Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Thursday 23rd February 2017

Today is our last full day in Cambodia as we are flying back to London tomorrow afternoon. We visited the Royal Palace which is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. It was very nice to see all the different buildings but it was very busy!

After our visit we went for a walk around the streets of Phnom Penh, along the waterfront (which was a bit run down), stopping st Pagodas and looking in the shops. The streets were really busy and bustley and we were asked if we wanted a tuk tuk constantly!

Very busy street!

It has been very humid today, and as I was still feeling unwell from my cold, we decided to go back to the hotel to relax after lunch.

 

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Wednesday 22nd February 2017

This morning we met up with Ducky, who we went on the food tour with on Monday, to experience breakfast Cambodian Style! We met her at our hotel and jumped on a tuk tuk to the local market. Our first breakfast of the day (we had two!) was a noodle dish which had pork, vegetables, crispy spring rolls and herbs to name just a few things and it was delicious! We decided to share a bowl and I am glad we did as there was loads of it!

Lady preparing our breakfast

Hmmm - yum!

We then walked round the market, chatting with Ducky and her getting us to try bits and pieces such as roasted bananas, Cambodian donuts and coconut glutinous balls. She was very interesting to chat to, telling us about how people live and work as well as her own experiences of living in Phnom Penh.

Our second breakfast of the day was rice with roasted pork, which you add vegetables and sauces too which was nice as well.

After saying goodbye to Ducky we then got a tuk tuk out to the Killing fields of Choeung EK which is about 8km outside of Phnom Penh. The 40 minute journey was interesting - to begin with it was very busy driving through the city (traffic is crazy and it is a free for all!) and then along bumpy dusty roads through small towns. The killing fields were extermination camps for the Khmer Rouge and approx 17,000 people were killed at Choeung Ek. We listened to an audio tour whilst walking round and it was very gruesome but I am glad we went as it is an important part of Cambodia's history.

Skulls found at Choeung Ek

We then travelled back into town to visit the S21 Prison which was the torture and interrogation Centre for the Khmer Rouge - Of the 14,000 people known to have entered, only seven survived. We saw some shocking pictures and heard some very sad stories but it was important to understand the sad, recent history of what happened in those 4 years from 1975 to 1979.

S21 Prison - it was originally a school

Some of the cells

It has been another very hot day, and as I am still not well with my cold we had a late lunch and then went back to the hotel. The tuk tuk driver had bizarrely asked us if we wanted to go to a shooting range but we politely declined (Peter actually said no thanks we are not hungry as he had misheard ha ha).

 

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Tuesday 21st February 2017

This morning we had a private tour with an architecture graduate which explored central Phnom Penh including colonial buildings as well as modern, post-independence architecture. Our mode of transport was a cyclo which were cycled by old men!

It was my first experience in a cyclo but it didn't start off well....my cyclo was driven in to a massive pot hole and I was precariously hanging on, shouting shall I get out? until another cyclo driver came to the rescue. Peter and the guide were oblivious to my plight as they were half way up the road on their cyclos and my man had to peddle extra hard to catch up!

We explored many different places including the colonial French quarter, Chinese temples and the Central market. We even went in to apartment blocks to look at the architecture which did sometimes feel like we were intruding a bit, especially when she told us to peer in to an open door of a house to look at some chinease architecture to find a man sitting there in his pants! The locals didn't seem to mind though.

Post office in French Quarter

Chinese temple

The central market building

One shocking thing happened as we were walking along a busy street with the guide. We heard lots of shouting and then a man came off his moped right next to us and skidded along the road - we, as well as the whole street, just stopped in our tracks staring at what had happened. The guide then said that she thinks he was doing a bag snatch (hence the shouting) and he came off his bike whilst trying to get away. He was ok as he had got up but there were lots of people surrounding him so I don't know if the locals were apprehending him but we went on our way a bit freaked out.

Unfortunately, our camera has stopped working so we are now relying on our phones for photos.

Later in the day we went on a sunset cruise - we were picked up by a tuk tuk who already had some passengers (they were also on the cruise) and we were chatting to them and found that they lived in Plumstead (where we use to live) - what a small world! The cruise was very good - it was nice and relaxing.

Today has been a particularly hot day - it was 96 degrees with a real feel of 102 according to Accuweather - even the Cambodians were complaining about the heat! I have also come down with a cold which is not great - how I have managed to get a cold in this heat I don't know!

 

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Monday 20th February 2017

We flew to Phnom Penh today - tickets were a bargain at $30 each and the flight only took 35 mins. Our pre-arranged taxi driver took us to the wrong hotel at first and it was a bit of a nightmare trying to explain to him as he didn't speak much English - my usual way of dealing with language barriers is to speak slow and loud in English but that wasn't working (actually it never does!) so I showed him my hotel booking and luckily he understood and our hotel was just round the corner.

Our hotel room is quite nice, but not as nice as the one in Siem Reap but that is a big act to follow. We have a large bedroom with a separate living room so we have plenty of space.

Our bedroom

For dinner this evening I had booked a food tour - we were picked up at 4:30pm by our guide (an Australian lady called Ducky!) along with the other guests, an American family from Ohio. Our first stop was a roof top bar for cocktails with amazing views over Phnom Penh. We then went to a local market (we do love a market in S.E Asia!) where Ducky got us to try all sorts - different fruits, a Cambodian dessert, pork crackling, pork belly and some ribs which everyone was swooning over apart from me!

The ribs that everyone loved

We literally ate what ever Ducky told us too! I said to the Americans that we would never have dared try any of this on our own and they agreed! Our final stop was a local BBQ restaurant where Ducky ordered for the table and we all tucked in. We tried all sorts of different dishes including.....

Bugs!

I didn't really eat this one!

Frogs - surprisingly tasty!

