Friday, February 15, 2013

From Battambang we say "Goodbye Cambodia"

With just a week left on our visa in Cambodia we left Siem Reap and headed to Battambang, 9 hours on a small river boat that took us across Tolie Sap Lake and up the river which was low in water but still passable (we had to stop once along the way to clean the prop of debris and many times we heard the motor lugging as it dug into the mud on the river bottom). During our trip we were able to see life on the river for these Cambodian people. Life for them is strictly a day to day and hand to mouth, living on what they are able to grow or catch in the water. To us, it was heartbreaking to see the poverty and dirt they live in but at the same time we marveled at the smiles they gave us even if our boats wake was interrupting their fishing. The river is their highway, they use it to boat to school, to sell goods on, and to visit nearby villages that are not connected by roads. Most live in floating houses or in homes directly on the rivers bank.

Once on dry land again in Battambang we found a nice hotel with a pool, a deal at $14 but to tell you the trueth there were lots of rooms for $3-$7 for a fan room and $10 if you wanted aircon. Battambang was not quite what we were expecting, it was a little scruffy and had just a few tourist things to do. We rode the "bamboo train", visited the "Killing Cave", where the Khmer Rouge killed people by throwing them down to the bottom of the rocky cave, witnessed billions (yes billions!) of bats leaving their cave at sunset and went to a circus put on by some very talented kids, two of which have been accepted by the Cirque de Soliet in Canada. Once again, we hired a tuktuk to show us the sights and he was able to tell us a little about his life, growing up in a time of war, escaping to Thailand and living in refugee camps and then coming back to Cambodia to try and build a new life. Now he has a tuktuk for himself, one for his brother and trying to purchase a third for his youngest brother. Our driver spoke English well but he is also trying to teach his brothers because for them English means a better life working with the tourists.

A few days in Battambang was enough, so that meant it was time to travel to Thailand and unfortunately there are no buses going to the Thai border at Pailin so again we rented a shared taxi. Because Ken and I were by ourselves we couldn't hire the whole taxi, we had to share it with some locals, which is o.k. but they are little people and have a different idea about how many people you can fit in a Toyota Camry! We paid $10 a seat in the back which guaranteed there would be no more than 3 in the back seat but in the front (in 2 bucket seats) they managed to fit 3 more people NOT INCLUDING the driver! We made it to the border and actually it was a very pleasant 2 hour trip...Alls well that ends well!

We loved Cambodia, especially the people with their smiling faces!


Over the wake of our river boat you can see the floating houses lining the river.


A fishermans house, when the big boom comes down it lifts the far end on the contraption lifting the net full (hopefully) of fish.


The driver on our boat sat on a not so comfy seat at the back of the boat for the whole trip.  Notice that a console of an old car was installed for steering the boat.


Look very carefully.  This is the outhouse at the restaurant we stopped at for lunch...yes that is the water in the river that you see below the hole.  Just a few hundred meters away people are washing their closes, kids are swimming and a little farther down the river fishermen are checking their nets.  F.Y.I.  about 60% of people do not have access to a real (western world) toilet.


This house is actually a river boat, maybe in the wet season the water is high enough that this family live on the water.


Some houses are built on stilts so they are not effected by floods or high water in the wet season.


This woman is fixing and cleaning her fishing net.  Notice how they always have a scarf  over the head to keep off the sun and if you look closer you can see she is wearing pajama bottoms, the women wear pajamas all the time...comfort first, I guess!


Kids swimming in the water, they kept us busy waving all day long.


Life along the river is anything but clean.


Sitting on the bamboo train, ready to go.


When we met a bamboo train coming in the opposite direction we just stopped and dismantled
the train by lifting the platform off the axels which were made from old tanks, then took the axels off the track...pushed the other train by and then again put our train back together and continued on our way.  This happened about half a dozen times in our hour trip. 


When the U.N. came into Cambodia to help out against the Khmer  Rouge they made the stipulation that all guns would be distroyed.  They melted may of the guns into this monument, when you look close the hardware is still visible.


Billions of bats fly out of their cave every night at sunset.


The performers at the circus had unbelievable talent.


The front seat of our taxi to the border.  The driver is the second guy from the left...the one on the cellphone!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Siem Reap home of the Temples at Angkor

After yet another crappy bus ride from Sinuakville to Siem Reap, we arrived at 10:30 p.m. with no hotel room booked and Chinese New Year starting just a few days later...most the hotels and guesthouses were full.  I guess Siem Reap is a popular place for the Chinese to spend their holidays. We finally got a room that was available for the one night and the next morning continued to search for a room for the 4 days we planned to be in the city and found one at Smile's Guesthouse.  Across the street, at the Sidewalk Hotel, Ken struck a deal with the owner so we could come and use their pool everyday.  What a deal!  A three day pass to Angkor is $40 so we hired a tuktuk for three days (at $15 a day) and planned our attack-day one in the afternoon we would take in a few temples then stick around for the sunset, day two we would start early, 5:00a.m. to see the sunrise over Angkor then check out Bayon Temple, home of a million of faces, and day three we would get our tuktuk to give us a ride around the grand tour, the whole main site and see a last few temples.  It was a long, hard, hot three days but I really enjoyed it and took over 500 pictures, Ken on the other hand thought all the temples started to look the same after a while, but still was amazed at the work they did over 1100 years ago.   After finishing up with Angkor, on the 4th day we rented pedal bikes and toured around the countryside, checked out the night life in town and got a foot massage...we were ready to move on.

