Quick update so that you don't worry!! I am now in Bali spending some time with friends. Sadly there are no Internet cafes in this town so I will not be able to post properly until I get to Java at the beginning of May. Please know that all is well and I wish everyone a very happy Easter ... See you in May!!
An organised tour to see a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake
I was glad not to have chosen a motor bike as my mode of transport today ... the road to the lake is. in the Dry Season, long and very bumpy! Instead I joined an organised tour and headed off in an air conditioned mini bus with English speaking guide. The group consisted of a variety of nationalities including a young English girl whose traveller's tales made me rather envious ... my favourite was when she volunteered in a Bolivian animal sanctuary and ended up as an official puma walker! Yes a puma on a lead ... interesting when it decides to run, or gets spooked or climbs a tree! Anyway back to the tour! First we were shown hurriedly around a workshop where deaf and/or mute Cambodians can learn a skill: silk painting, carving, sculpting, enameling and then we left at leisure in their shop! After resisting these delights we headed out to see a floating village: even in Dry Season this lake is huge - about 1,000 sq miles. During this time those who dwell in this very large community use small boats and motorbikes to get around, but in the Wet Season the latter become superfluous and the small skiffs are replaced with larger vessels. There is a temple as well as two schools here ... all on stilts! Our skiff was captained by a young lad who reckoned he was 11 but as you will see in the pictures, looks more like eight: at times I wanted to give him a cushion so that he could actually see over the prow! We were taken downstream and then onto the lake itself as the sun dropped in the west. After a visit to a floating cafe we returned to watch the sun set over the paddy fields. A great day out seeing a little of the REAL Cambodia.
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| silver smiths |
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| The other 'traffic'on our road! |
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The skipper can hardly see his way,
even when there is not spume from the boat in front! |
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| A Crane stalks its prey by the fish farm |
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| The Captain of our vessel! A happy little soul of unbelievable age! |
On to one of the Wonder's of the World - if it isn't then it should be!
After very little sleep, due to excitement, I met the tuktuk driver at 5am in order to have my first sighting of Ankhor Wat at sunrise. Only he wasn't driving his tuktuk this morning ... hence another motorbike trip got underway! I had not really appreciated how much of a crowd puller this event on a Friday morning would be and tried my best to take pictures without people ... not always easy! Anyway, the sun made a shy and cautious appearance just after 6am and the details of this amazing temple gradually became clearer. My trusted camera did not really capture the red/orange/golden/ flame colour of the sun, but it did its best! I was really thrilled to have seen the day start here and understand why such an experience is on many people's Bucket List!
The temple is just one part of a huge UNESCO area of ancient cities and temples (circumference some 160+km I believe) ... each slightly different and worth spending time at. I had bought a three day pass thank goodness and so knew that i didn't have to stress about seeing everything in one day ... it would take well over a week I am sure to do that! Instead we settled for five of the most intact ruins and even then, with soaring temperatures and humidity, I was fading fast by 9.30am. However the local equivalent of Red Bull kept me going until half past eleven and then I had to call it a day. However I will certainly be back next week!
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| Just before sunrise |
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| The intense gold/red/orange/flame colour could not be captured |
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| Quite a crowd puller - glad I found a high up spot in the dark before the masses arrived |
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| Closest to the actual colour of the sun |
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| Splash of colour in the moat |
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| Trying to be artistic as directed by daughters! |
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| The reflection is a more accurate colour than the actual sun~! |
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| This site is vast ... ruins hide everywhere. |
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| A band of musicians who have all inadvertently set off land mines |
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One site has been preserved as it was found in 1860
taken over by he jungle |
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Not a scupture, but roots from a tree whose seed was originally
dropped onto the top of the wall, by a passing bird. |
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| Incense rises from the joss-stick I lit during my Buddhist blessing |
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| Dancers wait in searing heat - I did not ...sorry! |
Bats and Killing Caves
My second excursion involved city streets, temples, caves, statues, ladders and bats ... the video of which is on the Video page ... I hope!. Just before watching the bats emerge, I went by motorbike up a steep hill to see yet another example of somewhere I wish did not exist. Under the Pol Pot regime thousands of people were murdered as I had previously discovered at the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh... because they were a perceived threat to the State as they were educated, or professionals, or just looked wrong. Emotion cannot enter this report or else it would engulf us, so here are the facts as I was told them by a boy whose family lived through these times: men, women and children were simply pushed off a high cliff into a deep cavern from which there was no escape: different caves for each group; over a thousand suffered this treatment and not all died in the fall; today a shrine has been created at the bottom of the largest cavern and therein lies a large golden, sleeping Bhudda next to glass case holding remains; the light filters down from the natural skylight high above - the only entrance to this cave at the time of the Khmer Rouge.
