Friday, June 11, 2010
















Wow, what a day. This is a word I keep saying, time and again as we explore this amazing country. We are now sitting in the bar, with frozen margueritas in our hands, reflecting on the images we have seen today. This morning we visited Angkor Thom, which means 'Big City', a walled city dating back to the 1200's, with an incredible Bayon Temple in the middle. This temple was built dedicated to Buddha, but it is amazing how close the Buddhist religion is to Hindu here - we have both learnt quite a lot about the Hindu gods!!! We then went on to vist Ta Promh, and we both really enjoyed this temple; the temple used for Tomb Raider, and it really was spectacular, not much restoration has gone on here, leaving the trees growing through the structures, knocking some of the buildings down, but also the roots hold a lot of the buildings up. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the whole place, and you hear the pride in his voice as he talks about the temples. Thankfully, we have our own tour guide and airconditioned car (very important), so we have our guides full attention as we tour around. Another lunch stop at a local eatery and then we are back on the road, well almost. We are taken to the river where we catch a boat for a 20 minute boat ride which takes us to the biggest lake in South East Asia, called Ton Le Sap. Living on this lake are whole communities, the children living on the house boats go to school on a floating school - it is quite remarkable to see. The people have fish farms and also small crocodile farms to make a living (well, those who aren't begging from the tourist boats that are in abundance). Apparently, the fish, along with rice are a big export from Cambodia, the fish is dried or used in paste! By the time we returned to our hotel we were both exhausted with the heat, it is about 38 degrees and so humid. We collapsed by the pool, swimming to cool down, waiting for the onset of 5.00 pm and the start of Happy Hour - so from 2 hot, tired but Happy tourists - CHEERS!





3 comments:

  1. we can feel the heat and humidity from here, lovely pics Mrs B xx

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  2. It looks fantastic - lovely photos & interesting commentary. x

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  3. Yeah but youre both missing S KOREA V Greece
    LOVE FROM
    Ron

    ReplyDelete