We are back in Phnom Penh now and after 6 days in Siem Reap without the possibility to write about the days we have spent, I begin here a long new post.
Day 1 : The smile of khmer children
We took a bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap at 7 AM in and we arrived at 1 PM.
The travel was 6 $ per person. We had chance because we were seated on the side where the air conditioner was not broken, on the other side water fell from the air conditioner directly on passengers...
On our arrival, the tuk tuk from the guesthouse I had booked from Paris picked us up.
We arrived in a beautiful house owned by a family where 3 rooms are available for visitors.
When the father, the official owner of the guesthouse, welcomed us, he offered us two bottles of water because I was able to speak khmer
and then his son took us to our room.
The room has a great air conditioner because the temperature is perfect and it is not noisy !!!! That was the main problem in the hotel we stayed in Phnom Penh for a higher price per night.
We rested a little then we decided to start our visit at 3 PM.
Our special tuk tuk, the son in the family, asked us where we wanted to go. I answered that we don’t know what to do at this time of the day. He suggested to visit the lake Tonle Sap by boat where he said there is a good sight. We said ok. Then he drove the tuk tuk 1 hour to get us to the place there. We crossed a lovely village where children liked to say hello to us, beautiful landscapes of rice fields, and then we arrived at destination.
Many boats were there ready to take tourists. But the place seemed so unknown that there were just a couple of tourists. We were pleased to discover un unknown place. We entered into the boat and we crossed a poor but beautiful village of houses all along the sides of the lake and we could see the life of the inhabitants on the lake, using boats to go from a place to another. We also had a lot of hellos and smiles from children while crossing this village. It was amazing.
Back from this trip, the tuk tuk took us to a restaurant of Siem Reap which propose a buffet until 7.30 PM then a show of tradional khmer ballet from 7.30 to 8.30. The buffet like every buffet is not excellent but the show was great.
That was the first wonderful day we have spent in Siem Reap and I will never forget the children’s smile, and the kindness of the guesthouse family.
Day 2: 1st visit of Angkor Temples : The “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10” song
Miguel has bought a 3 day ticket to visit Angkor temples. I could access for free because my origin is Cambodia even if my nationality is French.
For the first day of visit, we saw 7 temples from different art style, century and religion.
Our tuk tuk chose for us 7 “little” temples. We think that he wanted to keep the famous Angkor Vat for the last day of visit to make us pay attention to smaller temples.
He brought us first to Pre Rup temple, which is an old temple built in half of 10th century.
At this time, the religion is Hindu and this temple represent the Pre Rup Art Style.
We were pleased to be one of the first visitors so it was easy to take pictures during 30 mn before the first car of Korean tourists arrives.
Inside the temple there were little girls and boys trying to sell us anything for 1$. We were not prepared to it. We didn’t want to buy anything but we felt very sad to say no to all these children who kept saying “you have 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 cards only 1$”. Finally in every temples we have visited these day, children always came to us to “sing” the “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10” song. Despite the sadness, we have met the funniest little girl who could “sing” this song in every language. She followed Miguel until far, trying every European language of the song, so far that Miguel could take pictures of her. When she gave up, Miguel told me he was about to crack and give her a bill for he was so broken hearted.
Here’s a picture of this little girl
However, if you ever go or come back to Cambodia, try to remember that is not helpful for khmer children to buy them something. This attitude contributes to their poverty because giving them money like that prevent them from going to school... Please remember...
Day 3: 2nd visit of Angkor temples -> Trying to follow the peaceful and compassion faces of the Bayon Temple among Korean tourists everywhere ...
We have started this 2nd day of visit by the great Angkor Thom or Bayon whose name is well appropriate (Thom means Great in khmer).
At first sight it was for me incredible to see such highness. I was almost crying... The tuk tuk has made a very good choice to let us see “smaller” temples the first day.
This temple represents the highness of the most popular king that Cambodia has never had. He was kind and cared for his people. We tried our best to take good pictures despite the important number of tourists. The Art style is Bayon and the riligion was then Buddhism.
The following temples we have visited were also “popular” temples like Baphuon or Ta Prohm, the temple where trees are growing up upon. It was a very hard day to take pictures but we did our best.
Day 4: The climbing day
Our tuk tuk has planned to let us see temples in Roluos area in the morning then the famous Angkor Wat to finish.
I have read about a site called Kbal Spean at 50 km from Siem Reap where you can cross a jungle and see a river called The River of 1000 Linga and a waterfall. I wanted to see that site so I’ve asked the tuk tuk to bring us there. He said that it’s far but it’s ok. After a more than one hour ride, we arrived on the site and I was very excited to cross a jungle for the first time and climb it until the river which is 1500 meters far from the beginning of the route. It was worth to change a little the plan: the river is just amazing !
In the afternoon we visited Angkor Wat. The temple is so large and high that we had to climb it too. Unfortunately our visit was quick because too many tourists spoil the sightseeing and that always make us run away as soon as possible. That's how our climbing day ended.
Day 5 : classic tourism
This was a day of shopping and the visit of 2 very interesting museums: Angkor workshop and Angkor National museum.
In the fisrt one we could see how the work of people who restore Angkor temples.
Here's a sample of how was the Angkor Wat temple:
This is an important scene sculpted in Angkor Wat representing the scene of creation of the world, according to Hindu religion.
The second museum is a great way to understand Angkor art and its evolution.
Day 6: the lazy day
Nothing to declare ...
