Lost a week since being in Siem Reap but then it is easy to get sidetracked here.
It was good to get out of Phnom Penh for a long weekend and see some of the CAmbodian countryside. I picked up the bus near the Riverside in town and we left on schedule at 8.30am. The bus was classified as 'deluxe' because it had an onboard toilet. This might be considered a plus but it has a few problems attached with the convenience. The roads in Cambodia are quite rough so that makes the deluxe loo a problem but because it exists the bus doesnt stop...thankfully on the way to Siem Reap there was a 10 minute food stop...think loo stop. Besides the road condition there is the traffic to consider. Somewhat chaotic with our bus driving on the wrong side of the road and tooting its horn constantly, whilst it passed motorcycles, tuk tuks, carts and most other vehicles. Travelling on Cambodian buses at night time is not recommended (many vehicles dont have lights) and the safest place to sit is in the middle of the bus! There are frequent accidents!
We arrived in Siem Reap six hours later. Hoards of tuk tuk drivers greet the bus looking for business and most of the tourists aboard are frantically looking up there Lonely Planet guides and wondering how they were going to negotiate their way out of the bus terminal to their hotel of choice (?) rather than a hotel chosen by the tuk tuk drivers. Never to be confronted by a crisis beyond my control, I had arranged to stay where we were last year (The Victory Guest House run by Moy and her family). A wonderful home away from home with clean rooms, friendly people and great food, all for $12 a night. And, there in the middle of the tuk tuk crowd was a driver holding up a sign with my name on it....all organised by Moy. Life can be very easy.
Siem Reap is a great town with vibrant and colourful markets and some wonderful places to eat. My favourite: The Angkor Palm for their wonderful 'Fish Amok". Definitely the best I have found here, comfortable, slightly classy and the food is great value. Think change from $5 after a superb meal. You of course cant eat in the same restaurant every night (well, I cant) so there are also great curries at The Curry Wallah and really good value food on the streets just near the market.
The big attraction in Siem Reap is the Angkors. The ruins from the Khmer empire of the twelfth century. These are massive, crumbling and amazing. Angkor Wat is the best known and shown in most photographs of Cambodia but several kilometres down the road is Angkor Thom - the Temple of Bayon. This is even more impressive and hosts the enormous Cambodian smiling heads of Buddha, the murals of Khmer history and the Elephant Terrace. I spent the day cycling around the Angkor park, drank five bottles of water, got very hot and took lots of photographs. I am still getting around to putting some of these on the blog......not sure how to do this so any advice is greatly appreciated.
The bus journey back to Phnom Penh was the above in reverse, complicated by the fact that I wasnt meant to be on the 8.30am bus but with lots of smiling and laughing by all involved we still left on time. I was of course on the bus.
Back at work in Phnom Penh the manouvering around the bureaucracy continued where I had left it on the previous Wednesday. Not very exciting that. One interesting observation about the bus journey was that the countryside is flat, dry and there is no wind. Solar energy is bountiful but we are not doing research in that. Not sure there is much to do in the other forms of Renewable Energy either. Inspiration needed please.
Hope you are all well and you might be wondering if you should pay a visit to Cambodia. Thats a good idea...........
It was good to get out of Phnom Penh for a long weekend and see some of the CAmbodian countryside. I picked up the bus near the Riverside in town and we left on schedule at 8.30am. The bus was classified as 'deluxe' because it had an onboard toilet. This might be considered a plus but it has a few problems attached with the convenience. The roads in Cambodia are quite rough so that makes the deluxe loo a problem but because it exists the bus doesnt stop...thankfully on the way to Siem Reap there was a 10 minute food stop...think loo stop. Besides the road condition there is the traffic to consider. Somewhat chaotic with our bus driving on the wrong side of the road and tooting its horn constantly, whilst it passed motorcycles, tuk tuks, carts and most other vehicles. Travelling on Cambodian buses at night time is not recommended (many vehicles dont have lights) and the safest place to sit is in the middle of the bus! There are frequent accidents!
We arrived in Siem Reap six hours later. Hoards of tuk tuk drivers greet the bus looking for business and most of the tourists aboard are frantically looking up there Lonely Planet guides and wondering how they were going to negotiate their way out of the bus terminal to their hotel of choice (?) rather than a hotel chosen by the tuk tuk drivers. Never to be confronted by a crisis beyond my control, I had arranged to stay where we were last year (The Victory Guest House run by Moy and her family). A wonderful home away from home with clean rooms, friendly people and great food, all for $12 a night. And, there in the middle of the tuk tuk crowd was a driver holding up a sign with my name on it....all organised by Moy. Life can be very easy.
Siem Reap is a great town with vibrant and colourful markets and some wonderful places to eat. My favourite: The Angkor Palm for their wonderful 'Fish Amok". Definitely the best I have found here, comfortable, slightly classy and the food is great value. Think change from $5 after a superb meal. You of course cant eat in the same restaurant every night (well, I cant) so there are also great curries at The Curry Wallah and really good value food on the streets just near the market.
The big attraction in Siem Reap is the Angkors. The ruins from the Khmer empire of the twelfth century. These are massive, crumbling and amazing. Angkor Wat is the best known and shown in most photographs of Cambodia but several kilometres down the road is Angkor Thom - the Temple of Bayon. This is even more impressive and hosts the enormous Cambodian smiling heads of Buddha, the murals of Khmer history and the Elephant Terrace. I spent the day cycling around the Angkor park, drank five bottles of water, got very hot and took lots of photographs. I am still getting around to putting some of these on the blog......not sure how to do this so any advice is greatly appreciated.
The bus journey back to Phnom Penh was the above in reverse, complicated by the fact that I wasnt meant to be on the 8.30am bus but with lots of smiling and laughing by all involved we still left on time. I was of course on the bus.
Back at work in Phnom Penh the manouvering around the bureaucracy continued where I had left it on the previous Wednesday. Not very exciting that. One interesting observation about the bus journey was that the countryside is flat, dry and there is no wind. Solar energy is bountiful but we are not doing research in that. Not sure there is much to do in the other forms of Renewable Energy either. Inspiration needed please.
Hope you are all well and you might be wondering if you should pay a visit to Cambodia. Thats a good idea...........
Enjoyed your blog Mike
ReplyDeleteSuch a different experience to Melbourne wher life is pretty predictable I guess you didn't see my friend Andrew and his orphanage this time but if you return and can cope with a moving toilet again you may have a chance again
I'm practising for the end of term concert on Sunday and hope I don't muck up my piece as usual
What is the best time of the year to visit Cambodia ?
Cheers
David
Hi Mike
ReplyDeleteYou will not be surprised to learn that I comprehensively stuffed up my piece today Despite an insane amount of practise and preparation Matters were not helped by getting lost twice on the way to the concert when all the usual roads to Melbourne were blocked for an international iron man contest I ended up in the back streets of Dandenong after being diverted into roads totally unfamiliar to me I arrived to play as everyone was leaving in a state of agitated stress
Josh and a few adult students very kindly offered to reconvene the concert to allow me to play the piece I had worked so hard to perform
After several failed attempts I offered to give up playing the very song I had played without missing a single note before leaving home ( I had played it continuously for hours starting at 3 am
As Josh said being able to play the song has nothing to how you perform once stage fright takes hold
It's so disappointing The mixture of fear anger loss of confidence and frustrated despair is awful next time I'll try Betaloc
David