Angkor Wat, Cambodia

(see map) trin: Temples, Temples, Temples. We spent three days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat which was a good amount of time. Although, Mike might not agree with me. He was a little templed out by day two.

We bought a copy of Ancient Angkor to use as our guide. The book was written by a french scholar and the English translation is pretty awkward. Still, like everyone else at the temples we dutifully carried our copy to read about the history and architectural elements of each temple.

We also used the book as a defense mechanism against the numerous children that would try to sell us illegal copies at all of the temple gates. But, it didn't always work. I'd show them my copy and their response was - "Buy another one for your friend. Your mom." They're relentless and truly have a reply for everything.

Day One: The large circuit by car: Preah Khan, Neak Pean, East Mebon, Ta Som, Bantaey Samre and Pre Rup.

Carvings in the Hall of Dancers at Preah Khan

Mike fills in for a missing guard statue at the north gate of Preah Khan.

Neak Pean is an island temple but as you can see the lake was empty when we visited.

A typical village gas station on the road to Banteay Samre.  Johnnie Walker liquor bottles are reused as one litre gas containers.

It the center hall at Banteay Samre we received a blessing from an elderly man. He lit incense and tied hot pink string bracelets around our wrists. Our taxi driver said it is suppose to give us good luck. Like, avoiding traffic jams and things of that nature.

Day Two: The small circuit on bicycles: Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Angkor Tom.

Prasat Kravan completed in 921.

Banteay Kdei

The mid-day heat is starting to get to us.

Large silk-cotton tree growing over the Ta Prohm temple. The massive trees growing over the ancient buildings is always an impressive sight.

Amok, a traditional Cambodian dish, is served in a banana leave. It was so good on day one. We biked out of our way to enjoy it again on day two.

Quiting Time. About one hundred groundskeepers merged onto the road with us in the late afternoon.

A quick visit to Ta Keo

Mike misses mountain biking. He rode down this grade a couple times. Every time he would circle around the women at the food stalls across the road would come out yelling "cold water. beer. sir. over here." He's a tease.

The east gate of Angkor Tom.

Day Three: Sunrise at Angkor Wat, afternoon in the town of Siem Reap and sunset at Phnom Bakheng. All by tuk-tuk.

Early morning at Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. The scale is so massive it is difficult to capture in a photograph.

On the walls of the central complex is an 800m long series of bas-reliefs. About a half a mile of carvings.

The parking lot at Angkor Wat was full of dozing tuk-tuk drivers who were waiting for their passengers to return.

Heavy cloud cover didn't help our sunset plans but we still climbed the hill to Bakheng, the first capital at Angkor.

Mike says goodbye to his final temple.

That evening we went to a traditional Cambodian dance performance. Having attended shows in Bali, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, this has become a tradition for us.

Kampot, Kep & Sihanoukville, Cambodia

(see map) trin: We visited Kampot intending to see Bokor National Park. Upon our arrival, we learned that park was closed. Ok. We just rode the bus for five hours to get here. Now, what are we going to do?

A friendly local girl at our hotel gave us some suggestions on what to do. Not really sights we would normally go out of our way to see but since we were there... We rented a motor scooter and set out for a day of small town sightseeing.

First stop was a local cave with a giant suspended boulder.

Some local boys followed us on their bikes and gave us a tour complete with flashlight.

Rice paddies along the way.

Mike and his bike.

We planned to stop at the Kampot Pepper Plantation but we never saw the turn off. So, we kept on to Kep, a mellow little beach town.

Mike walking back from a swim on the narrow beach. The sand was imported from Sihanoukville before the war but very little of it remains today.

I guess it works because the locals don't actually sit on the beach. Instead they rent covered spots on the sidewalk.

The thing to do in Kep is eat fresh seafood. At random we picked one of the seaside shacks and ordered some Kampot peppered crab. The crabs are kept in woven baskets in the shallow surf just outside the restaurant. A woman waded out to collect our lunch.

It was finger lickin' good. Literally.

The sky was ominous as we hopped on our scooter and started back to Kampot. The journey is about fifteen miles and the sky opened up when we still had thirteen more to go. No big deal in a car... but a motor scooter is a different story.

We were soaked to the bone, long bolts of lightening blazed across the sky and the small road narrowed as it started to flood.