The Temples of Angkor Wat behind us as we on some of the rubble let behind by time and one of the many wars this country has been through.


Roots from the banyon trees rap their exposed roots around the buildings, we asked ourselfs were they helping to destruct the place or were they helping to hold it up?


Sitting on one of the entrances to the Angkor Wat, it is amazing there are no other people in the picture....there were thousands of tourists.  We showed up 3 days before the start of Chinese New Year!


Ken was patient with my photo taking.  I clicked over 500 pic in our 3 days at the site...thank goodness for digital. 


One of the many faces of Angkor.


The attention to detail in the carvings depicting daily life was mind boggling. 


Check out the size of the banyon root beside Ken!


When the sunlight is coming from just the right direction the small holes in the wall let through enough light to make this statue look like a flame of a candle. 


A face on the Temple of Bayon, at Angkor.


We witnessed the sunset over Angkor along with a multitude of other people, unfortunately the clouds prevented much a spectacle but till many , many photos were taken.


Our taxi driver, Phong, loves Cambodia and so did we.  Every kid we ride by waved and yelled hello at the top of their lungs.


Ken, Johana, Fabian and I went downtown Siem Reap to Pub Street one night and checked out the bars and restaurants.  Lots of people and lots of lights!


While on a ride through some of the back streets a small girl jumped on the back of my bike and took a ride for a few blocks, on her way home from school, before she jumped off when we turned off her street.  She was so light I didn't even feel her on there.


Ken enjoys one of his daily coconuts, we tried to drink the water from one coconut everyday.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Wild!

What can I say we had to end up at a beach sooner or later, and we  went wild...Wild Beach!
Otre 2 beach at Sihanouk Ville with 2 km of white sand with a small bungalow just a few steps away once again 3 days turned into 10 days.  Click on the link below to see for yourself!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twlwcJQSG3c




From our seat on the beach there was a beautiful sunset everynight.


And during the day the water was very inviting and cool breezes and the shade from palapas made people watching pleasant.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Kep and Kampot, Cambodia

We were told Kep was a nice quiet beach town where the crab dinners were tops, and the days were quiet (we agree on both counts, the blue crab was fantastic). We spent two days in Kep at a great guest house just to the right of the bus stop and on then took a boat out to Rabbit Island thinking we might stay there for a day or so but after walking around the island we decided it was, maybe, a little too quiet for us. And to tell you the truth, Kep was not everything we were expecting, with only one small beach and a few pricey (by Cambodian standards) restaurants we decided to move on to Kampot.

Once again we are crammed into a minivan for the 45 minute drive from Kep to Kampot when we were told it was DEFINITELY a big bus. However, we survived and after about an hour of looking for a guest house we landed a few blocks from where we were let off by the mini bus at the Hour Kheang Guest House. We planned to stay for 3 day and ended up staying 9 nights. The guest house was nice and clean with a great staff, they rented scooters and peddle-bike and... they made a great cup of coffee in the morning. From Kampot we were free to explore the nearby
Bokor Mountain National Park, nearby waterfalls and river rapids (once again an example of how spoiled we are in Canada), and a limestone cave which was the home to a temple dating back to the 7th century.

The Bokor Park was a highlight for us. On the 30 km ride with the scooter from Kampot we enjoyed the sightings of a Gibbon, two Great Hornbills and a long slender snake that didn't seem to be venomous but I was not taking any chances...Ken was thrilled! The Hornbill was absolutely beautiful and as big as a turkey. We were able to watch them for over an hour as they ate and flew from tree to tree around us, they must have had a nest around us somewhere. It was very refreshing riding in the park because it was ? altitude and at the top of the mountain we were very surprised to come across a huge hotel/casino which they were building...who in the earth will stay there, in the middle of no-where...only in Cambodia.



The locals must make the most of what they have but you know this gives awhole new meaning to riding 2up!


Kep is known for its blue crab dinners and they are proud of it.


This lady cut open a few coconuts for us to drink as we walked around Rabbit Island.  The walk was about 5 km in total, through jungle and along beaches.  The bungalows on the island were only 5 dollars but we opted for a day trip only, on the way back to Kep the winds picked up and we got soaked in our overcrowded boat...maybe we should have stayed.


Ken looks back to see if I am coming as I lagged behind walking on the trail around Rabbit Island.


A cage full of blue crabs, ready for sale a the morning market.


Along the river in Kampot you can watch people playing this game.  I am not sure what the name of the game isbut it is played simularly to hackysack but with a birdy simular it badminton..but not really.  The players usually hit the birdy with their foot, behind the body but sometimes it is hit off the knee or foot in front.  We decided not to give it a go and remained spectators only.


The sunset over the river at Kampot as one of the fisherman to our for the night.


A quiick look back at Fabian and Johana on our bike trip up Bokor Mountian.


I love my new camera.  It caught a great picture of one of a pair of Great Hornbills we watched in the Bokor Mountian N.P.  We were more than delighted to spy on them for a while.


The temple at the top of Bokor Mountian, nestled on the edge of a cliff it had a great view of Kampot on the river as it drifted into the Bay of Thailand.


On our daytrip back to Kep on the scooter we witnessed some resident monkeys that lived not too far from the Hotel we stayed at.  All in all, they were fairly tame but one did take a run at Ken when he got too close for comfort.


These little piggys went to market, the lucky ones stayed home.


A night it Kampot was spent watching a traditional show of dance, music and song from Cambodia and...Finland?  As an exchange program a group of music teachers make a trip to  Cambodia every year to teach the students of an Orphanage and Disabled Childrens school.  The show was great.