Well I'm here in Siem Reap. I arrived in the Arvo the day before yesterday. I caught up with Jacqui Elizabeth and we had a very pleasant afternoon near Pub Street in a cool (as in cold) place having iced drinks and cheesecake. Yum. We ate that night in my favorite Cambodian BBQ place. All you can eat for $5:00. You get to cook it for yourself on a charcoal stove with a special dish on top. It was lovely. The next day we lazed around the place. I needed a sd card for my new "Action Camera" ( Thank you so much Cat). I also needed a sim card for my phone and we both wanted needle and thread. We finished our wonders back in the same cool place as the day before. As you may have worked out Siem Reap is very very hot and very very humid. So far my hotel rooms have both only had fan rooms.... no AC. So I crave places with air con. You could cut the heat and the humidity with a knife here. It sucks your energy. I reckon I have lost weight just through sweating! We ate that night at a swish place just near our hotel. I had Amok fish. It was exquisite. The fish was steamed in Banana leaf with a sauce of coconut milk, coriander and kaffir lime. Fantastic.
Today Jacqui E. and I went to 2 temple complexes some 150km from Siem Reap and Angkor. One was Kol Ker (pronounced Kol Kyee) it was built between 928AD and 944AD. I am not sure of the builders name but it was the capital of the Khmer Empire for that time. It was a huge city with a footprint 9km by 4Km. In this area there are 42 major structures. We saw about half a dozen and they were all very interesting. Each structure had something to say. Whether it was the enormous linghams to be found in several towers or the amalgam of stone building blocks and those impossible brick towers that the Chams were famous for. The biggest temple we saw was Prasat Krahom. It was very big with lots of ruined walls and buildings but the most impressive thing was the enormous pyramid at the back of the complex. It was a huge 7 tiered thing that brought to mind the Mayan temples in Mexico! It sat by it's self in an area devoid of trees. I spent quite a bit of time just absorbing the view and the atmosphere. Splendid. On our way out we stopped at several towers that housed these enormous lingas, the phallic symbol which is a representation of the god Shiva. Each time we stopped we were passed by this rather nice herd of cattle. It was lovely to hear the sounds of thier bells as they sauntered along the track. It was quite musical and added to the eastern mystery. I was grateful to see all the mine clearing signs. I could imagine it very difficult with a herd of cattle without them.
The second place we went to was called Beng Mealea. It was a single structure built in the 12th century by Suryavarman II. The structure is the same as Angkor Wat but you wouldn't know just by looking because the whole thing is swamped by the jungle or should I say surrounding vegitation as it is more open forest than jungle. I don't know why Angelina Jolie ponced around with the area around Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom because Beng Mealea is the ultimate in tomb raider times. It is a huge hodge podge of partially and fully ruined buildings. You walk over the top of everything on a walkway occasionally dipping into a shadowy corridor or passing through an enormous lintel. We spent 2 hours clambering and climbing. It was really fantastic. There were far more tourists here as we were closer to Siem Reap. There was no one at Kol Ker! When you consider that this place was the same size as Angkor Wat you can understand why we took 2 hours just to get the first view. I'll be back.
I took copious amounts of photos not all of which I will post here, there are too many! I will post the ones from Kol Ker on this blog and then the ones from Beng Mealea on a second blog.
Jacqui and I have resolved our travel plans. On Monday we will go to Battembong for about 3-4 days. We will hire a bike there and go north to another Khmer ruin complex up on the Thai border. Then we will get a bus to Phenom Penh. There we will hire a bigger dirt bike and do a big loop of the south. We will go through the Cardomoms to the coast. We will then go along the coast to Rabbit Island and then back to PP. I plan to do cooking lessons in Kampot and I want to eat crab in KepJacqui goes on to Indonesia and I have to decide whether to go back to Vietnam or come home. I will leave that decision to then. See youse campers
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