2. Stay on the move constantly--no down time.
3. Visit only your top choice sights.
4. Thank your husband for returning to a country he's seen before.
5. Relax and breathe when you reach Laos.
So, we managed to squeeze a quick visit to Cambodia in between Vietnam and Laos. Since we were already in the Mekong delta, which borders Camdodia, we decided to go overland through the country to get to Laos. This accounted for a hectic 3 days.
To backtrack a little: We made it successfully from the delta area to Phu Quoc Island, a small tropical island off the southwestern tip of Vietnam, where our hotel reservation was honored. That was a relief. We spent the next two days completely relaxed on the beautiful white sand beach. The island is still pretty sleepy, especially considering how beautiful it is, with a lot of small beach restaurants and guest houses with bungalows. There are some newer, fancier resorts cropping up but the whole vibe was very laidback. We pretty much didn't move from our beach chairs from about noon to 6 both days except to order food or drinks. This is also where we rung in 2010. On New Year's Eve we enjoyed a nice dinner and then went to the beach where most celebrating was happening. All the restaurants had tables set out on the sand and bonfires. We got a drink on the beach before heading to a bar/club for some dancing and the stroke of midnight. There was a nice mix of Westerners and Vietnamese dancing together. At midnight they played a song called "Happy New Year" while tennis was still shown on all the TVs. It was kind of weird not to have a countdown or watch the ball drop. But the night was a lot of fun.
Enjoying sunset on the beach NYE...not too shabby
Then it was on to Cambodia. We spent a long day on the 2nd getting to the border and then to the capital, Phnom Penh. Border crossings are always interesting and this one was no different. You go from a pretty well-maintained facility on the Vietnam side to small shacks, no real order, and a red dirt road on the Cambodian side. We took a very dusty motorbike ride to a small town (after which Alex's legs looked like they had a bad spray tan) and then a slow, hot minibus ride to Phnom Penh. We ended up randomly at the same place Chris stayed with his friend Andrew 5 years ago. The next day we went to the Genocidal Center, more famously called the Killing Fields, where a huge number of Cambodians were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979. There were hundreds of bodies found in the mass graves. The bones are now on display in a memorial stupa. You can still see the pits of the mass graves and there are plaques on the former sites of buildings used to house prisoners and the rudimentary tools of killing. One site is a large tree where babies were killed by being hit against it before thrown in the grave. It was a difficult visit and just impossible to fathom how people could do this to their friends, family, and countrymen. Afterwards Alex went to S-21 prison (Chris had been) which was where the Khmer Rouge kept and tortured their "enemies." It used to be a high school and some of the playground exercise equipment was even used in torturing victims. It was very eerie and disturbing to step into rooms that held prisoners and know they were classrooms. Some still have chalkboards. Another sad visit but I'm glad that the Cambodians have set up these places to remember and honor the 3 million people killed.
A prison cell/classroom at S-21
The same day we took a 2pm bus to Siem Reap, getting in at 8:45. The next morning we had a tuk-tuk driver meet us at 8 to take us to the most famous Angkor Wat temples. Chris had been to these as well but wanted to see them again. We started at the walled city of Angkor Thom. The famous Bayon temple here has over 200 carved faces of a boddhisatva (Buddhist diety) on its towers. The whole temple is beautiful and awe-inspiring. We visited several other temples here although none are quite as impressive. Our next stop was Ta Keo from the 10th century. It is huge but undecorated. It was supposedly never finished because it was struck by lightening, a bad omen. The sides have very steep, very skinny, very scary stairs to the top. Alex did not like this but still climbed up. Our final stop of the morning was Ta Phrom, also known as "Tomb Raider", which is famous for the huge kapok trees growing all over it. This was Alex's favorite as it's incredibly atmospheric and a neat mix of human achievement and nature taking it all back. The tree roots grow all over, around, and in between the stones of the building. This is obviously causing the temple to fall into ruin but is also the reason to visit. There is conservation work going on and it was interesting to think about how the government will try and preserve this unique temple.
Alex carefully descends the stairs of Ta Keo
The large kapok tree roots taking over
Alex: By this time we needed lunch. That consisted of gross spaghetti with tomato sauce. And Chris' food never came. Chris had gotten sick the previous night so he returned to the hotel while I visited the temple of Angkor Wat. It is HUGE. First I had to cross the 250 meter wide moat that resembles a small lake on a wide causeway flanked by naga (cobra diety) statues. Then there are 4 "gateways" into the temple which are really gates in a wide wall that has statues and bas-reliefs inside. From the first gate to the actual temple there was another causeway about 1/2 kilometer long. It was great to get that first sight of the famous building and its corncob-like towers. Inside the temple my favorite part was the incredibly detailed and large bas-reliefs that go around the entire outside wall. It took me almost an hour just to get around it all. They're incredibly well preserved and probably 6 feet high and every inch is covered in carving. The rest of the temple was equally impressive, with more detailed carving on the walls and columns. You can no longer climb up the precarious stairs leading to the highest part of the temple (as Chris was able to just 5 years ago) because there were too many injuries. I was fine skipping that experience. :o)
Angkor Wat
Cambodia - it's hard to believe so much time has elapsed since it was a war ravaged country. Two and 1/2 days would have been enough time for me. Good to know you have the opportunity to relax at beautiful beaches after your interesting bus rides and treacherous climbs.
ReplyDeletePretty memorable way to start the New Year. Keep blogging. Love, Mom