Year of the Dragon. Time to make the most of the long holiday, leave Shanghai, the noise of the firecrackers, the cold and head somewhere warm and interesting.
Arrive after what seems like a week, early flight, change in Guangzhou, so near and yet so far. China southern didn't give out arrival forms so after queuing for an age had to go back and fill out the form and queue again. So much for getting a speedy evisa on line! Arrive mid evening at the stylish Viroths Hotel, minimal and smelling of citronella and jasmine. Quickly change out of winter clothes into summer dress and flip flops and head to their sister restaurant a block away and have my favorite green papaya salad (without pork) and fish with lemongrass and ginger. Delicious. But sadly the waiter comes over to tell me he forgot to ask the kitchen not to add the meat, just as I finish....
Panic slightly that am only here for 3 days and there seems to be at least 5 days needed to see only half the ruined temples! Anyway arrange for guide and tuktuk and late start at 9. So next day, get up early and am happily waiting in reception for their arrival, the receptionist asks me why I am here so early at 8? Didn't realise there was an hours time difference! Oh well time for a quick orientation and a few snaps.
Pop in to a butterfly farm which is delightful and then lunch at roadside restaurant.
More papaya salad and fish.
Watch the locals stirring up great cauldrons of palm sugar to make the sweetest sugary sweets.
A couple more temple ruins after lunch and the first of the giant trees growing through the buildings.
Next morning, early start for Angkor Watt and the city of Angkor Tom, before the many crowds descend. But too late as many already there for an even earlier sunrise.
Angkor Wat, surrounded by a wide moat, that must have taken some digging!
Temple musicians
Ancient Hindu carvings of immense detail,
but sometimes the tourists just provide more interesting shots!
Angkor Tom, the city, just too much to take in, a vast site. And it's hot.
Guide keeps getting phone calls and seems keen for me to have lunch at my hotel, so we have a bit of a discussion and decide I can visit the other temples myself with just the driver, which is fine as have had Vishnu and Shiva info overload. So we visit Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raiders was filmed, with the looming trees, roots and vines growing through and over the rocks, visually stunning.
The killer strangler fig, starts to climb the tree then kills it's host.
So goodbye to guide and after a very early lunch, with just the tuk tuk driver, headed off-road down a dusty track to a temple that doesn't get quite so many visitors.
Slightly alarmed as he driver not sure he is going in the right direction.
Looking at the map, checking the route!
But arrived without further drama and as a family leave, bliss.
Am on my own. Noises from the jungle, birds calling and the heat.
Last temple coming up, wander through absorbing the atmosphere, snacking on chilled fresh mango.
Heaven.
Cambodian children are so georgeous!
Hotel? Tuk tuk driver asked anxiously!
Yes! Heat stroke and time to collapse by the cool urban pool for some chill out time.
Really early start at 5 am for birding tour of Sap Toal lake and the floating villages. The largest lake in SE Asia, 165 k long and filled up in the wet season from the back flow of the Mekong from Phnom Penh. Organized though Samvesenea Eco tourism, so lots of giving back to the community, using local guides, boats and restaurants.
Head off onto the lake and breakfast in the stillness, on the misty morning the lake and the sky merge into one whiteness...
Stop at the floating village to change boats, all about Eco tourism and giving money back to the locals. In the dry season the floating platforms line the river edges but become a protective circle in the rainy season when the area floods
Boated noisily though the thorny channels, on boats made with reclaimed car engines, steering wheels and clutches.
I prefer the punts..
Occasionally meeting another boat....
Saw hectares of nesting sights for painted and open billed storks.
Climbed up a vertigo inducing rope ladder to rickety platform with great views through the telescope.
but already spoiled with close up views of the same plus marabou storks on the Okevanga delta a few years ago! But still the scale was still impressive..
Lunched on fresh fish and vegetables cooked on a floating platform house, local water hyacinth weaving by local women,keeps Siem Reaps hotels and boutiques supplied.
Drowsily returned, viewing bee eaters, egrets and herons on the way. An interesting group of people too, made it a great day out.
Time for some last minute shopping in Artisans de Cambodia, locally made soaps, oils, herbal scrubs and spices. Tempted by the array of scarves, I have soooo many, but still succumbed to an emerald green raw silk....
Tomorrow Phnom Penh....
Another fabulous and stunning diary.
ReplyDeleteA virtual experience for me from afar.