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| Looking down into the cavern from recently created steps |
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| The original éntrance' to the largest cave |
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| Recently built temple at the summit of the hill |
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| The first ladder which I had to climb to see the statue of Buddha's head |
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Only brave enough ot take one picture and then made my way
down again ... VERY carefully ... scary stuff! |
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| The bat cave |
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| Bats start to emerge at dusk |
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| The 20 minute long 'dragon' of bats flies over the fields |
Around Battambang
Having travelled some 270km north I had thought the temperatures would have dropped, but I was wrong! The 'feels like' factor takes it up into the forties this month and I can believe it. Anyway it was very pleasant riding around in a tuk tuk and my driver thoughtfully took me to temples and local workshops where I saw rice paper circles being made for Spring Rolls, sticky rice being packed into bamboo canes and roasted over an open fire to sell as a local delicacy and sugar juice being squeezed to make a sweet drink for sale at the side of the road. I tried all of these of course! It was also the first day of the Opening ceremony for a local Pagoda which has taken five years to build so we stopped off there. However the day started with a ride on the bamboo train ... no more than a flat bed cart on a very wobbly track ... twenty minutes to a village for a drink and then twenty minus back again ... not including the time spent dismounting, lifting the cart off the tracks, allowing the carts coming from the opposite direction to pass and then remaking our cart and continuing on our way! A bizarre but fun experience despite baking hot sunshine all the way!
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| Lots of humanitarian projects here deserve support |
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| These cattle had just decided to run across in front of us |
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| Local historical hero receives gifts in return for giving good fortune |
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| My carriage on the bamboo Train! |
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| Twenty minutes each way! |
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| Opening parade on the first day of celebrations for the new pagoda |
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Five years to build and we happened to drive
past the opening ceremony! |
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| The ceremony will last for the next ten days |
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| Camera did not cope well with the bright sunshine and vivid colours I fear |
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Sticky rice process .. mix with coconut, beans and water,
pack into bamboo and roast |
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| making rice paper for spring rolls apparently |
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| Rice circles drying in front of their house |
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| Old pagoda |
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| Squeezing sugar cane to make a drink |
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| Very old pagoda knocked down by Khmer Rouge |
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| Found my mate Buddha once again! |
March 15th - I have added to the video page and published a new page of pictures from the bus ride yesterday ... they are on new tabs on the Home page ... enjoy!
Around Kampot
For my birthday treat I booked a place on an evening river cruise and spent three hours drifting happily past stilted houses, watching the fishermen coming home and keeping the sun company whilst it set. The following day I visited Kep gardens which is run by Andrew and Jeanine to give opportunities to the youngsters in their local village. Individuals are quietly given opportunities to gain skills and the village children can access free English lessons every afternoon ... an inspiring place to visit.
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Roundabouts have statues - makes giving directions
much easier when many people can't read Khmer .. including me! This is a durian fruit
tastes great smells awful! |
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| Pictures I was given by some of the girls aged about 8 |
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| this is actually a hotel not a house! |
On to Kampot
This is a really friendly spacious and calm town by a large river ... I like it and may well stay longer than originally planned. A tuktuk ride today took me to salt fields and a pepper farm ... the very best in the world of course!
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| growing pepper ... white, black, green and red |
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| rice fields |
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| trying to take pictures of houses without being sptted! |
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| Salt store |
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| salt fields |
Sihanoukville has beaches too:
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| Don Bosco hotel school |
Step 2 - Sihanoukville
My transport here was a mini bus operated by a 'foreigner friendly'company called Giant Ibis buses. It took just over 5 hours and past through various small towns with more stilted houses and chaotic moped drivers. At one pooint it rained and I rather wished that the driver had rememebred to do his 'pre-trip checks'as the windscreen was soon covered and with no water in the washer, the journey became even more interesting! Arriving in Sihanoukville I hopped on board a tuktuk and headed out of town to the Don bosco Hotel School where young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are given very thorough hospitality training by teachers and volunteers ... a real success story as they ahve a 100% success rate when it comes to graduate employment.
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| I was sitting just behind the driver so got a great view ... for some of the time! |
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| Everyone is trained to the highest standards and the rooms are delightful too! |
Growing braver ...
During those first few days my confidence slowly grew and I decided to go on a boat trip on the mighty Mekong river ... 4th longest in the world I think. The trip took me to a silk producing village which I was looking forward to, having bought a silk sleeping bag liner before leaving the UK and watched a video made by the producer.
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| Lots of people live on the river |
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| Houses on stilts are not uncommon |
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| So self-conscious - I had this whole boat to myself!! |
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| Silk worms eating mulberry leaves |
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| Hanging the cocoons |
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| spinning the thread |
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| weaving |
Arriving in Cambodia and the first few days in Phnom Penh
I was pretty shattered when I arrived here via Darwin and Kuala Lumpur, but after 23 hours sleep over the next 2 nights I was restored and ready to explore Cambodia's capital. However ....
Today is one of the few days in my life where I find it hard to express what I have seen and felt: I went to the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh - one of 300 sites across the country. I also visited a school which was turned into a place of incarceration and torture and I looked into the eyes of both victims and perpetrators in thousands of photographs. It is not something I will forget.
I also drove past huge properties, rich embassies and entered the Royal Palace. Most impressive. But then, in a very different way, the homes of the poorest citizens were also impressive - they survive ... and that takes real courage and grit and must be admired and respected above all else.
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| This is the image I want to take away from today ...many of the others are too personal to too many Cambodian families |
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| no more than cupboards - these were cells |
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| Homes |
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| Part of the Royal Palace |
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| The Royal Palace |
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| The Royal Palace |
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