August 18, 2009
Siem Reap
It's me again!
We get our Cambodia visas at the airport in Siem Reap costing $20.00 US. Jamie's $100.00 bill looks suspicious so there's a great deal of inspection and discussion frpm the agents. They accept the bill finally and give him change. At the money exchange counter where we want to get Cambodian Riels, they refuse the bill he got from the visa guys because it looks like there is a coffee stain on it. Back to the counter for Jamie. In the end we really didn't need to change the money because US dollars are widely accepted in the Kingdom of Cambodia. We do feel rich however as one US dollar is 4,000 Riels. I walk away with hundreds of thousands!
Our guide Mr. Futy and our driver Mr. Bo take good care of us. Thanks Jane and Don! I learn a lot about the history of Cambodia from Futy. He lost 2 brothers in the war and two uncles. It has been a long series of wars and civil war and massacre in Cambodia. The country has only been safe for visitors for 10 years. There are still millions of unexploded land mines still around the villiages. Princess Diana and others have worked hard to rid the country of mines. The lake by the new airport is a result of American bombs exploding there. We see many maimed people who have been victims of land mines, most blind. Whenever we see a band playing at the side of he street or at a tourist attraction, we donate to them. We have bought a CD of Cambodian wedding music if anyone is interested! It''s difficult to ignore the beggar children, many of wom are illegal vietnamese. We have had small children come up and take our hands. They lead us to a store where we buy them formula for their families.
We visit many emples including the most famous- Ankor Wat. These are massive stone structures which used to have wooden buildings. The buildings are long gone, but the stone foundations remain along with many statues and bas elief carvings. These temples were built in jungles and as each suceessive ruler came along, they abandoned the temple and moved to build a new one. The jungle took over covering them with vines and trees. Some countries are paying to help restore the temples which is a good thing as many of these countries had invaded Cambodia and looted all the jewels and gold from the temples in times past.Our favourite temple outside of Siem Reap is Taphrom. If you have seen Angelena Jolie in Tomb Raider, you have seen this temple. Covered in moss, vines and tree roots it is awesome!
We take a boat ride on a massive lake and see how the fisherpeople live. Taat is a hard life! Many have small houseboats and the fresh food travels to them by small boat. The people living along ghe river have the houses built on stilts beause of the rainy season which thankfully is not yet. We see lots of people swinging in hammocks under their houses!
Nina
August 22, 2009
Phom Phen
Hi again,
This is the capital of Cambodia with 2 million people! We visit the national museum with many artifacts from ancient times.Our guide introduces us to the museum guide and we spend about an hour nodding and smiling because even though she seems to be speaking English, we really only catch about one word in every sentence. it's far too confusing to ask for repetion. A lady hands me jasmine flowers and I thank her as I am putting thm in my hair. My guide informs me that I should make a money donation and them give them to the Buddah staue. Ripped off!
The Royal palace is much more fun with gorgeous gardens and buildings. We do not actually go inside the palace, but we visit the reception area, solid silver floored pagoda and many,many statues with solid gold and gigantic jewels. We saw a 65 carat diamond in a buddah statue which had over 2000 diamonds on it! we know the king is in residence because of the royal flag flying. We learn that the king was educated in France and if I understand my guide correctly, he was trained as a ballet dancer. He is a 57 year old batchelor, so I guess the royal line dies with him
Wlearn more about the history from our new guide Pun Ling. He too lost relatives in the war and to this day they do not know where they are. We choose not to visit the killing fields of which there are 389 in the country. Over 2 million people were very cruelly murdered by the Khamer Rouge under the leadership of Philpot (sp?) Vietnam eventually helped fight the communists and indepence was won. The king is just a figurehead, although it is called the Kingdom of Cambodia.
We have dinner in a cool restaurant which is called the FCC, foreign correspondents club. There are many pictures on the walls from the war years. best pizza I have had in a long time!
On to Vietnam and our first stop is Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon.
Nina