Cambodia – Siem Reap

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For the next three days, we stayed in Siem Reap, Cambodia temple hopping.

Siem Reap, Cambodia – Day 31 (March-1)

Today, we hire the Tuk Tuk driver from our airport pickup to take us around. We head straight to Angkor Wat, the most famous temple, and largest religious building in the world. The weather is really sunny and hot (over 90 degrees); not the best for pictures. We found it important to drink a lot of water at breakfast to get the drink, sweat, and pee cycle going.

world famous Angkor Wat

The temple is large and impressive. (Vana: it’s better than Vatican, Great Wall, or anything I’ve ever seen my entire life. You are looking at a kingdom of civilization from more than 1,000 years ago) Besides the massive reliefs along the exterior walls, the corridors have great lighting for pictures.

hall way

CLICK HERE to see more Angkor Wat pictures.

Next, our Tuk Tuk driver recommends us to visit Ta Prohm. This was our favorite temple. The visit seems right out of an Indiana Jones set. While many of the other temples were cleared of jungle, cataloged, and reassembled; Ta Prohm is left mostly untouched. The temple is a maze of corridors, with fallen stone and wooden braces to keep structures from collapsing. Several places have 500 year old trees growing on top of the 700-1,000 year old temple with roots ripping the structure apart (or holding it together, says the tree).

front

back

Inside one tower is an echo room with a special property. If you stand on one wall and beat your chest, you can hear a long tail, low frequency echo. Oddly enough, if you clap or speak, there is no echo. Supposedly, the room is designed to remove evil spirits when you are not feeling well. This sounded great to me, so I went to town.

CLICK HERE to see more Ta Prohm pictures.

Our driver gives us a snack of corn, and Vana is happy because the corn has a sticky rice consistency, which she hasn’t had since childhood. In the evening, we bike in to town and find the restaurant alley, and bar street. Walking into restaurant alley is like stepping into another country (remained us of Si; motorbikes, stray dogs, and street vendors are replaced with foreigners (backpackers and platinum card holders alike) dining in bistros. The environment is very pleasant, but we don’t like the food we ordered.

restaurant alley

food looks good, but the taste is so-so

CLICK HERE to see random street scene pictures.

Siem Reap, Cambodia – Day 32 (March-2)

We get an earlier start and take the 1 hour Tuk Tuk ride to Banteay Srei. This temple is small, but famous for its very elaborate carvings in pink sandstone. We buy some hats for sun protection. Vana looks stylin’ in her new dress, hat, and purse.

CLICK HERE to see more pictures of Banteay Srei.

Next, we head back and visit the large complex of Angkor Thom, with Bayon Temple, Terrace of Elephants, Temple of the Leper King, and elaborate entrance gates.

Angkor Thom Gate

Angkor Thom Gate

Bayon temple is pretty amazing. The lower level is a maze of columns and hallways. The upper level has 54 towers (represents the 54 states in Cambodia), each with four giant faces. Ever feel like someone is looking at you?

CLICK HERE to see pictures from elaborate entrace gate and Bayon Temple CLICK HERE to see pictures from Terrace of Elephants, Temple of the Leper King

We stop by another temple where a team is dug down eight feet along the outside of the temple. There is a French professor looking guy, his grad student, and a team of locals. We watch the pick to bucket to wheel barrel to dirt pile system. That seems like too much patience for us. We think someone needs to build a special archeology robot digging machine. Our driver gives us a snack of Palm fruit. It’s a round and flat slippery thing that barely fits in your mouth. The outside liquid has only the slightest sweetness, and the fruit is like tasteless tapioca jello.

small temple with work in progress

research team lead by a French professor and his grad students

We tried to change our flight today to stay another day, and make full use of our 3-day pass, but the airline could not change it. We read the travel book a few days ahead, so we didn’t know there were so many temples to see. That’s fine, because at the end the day, Vana is snapping pictures like a robot saying; I am so done. We told our driver; we cannot look at any more. It only took two days for us to get temple fever.

Our Tuk Tuk driver, we love him!