To wait out the storm we pulled over at an abandon school where we sat under a wooden shelter with a stray dog and some chickens. We were laughing at ourselves. It was all we could do.

The next day we caught a bus to Sihanoukville where we rented a small basic bungalow on Seredipity Beach. We have mixed feelings about the town. While the beaches are physically beautiful, the town has a seedy undertone. We saw many older western men (usually fat and wearing a speedo) with young Cambodian "girlfriends."

There was also a constant stream of aggressive vendors on the beach. After traveling for eight months, we are no stranger to saying no to hawkers but in Sihanoukville it was overwhelming. To avoid constant harassment, we spent a lot of time on our porch where we read and hung out with the kitties.

I don't like to write bad things about places. So, I'll end by saying it was a really nice porch and we watched several amazing lighting storms from it.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

(see map) mike: Once considered the Pearl of Asia, to us Phnom Penh lacked the energy of Hanoi or the vibrancy of Bangkok.  After spending some time here and learning about its traumatic recent history we would better understand why.

We also noticed a distinct divide between the rich and poor. As we ate dinner at a street side cafe, a constant stream of new Lexus SUVs and sedans cruised by carrying Phnom Penh's elite. At the same time barefoot children with trays of pirated books, maimed men, and overeager tuk tuk drivers jockeyed to gain our attention.

After dinner I stopped at an atm and to my surprise received US dollars instead of Cambodian Riel. Turns out the USD is the currency of choice. Included was a new five dollar bill which we were convinced was counterfeit monopoly money. The giant purple five in the bottom right hand corner just did not look right. Regardless, it was nice to use the greenback after eight months of calculating exchange rates.

Our first site was the impressive Royal Palace complex. 

Trin chatting with a hard working water salesboy near the entrance.

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Precarious painting. We thought it was interesting that he was touching up the palace with a can of gold spray paint. 

Have you heard of the Khmer Rouge? I hadn't beyond associating the term with some bad guys in SE Asia. The regime, lead by a man named Pol Pot, was Cambodia's ruling party from 1975 to 1979. Its goal was to create a completely farming based society and in doing so directly or indirectly caused the deaths ~1.5 million of its own citizens. More info available at wikipedia.

Near Phnom Penh are numerous killing fields where the Khmer Rouge executed and buried its victims. We visited Choeung Ek where our tour guide told us how he lost his entire family during the period. The below stupa contains the eerie site of 5000 skulls exhumed from the site's mass graves.

Between visits to the National Museum, Royal Palace and Killing Fields we caught up on the blog poolside. Our hotel, Blue Lime was brand new and the pool was an awesome oasis in the middle of the hot hectic city. 

Trin Foot Update :  Scabs are gone but there is still some pink, tender and swollen skin. 

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

(see map) mike: Known as Saigon until 1976, Ho Chi Minh City feels a lot like Hanoi. They share the same motorbike excitement, cyclo taxis, sidewalk restaurants, and women sporting conical hats. Having honed our street crossing ability in Hanoi we thankfully acclimated much easier.

Our first site was the Reunification Palace which is analogous to our White House. The fall of Saigon occurred here (wikipedia info) when tank 843 crashed through its gates and raised the North Vietnamese flag signifying "liberation and reunification" of Vietnam.

Preserved today as a museum, its 1960s/70s decor includes a red velvet movie theater and this gambling room/lounge Austin Powers would surely be proud to call his own.

The latter half of the tour took us into the extensive underground wartime command center of the South Vietnamese.

The original communication and electrical system are still on display which I instinctively presented to the group as the first SmartBits.

After the palace we happened upon a packed techno blasting restaurant & bar complete with motorbike valet. The youthful 100% Vietnamese crowd (excluding us) was slowly sipping cocktails and enjoying conversation. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Trin asking me "can we take them all home?" at a mobile dog shop.

Next we checked out the War Remnants Museum which contains exhibits and graphic photos detailing America's use of agent orange, napalm (flammable liquids), and extensive civilian bombing during the war. The visit was a sobering view (though one sided) of the brutality of war and seeing it from the perspective of the North Vietnamese was definitely eye opening.

See more photos. Warning: Very graphic.

From here we'd catch a bus to Phnom Penh in Cambodia.