in today's post. She spoke remarkably good english and I'd bet that she actually wrote the note. Many of these children work as vendors in the area part time and go to school the rest of the time. In the Siem Reap area, school lasts 1/2 day. If the children can pay for tutoring, they often can get another hour or two of instruction. Some children go to school in the morning and the rest in the afternoon. I ended up buying some post cards from Lee and and her friends. No doubt they thought I would buy more, but seemed happy that I had at least bought something.
All for now! More on the afternoon and evening of day one to come! As always email comments to andym528@hotmail.com
OH! And book your trip to Cambodia today and be sure to stay at Peace of Angkor Villa!