The Royal Palace - Cambodia

We ended off our previous day visiting the Russian Market and rushing to get my visa from the Thai embassy.

Had a nice dinner and went to bed in our River Front hotel room in the heart of the tourist district of Phnom Penh.

The next morning up again early and still no hairdryer. This must be some sort of record, but we ignored the fact that we couldn't dry our hair and whisked off on a fast driving Tuk Tuk heading straight for the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. You can imagine what our hair looked like by the time we got off this Tuk Tuk.

Oh well we look like everyone else who got off Tuk Tuk's so on with the trip it goes.

The Royal Palace has beautiful gardens and building. The Silver Pagoda is especially beautiful as the entire floor is made out of pure silver. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the Pagoda.

After the Royal Palace we had two hours to kill, packing, checking out and having lunch before we were back on the Tuk Tuk on our way to the Airport.

Bye Cambodia - we are off to Bangkok...

Not for the faint hearted

We ended our trip off in Siem Reap with a Safari dinner to various restaurants and a walk to quite a few markets and what ever store we could think off to go hair dryer hunting. Yes, we managed to break the hairdryer (Plastic pieces shooting all over the room). AND THIS IS THE ONE APPLIANCE I ALWAYS KNEW MY MOM CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT. No success we decided to have an early night in as we had to re do that six hour bus journey back to Phnom Penh at 07h00 the next morning.

Travelled on a different bus this time and mom seemed to forget about the "DIRT" in Cambodia for a while (that hair dryer must have been on her mind) until we made a stop and ran into the"local cuisine" again. I might be back in mom's bad books. She just can't stop staring at the Tarantula's with the hair standing up in her neck of course. Oh and did I mention we couldn't dry our hair this morning...

Well we reached Phnom Penh safely and went to sort out my visa, with a slight problem. I can't get it on time which means we needed to change our flights back to Bangkok. So off we went to the flight agent only to find the office closed and having to re do everything again the next day.

Up nice and and early in the morning we went to the travel agent and changed our flights and set off for a morning full of shocking fun in the vibrant city of Phnom Penh. Our first stop for the day was the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre more widely known as the Killing Fields.

(A room full of skulls)

(Up close)

(A jaw bone in the ground that we walk on)

Thousands of people were executed here in the worst ways during the reign of the Khmer Rouge which finally ended in 1978. There are hundredsof skulls on display of peoples remains which was found in mass graves on this piece of land. Some areas still have remains in the ground that haven't been excavated. You can see the bones and pieces of clothing set in the ground.

Family member come to this site to pay respect to their loved ones whom where executed here by placing messages, and tokens of love with the remains of the dead. These tokens are anything from photos and cigarettes or sweets.

From there we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum, in earlier existence known as S-21. This used to be a school until the Cadre's from the Khmer Rouge occupied it as a secret prison to torture Cambodians and people from all over the world who they felt were enemies of their new revolution.
(It looks like a normal school from outside - apart from all the barb wire)

They tortured and killed about 18000 people in ways you can not imagine, this included whole families of the people they considered their enemies, small children, old people whatever and whomever they felt needed to be "Discarded" of.

To see something like this is an absolute eye opener. You are shocked to your core and all of a sudden your own problems seem irrelevant. There are so many Cambodians that still live this nightmare today, dreamingof their lost loved ones at night.

Barbed wire was used not only to keep unwelcome people out of the "prison grounds", but also to make sure prisoners where kept inside the building areas so that they were unable to commit suicide. This was against prison policy as it would mean that prisoners didn't suffer enough and certain information couldn't be extracted from them.

Once there wasn't enough adult Cambodians left to fight for the revolution, they made use of kids.

(Brother number one himself - "Pol Pot" the man responsible for all the killings)

Angkor Wat (Magical)

I don't even know where to start with Angkor Wat. With all the dirt and the flies, the beggars and the heat, Cambodia simply becomes the number one destination in South East Asia once you have set your eyes on Angkor Wat.

These Temples are the majestic "Pyramids of Asia". I can not imagine Egypt to be better than this. You get goosebumps when you walk through these Temple portals because you simply can not imagine how man could have built structures as magnificent as this with their bare hands so many hundreds of years ago.

(Light entering a chamber in the Temple)

Every inch on every wall has intricate carving and details on blocks out of sandstone that must way a ton.

These Temples exceeded every expectation I ever had, oh and what a relief I am back in mom's good books and I don't have to be forced onto a plane home... For now!!! We are still en route to Bangkok.

You need a few days for Angkor Wat as the Temples stretch over 64km of ground.

Mom decided to stick to her roots and act like a typical South African. She went on strike by the time we reached the second last Temple of the day, the stairs and a the climbing proofed to much, so off with the shoes and out with the magazine. I had to climb all those stairs on my own...

(STRIKE !!!!)

(Trees hundreds of years old break through the Temples and hold the wall together with its roots)

(Locals, these pictures could tell a thousand stories)

En Route to Siem Reap

Mom en route to the bus station
(The other side of the river)

(The bus)

Left the hotel all excited about our six hour journey to Siem Reap. We wanted to go by boat on the river, but unfortunately the water level was too low and the rain didn't come yet, so a bus journey through potholes and interesting roadside stops it was.

Check out the local cuisine. Nothing else but Tarantula Spiders. Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought my mom was going to faint. Right Angkor Wat better be worth while now because my mom is about to book us flights back to SA, and disown me.

Cambodia really has the most amazing landscapes and features. It is green as far as you can see and completely flat. As a tourist you can visit their highest point which is guess how high (25 Meters) Hee hee, what would these people do if they see the Drakensburg Mountains.

OK almost there... Can't wait to see Angkor Wat!!!!!

Arrival in Cambodia

Phnom Penh

Culture Shock of note - and this time I had my mom with me. We arrived really early in the morning after a six hour wait at Bangkok Airport. Note never to plan a trip again over the Thai New Year (Songkran)...

We were dead tired, everything was dirty, but thank goodness for a nice hotel in the middle of all of this, we slept for a few hours and then hit the streets.

After a good rest, it didn't seem that bad anymore...

Talk about getting my mom out of her comfort zone (COMPLETELY). Oops!

Angkor Wat will make it worth while...

(Mom loved this lady, bought silk left, right and center)

(The infamous Central Market)

(Me on a Phnom Penh Tuk Tuk) (Bus Station)