Let’s climb a mountain...
Whoever thought that was a good idea, especially with the heat and humidity here?
The descent down the hill was much easier; our t-shirts were soaking, yet the guide hadn’t even broken a sweat. We got back in the air-conditioned car and started to dry off. Our next stop was a short drive away, although we were hoping to stay in the cool for a bit longer. The company actually provided us with some fruit today, I literally sat in the back of the car devouring lychees and longan to rehydrate; plus the lychees were gigantic and so sweet. Our next stop was Banteay Srei, a 10th century temple dedicated to Shiva. The temple name translates as the “Citadel of Women” and is built of red sandstone, different to the other temples we have visited which are grey sandstone. This temple has many very decorative and intricate carvings, even more so than Angkor Wat. It is a relatively small temple, but is very beautiful.
After another 45 minutes in the hot sun, we got back in the car and headed to our next destination, the Cambodian Landmine Museum. The museum was set up by an ex-child soldier of the Khmer Rouge, Aki Ra, who cleared land mines with a stick and some homemade tools. He started collecting the defused mines and once people began hearing of this, they became interested and wanted to see his collection; this is when he started charging people a dollar and the museum was started. Almost 25% of people in Cambodia have been affected by land mines including many children who have lost their parents; Aki Ra set up a foundation with the extra money raiseed and took in land mine victims, giving these children a roof over their head and an education. To this day, there are still a huge number of land mines in Cambodia and he is still clearing them; he no longer takes in land mine victims as they are becoming less and less but he does take in disabled children who have no-one else. Aki Ra is regarded as a hero in the country and has received various awards for his dedication to making his country free of land mines. My only complaint about the museum, and practically everywhere is Cambodia, is that the air conditioning is terrible! The audio tour, however, was fantastic.
Again, we were roasting, but we headed off in the car for another few minutes; this time to see how they make palm sugar, one of the things that Cambodia is famous for producing. Juice is collected from the flowers of palm sugar trees, which is then boiled to make palm sugar, often into “tablets” which can be used in cooking. Apparently Cambodia is making the sugar in a cleaner and more eco-friendly way than anywhere else in the world. As well as the fruit that we got today, the company also provided us with a bottle of palm wine which we got to try at the side of the road; its 11% and kind of like sake but not nearly as nice.We were told we were getting to take the whole bottle, it wasn’t a small bottle, eek!
We spent about 10 minutes learning how to make the sugar, its certainly not easy work. We bought some of the tablets, before heading to our last stop of the day; yes, you guessed it......a temple! Actually, in retrospect, this has been my favourite so far!
Thankfully, it was time to go back to the hotel; we were drenched in sweat and absolutely knackered, even our guide was hot and tired! We were only a 20 minute drive to the hotel and we beat rush hour so we had a bit of time to shower, cool down and relax before heading out to dinner.
Unfortunately, it was time to pack and get ready to leave Cambodia the following day.
Well we did it!
Tea picked us up at 8.30am, we drove around an hour to a mountain, which we then had to climb; it was a 3km round trip up a rocky and, at some points, steep hill. At the top of the Kulen Hills is an Angkorian era archeological site. There are Lingas (representations of Hindu god Shiva) and sculptures of Hindu gods and a waterfall, although it is dry season so there was no water there. The site consists of lots of carvings along the river bed and banks so is commonly known as the “River of 1000 Lingas.” Many Indian tourists come to visit here as it was said if water flows over the Lingas, the water is considered holy; the king and locals would bathe in the waterfall because of this. It was absolutely knackering and the sweat was dripping off us; I even managed to fall and now have a massive bruise down one shin. It was worth the effort though as it`s quite bizarre and nothing we have ever seen before.
The descent down the hill was much easier; our t-shirts were soaking, yet the guide hadn’t even broken a sweat. We got back in the air-conditioned car and started to dry off. Our next stop was a short drive away, although we were hoping to stay in the cool for a bit longer. The company actually provided us with some fruit today, I literally sat in the back of the car devouring lychees and longan to rehydrate; plus the lychees were gigantic and so sweet. Our next stop was Banteay Srei, a 10th century temple dedicated to Shiva. The temple name translates as the “Citadel of Women” and is built of red sandstone, different to the other temples we have visited which are grey sandstone. This temple has many very decorative and intricate carvings, even more so than Angkor Wat. It is a relatively small temple, but is very beautiful.
