Oct. 7-14, 2017
A one hour flight gets you from Ho Chi Minh to Siam Reap, Cambodia. Our first 3 nights were in the country side in a guest house. The owner had a basic place, and he also boarded some local children so that they could attend school. Some of the funds he got from tourists went to helping children who have nothing. The cost per night was $27US. The room was spartan, only cold showers but the bed was clean and comfortable. We hired a guide for 2 days to take us to the temples in the area. There are over 2000 temples and our guide was determined to show as many as you can squeeze into a hot, humid day. By day 2, I refused to see the last 3 temples - they all started to look the same. It is like going to the Louvre and studying every painting.
The temples were about 1000 years old. Vegetation and large trees were growing out through the old stones and in the distance we could hear the oncoming thunder storm - very atmospheric.
This is a favourite temple as it was used in the film 'Tomb Raiders'.
We decided to do a sunrise visit to the famous Angkor Wat. No problem getting up a 4am as the neighbouring monastery had their chants and music started and the roosters were singing along.
Angkor Wat is HUGE and our guide wanted to give detailed information about many of the thousands of carvings. My head was ready to explode. I did learn much more about the Buddhist and Hindu influence on these temples. Should come in handy:)
We spent one night in the town of Siem Reap and found it a charming little city once you left the strip of huge luxury hotels catering to the mass tourists coming to visit the temples.
Next day we took a 6 hour bus ride to Phenom Pen. We found a lovely boutique hotel ($48/night) in a quiet neighbourhood. It also included free laundry each day - bonus. The food was fabulous and the folks very friendly. The mode of transportation is by Tuk Tuk. We rarely saw cabs. Many of the buildings reminded me of Thailand with the unusual roofs.
We spent 3 days in Phenom Pen and on our last day, took a cooking class.
We made a green mango salad, fish and chicken amok and a banana dessert. It was so good but I wonder how much I will be able to replicate in Canada due to the spices and leaves used. We decided to take a bus back to Ho Chi Minh. It was a long ride as we had to stop at the border and the process took some time to get everyone on the bus through it. And then the air conditioning was not really working. When we arrived to the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh we were bogged down in heavy traffic, so 8 ours later, tired and hot, we arrived back home - but it is cheap transportation - $48US for both of us.
Monks and monkeys by the temples.
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