Our group (that is not Bill Clinton sitting next to me), Ducky & our tuk tuk drivers

It was a very good evening and we ended up discussing politics (mainly Trump with a bit of Brexit thrown in) with the Bill Clinton lookalike next to me.

 

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Siem Reap, Cambodia: Sunday 19th February 2017

Today is our last full day in Siem Reap so we decided to revisit Angkor Wat as Peter had missed out because he was ill (and you cannot come all the way to Siem Reap and not see Angkor Wat!) We left the hotel at 5:30am so that we would get in to look around in first light and we passed the sunrise mob as we walked in - that was me 3 days ago!

The sunrise crowd

Peter finally made it to Angkor Wat!

After a couple of hours looking around Angkor Wat we jumped in to our tuk tuk to Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom, which means great city, is actually a walled enclosure of temples, which are in different states of ruins, rather than a temple on its own. We spent a few hours walking around and viewing all the different temples.

Phimeanakas temple

The terrace of the elephants

The terrace of the lepers

We were hot and tired after walking around Angkor Thom but there was one more temple we wanted to visit before we headed back to town for lunch.

Ta Nei is a small temple located deep in the Cambodian jungle and is off the tourist route so it is rarely visited. Archeologists have left Ta Nei as it originally was - Tree roots split open the temple stone, and jungle flora sprawls out across the temple grounds. Ta Nei has had minimal reconstruction and clearing efforts and as a result, is classed as a truly “ruined” ruin. To get there it was down a very dusty, bumpy track but it was worth the journey - when we arrived we were the only ones there and Peter said as we were clambering over rocks to get in that it felt like we had just discovered it and I knew what he meant!

We then travelled back in to Siem Reap for lunch, a bit of shopping and some ice cream! In the afternoon we relaxed at the hotel.

We have really enjoyed our time in Siem Reap but we are looking forward to our visit to Phnom Penh.

 

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Siem Reap, Cambodia: Saturday 18th February 2017

Yesterday Peter took a turn for the worst, he was still having diarrhoea but was also feeling queasy and feverish so I asked the hotel to call a doctor. The doctor diagnosed Peter with gastroenteritis and gave him antibiotics. Luckily we had nothing planned and was just going to look around the town and relax so we stayed at the hotel while Peter recovered.

Today Peter felt a lot better so we left the hotel at 7am this morning and visited a number of the smaller temples - Preah Khan (our favourite), Nean Peak, Ta Som, East Mebon & Pre Rup.

Preah Khan Temple

Nean Peak

You have to walk over a boardwalk to get to the temple

Ta Som

Ta Som wall carvings

East Mebon

We enjoyed looking around all the temples and whizzing around on the tuk tuk between each temple but by lunch time, and after 5 temples, we were hot and templed-out so went in to town for lunch and relaxed at the hotel in the afternoon.

In the evening we walked in to the centre of Siem Reap for dinner. On the way we came across a carnival just about to start so we stopped to watch.

We went to a pizza restaurant tonight which claims to be the best pizza in Siem Reap and it was very good. The only downside was that we were sat on the edge of the restaurant which was outdoors and we had some kids begging for food - we of course felt bad stuffing our face with pizza and gave them some but it is very sad to see especially when they are so young.

 

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Siem Reap, Cambodia: Thursday 16th February 2017

Today I had booked a guide to take us around the 3 big temples - Angkor Wat, Ta Promh and the Bayon temple. We were going to Angkor Wat for Sunrise which meant a very early start of 4:30am! However there was a slight issue in that Peter had been up since 2am with severe diarrhoea......he was not well enough to go (couldn't be too far from a toilet!) so he went back to bed whilst I went temple exploring with the guide.

Angkor Wat opens at 5am and the guide was very keen for us to be first there so we could set up in the best spot ..... so keen in fact that he was racing ahead and I couldn't keep up with him! I was glad I had brought a torch with me as it was so dark and it looked like I was going to have to fend for myself......we set up our cameras (the guide had lent me a tripod to use for the sunset) and then the 2nd disaster of the day.....the camera was not picking up the memory card! For 15 mins we tried in vain to get it to work and in the end, in desperation, I shook the camera upside down which seemed to work! It was worth getting up early and I got some good sunrise shots (I should hope so as we were standing there for 2.5 hours!).

Angkor Wat at sunrise

We decided not to do Angkor Wat straight after sunrise as we were hoping Peter would be well enough to join us later in the day so our next stop was the Bayon temple. The temple is well known for its many faces and I really enjoyed looking around the temple although it was a lot of climbing again! My guide has an expertise in photography and he helped me get some good photos!

Faces of Bayon

On the way to our next stop, the guide said he needed to drop off a donation and would I like to come with him. I said ok and he took me to a Buddhist event where everyone was making offerings to the monks. As soon as we walked in the whole crowd stopped looking at the monks and were all staring at me - talk about feeling like I was intruding! They soon got used to me being there and a few of the ladies were smiling and waving at me.

Buddhist ceremony - this whole crowd stared at me when I walked in!

Ladies praying at the ceremony

We then went on to Ta Promh - famously known as the Tomb Raider temple as the movie was filmed there. I was really looking forward to seeing this temple but it was VERY busy and it was very hot so I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

We went back to the hotel to see how Peter was and to have some lunch - he seemed a lot brighter but didn't feel comfortable enough to come out in the afternoon so after lunch the guide and I went to look round Angkor Wat. It was a great experience, and it felt quite surreal being there - I enjoyed looking round the temple and seeing all the bas-reliefs (wall carvings).

Angkor Wat in the afternoon

One of the many wall carvings

My guide got the monk to pose for this picture!

It was a very exhausting and long day but I did enjoy seeing the temples but I would have enjoyed it more sharing the experience with Peter.

 

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