After another 45 minutes in the hot sun, we got back in the car and headed to our next destination, the Cambodian Landmine Museum. The museum was set up by an ex-child soldier of the Khmer Rouge, Aki Ra, who cleared land mines with a stick and some homemade tools. He started collecting the defused mines and once people began hearing of this, they became interested and wanted to see his collection; this is when he started charging people a dollar and the museum was started. Almost 25% of people in Cambodia have been affected by land mines including many children who have lost their parents; Aki Ra set up a foundation with the extra money raiseed and took in land mine victims, giving these children a roof over their head and an education. To this day, there are still a huge number of land mines in Cambodia and he is still clearing them; he no longer takes in land mine victims as they are becoming less and less but he does take in disabled children who have no-one else. Aki Ra is regarded as a hero in the country and has received various awards for his dedication to making his country free of land mines. My only complaint about the museum, and practically everywhere is Cambodia, is that the air conditioning is terrible! The audio tour, however, was fantastic.
Again, we were roasting, but we headed off in the car for another few minutes; this time to see how they make palm sugar, one of the things that Cambodia is famous for producing. Juice is collected from the flowers of palm sugar trees, which is then boiled to make palm sugar, often into “tablets” which can be used in cooking. Apparently Cambodia is making the sugar in a cleaner and more eco-friendly way than anywhere else in the world. As well as the fruit that we got today, the company also provided us with a bottle of palm wine which we got to try at the side of the road; its 11% and kind of like sake but not nearly as nice.We were told we were getting to take the whole bottle, it wasn’t a small bottle, eek!
We spent about 10 minutes learning how to make the sugar, its certainly not easy work. We bought some of the tablets, before heading to our last stop of the day; yes, you guessed it......a temple! Actually, in retrospect, this has been my favourite so far!
Preah Khan is another temple at Angkor which was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII who also built the tomb raider temple. This temple was built for his father whereas the tomb raider temple was built for his mother. Basically, kings would build temples for three reasons; the ancestors, the gods and to show their power; this one was obviously for the ancestor. This temple was built on the site of the kings victory over the invading Chams in 1191; it now remains largely unrestored but the work is still continuing, albeit slowly. I really liked this temple, but tiredness was starting to set in, plus my bruised shin was aching!
Thankfully, it was time to go back to the hotel; we were drenched in sweat and absolutely knackered, even our guide was hot and tired! We were only a 20 minute drive to the hotel and we beat rush hour so we had a bit of time to shower, cool down and relax before heading out to dinner.
We decided to head back to pub street, since it was our last night in Siem Reap and also Cambodia. We walked the 10 minutes to the mini Las Vegas strip and decided upon a Khmer restaurant, apply named Khmer Idea Restaurant. I’m totally addicted to Banana Flower Salad (it doesn’t have bananas in it!) so had that to start followed by sweet and sour chicken; tasted a tiny bit like my favourite takeaway in Edinburgh, but not quite! The food was excellent and it only cost 22 dollars (Did I mention it`s all USD here?); we had 2 starters, 2 mains and 3 beers! After dinner, we headed to the market as I was determined to get “proper”elephant trousers; they are horrendous looking but had to be done and at 5 dollars, I can’t complain. We decided to have one for the road, then head back to the hotel. We stopped at the Banana Leaf bar, where the power went out for 2 minutes, but the mojito was excellent. We then grabbed a tuk tuk back to the hotel; the guy had no idea where he was going and asked one of the other drivers; we almost missed the street but Iain saw the burrito and taco place on the corner so shouted at the driver to stop before he blazed past the turning. He was very apologetic, and friendly, like most people we have met in Cambodia, so he still got his 3 dollars.
Unfortunately, it was time to pack and get ready to leave Cambodia the following day.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Comments
Post a Comment