For the week after New Years, I joined my friends for two nights in Bangkok and four nights in Siam Reap. They has been in Vietnam prior, and continued onto Phuket. I probably couldn’t have articulated why I wanted to go to Cambodia, but I am glad I did. It has a very laid back feel to it, and feels still a little unspoilt. There’s countless hotels, of the 4-5 story size, with strong European influences. January is the dry season, but being South East Asia, it was humid and hot. It always is!
Cambodian’s seem to be very capable basket weavers, and I think they were used somewhat for fishing, not just as a decorative food serving device. This tree was at the airportDoes this not look like bliss? The bikes were used, but the pedal taxi was merely decorativeDespite it’s name, it was incredibly tame compared to similar streets in Bali, Phuket or similar.A remork is the Cambodian’s answer to a tuktuk. Usually a scooter with four seats, though the rear facing back rest could fold down and then your suitcases or other transportable items could fitA canoe idling at the rear entrance to Angkor Wat. I think these are traditional, as I saw one in the man made lake at the resort tooApproaching Angkor Wat from behindThis etching demonstrates how work on Angkor stopped when a king died. So there’s lighter etchings in the top areas, compared to around where his hand is.Angkor Wat from the front – the light is all wrong, so I am thankful we started by seeing it from the behindTo the left is the very common etched pillars, which to an electrical engineer like me, looked like insulators we use on poles! We saw glossy stylised versions at the airport – what a great room dividerThe brighter/lighter head has been replaces or restored. These figures were also repeatedly etched on the walls in Angkor WatThe concubines… which is Cambodian is a word that includes ‘sara’ so it sounds like I’m partially a concubine?Side profile of one of the smiling buddha’s at the second temple we visited – it had 49 pillars, all with a face etached on the four sidesLotus flowers were everywhere, with the petals folded in various ways. They seem to be the national flowerWhen the humidity was too much, or after a work out 🙂Inside Ta Prom – a temple overtaking by treesThe silvery trunks of trees growingNature always winsIt’s hard to know if the rubble was a result of nature, or humans
Cambodia had always been on my bucket list, as I’d been to it’s neighbours: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam. The bulk of the holiday was relaxing and eating and drinking, we saw all three temples in one day, and that was just enough for us 🙂