Siem Reap to Bangkok Thailand Day 33 (March-3)

We really enjoyed Cambodia; much better than expected. Upon leaving I realized the government of Cambodia is running a cash machine by the bus load. Just take a look at our expenses for two persons in a typical short trip to visit the temples.

• $50 for two entry visa
• $50 for two airport departure tax
• $80 for two 3-day Angkor park pass
• $132 for 3 nights hotel, breakfast, misc drinks, hotel pickup, and two days Tuk Tuk driver
• $50 food

As you can see, about half of the $362 went directly to the Cambodia government.

Loas – Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang, Laos – Day 27 (Feb-25)

Luang Prabang is a really cool place to chill out. This is great, because we are tired of moving around so much. Two weeks was too short for Vietnam, and the last week was a cram fest.

Luang Prabang is one of the most pleasant cities that I’ve ever visited (except for the poor air quality). The old town center area is in a Y shape, where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet. There is a road along each river, and one in the middle. These roads join where the rivers come together. Side streets and walk ways cross the three roads, and are lined with small guest houses. The guest houses are in French Colonial style. That said, they seem like normal two story buildings to me, with wood shutter windows.

Mekong River

The city is UNESCO protected, and no buses are allowed in town. Within 10 minutes walk from the city center you can find; bars, Laos and western restaurants, guest houses, ATM, travel agent, bakery, crepes, street food, night market, Tuk Tuks, and 15 different Watts (temples). Bright orange robed monks walk between Watts with ocean blue shoulder bags. Even the monks have cameras and visit the internet cafes!

young monks walking to monk school

The average age of western travelers seems to have dropped significantly. I think cheap bus tickets are available from Bangkok, bringing in the backpacker crowd. Perhaps, Luang Prabang is on the party tour as a rest stop from Bangkok madness.

We rent bicycles and spend the days riding around town and visit a few Wats, including Wat Xieng Thong, the most famous Wat in the area. We take some great pictures around town; along the river, in the Wats, kids on the street, and monks during evening prayers.

our bikes parked together

Wat Xieng Thong

Wat Xieng Thong temple roof

Wat Xieng Thong

Wat Xieng Thong – temple wall decoration

KR find the perfect lunch – Bratwurst (at a small German restaurant)

Kids hanging out in the Mekong

sunset on Mekong River

monks chant during evening prayers

Over the last few days Vana has broken out in hives. She is in extreme discomfort, and wakes up in the morning with an empty jar of tiger balm next to her pillow. Between the hives and her Bali sunburn (which is still peeling), Vana is in tears from too much Vana-damage.

A nice local fellow from the restaurant next to our guest house takes Vana on his motorbike to a clinic. With no forms to fill out or payments to make, Vana is back quickly. The doctor thinks it might be fleas or hives, and prescribes some medicine to relieve the symptoms. Fortunately, the doctor speaks a little Mandarin and can communicate with Vana. Kevin does some research online and thinks Vana is having a reaction to the Doxy antibiotic medicine we are taking for malaria prevention.

CLICK HERE to see picture from Day 1

Luang Prabang, Laos – Day 28, 29 (Feb-26, 27)

For these days, we rent bikes and go through our new routine; cruising the morning, napping the afternoon heat, and cruising again in the evening. We take it easy, relax, catch up on our blogging, and do some laundry. We bike the rest of the town. We visit a large market a bit out of town, and run into one of the cooking classes. We follow them on their tour of the produce, fish, herbs, and tobacco. The cooking classes are more expensive here, so we decide the tag along tour is sufficient.

Market

We eat at a BBQ Hot Pot restaurant for dinner. It is very similar to a Korean style, with thin BBQ meats cooked in the circular raised middle of the pot, and soup with veggies and noodles in the lower edge of the pot. Dinner is cooked on the dinner table over charcoal fire. As a bonus, the soup is a lemon grass flavored chicken stock; a distant departure from the Korean style. We meet a couple from the UK and swap information, since we are heading in opposite directions.

Lao style BBQ Hot Pot – charcoal fire

Grilling the meat

Noodles and vegetable in the soup

Sauces and sides

Kevin farts in the quiet riverside restaurant, dinner must be GOOD!

We hire a boat to take us a short distance up the Mekong river, and visit a village famous for making Sa paper and silk products. On arrival, I am completely mesmerized by the women on their front porches working their looms. One porch has three women on looms side by side, with two younger women spinning silk into thread. They smile for our pictures, and seem proud of their beautiful work. Since I have trouble with basic knots, I am amazed how they use the loom to weave complicated patterns. Their work takes between three days and two weeks for each piece; depending on the size, and design.

our hired boat and driver (the small boat)

spinning silk into thread

working on their looms in the front porches

woven wall piece

silk scarfs produced in this village

In another shop, they are making Sa paper. They use the paper to create colorful lamps, umbrellas, and wall art. We buy a few table lamps, and later ship them home with some stuff we bought in Vietnam.

making Sa paper

drying Sa paper

Sa paper lamps

Later, in the night market, a hand woven wall piece catches my eye, while an American guy is bargaining hard for it. He walks away and returns several times trying to get a lower price. I can’t resist and offer a few bucks less than her price, and a few bucks more than his price. Vana buys a few other misc textiles. We heard from other travelers that the quality of the fabrics in Laos is much better than other places in South East Asia.

night market

hand woven wall piece

In these days, the foreigners in town are in a bit of panic. The ATMs and credit cards are out for the past two days. There is a post on the two ATMs in town saying the telephone lines are down. Also, the internet in the cafes seems to go in and out of service randomly. It is pretty stupid to rely on ATM machines as your only source of travel funds. We are travelling with two ATM cards, US cash, traveler’s checks, and three credit cards. We use our traveler’s checks for the first time this trip, and pay the hotel with US cash.

CLICK HERE to see pictures from Day 2
CLICK HERE to see pictures from Day 3

Luang Prabang, Laos fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia – Day 30 (Feb-28)

I had a few thoughts about Laos before leaving today. Despite the poor air quality (in this season) the people here make the visit very pleasant. They are quiet, pleasant, friendly, easy going people. They don’t speak much English, and they don’t move too fast, but it’s all good.

I think the Lao men have it made. First, the Lao women are attractive, and well dressed; although for being short and petite, their feet seem proportionally large. Second, you can see the Lao women working everywhere; in the markets, shops, restaurant, food stalls, and even on the loom on their porch. In contrast, you can see the Lao men sleeping everywhere; in the back of their Tuk Tuk, on hammocks on the boat dock, and in the lobby of guesthouses. Perhaps they are tired from the ass kicking they get at home from their big feet Lao women.

We fly from Luang Prabang to Siem Reap Cambodia without incident. The only trouble was confirming our flight ahead. Our Guest house didn’t know how to confirm a flight, and didn’t have any airline telephone numbers. The travel agents wanted $4 per ticket. We biked to the airport the day before, but Vietnam airlines office was closed at 4PM. I Skype called from the internet café to Vietnam (closed after 5PM), Singapore (closed after 5PM), and San Francisco (woke up some poor women in her sleep). We gave up, and luckily had to trouble.

(2 hour flight)

On arrival, our Tuk Tuk hotel pick-up is sweet. The Tuk Tuk in Cambodia is a motorcycle pulled trailer. The ride is like sitting on a couch and watching the world go by in 360. We like it better than the Tuk Tuk in Laos. We stay at the Green Village Palace Guesthouse, which is off a dirt road a few minutes bike ride across the river from the town center. The hotel is like a mini-resort, with pool and bar/restaurant. The air quality in Siem Reap is much better, like a hot moist towel with slight touch of burnage.

our Tuk Tuk

our hotel with a swimming pool in the front yard

Siem Reap is all set up for tourism. The Temples of Angkor are the main sight, and is what everyone talks about. Coming from the modern airport (better than most in the US, it’s like a museum), we pass ten new modern hotels with tour busses parked outside. We pass restaurants and KTV buildings with signs in Korean and Chinese. The ATMs here dispense only US cash. Everything is paid with US cash. The only Reil (Cambodian money) we see is if something is priced to $0.50.

We bike to town and try Kymer food (local food). We find it same, same as Thai, Chinese, or Vietnamese; depending on the dish.

Lao spring rolls and dumplings (I love the dumpling, it’s definitely different from Chinese dumpling)