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We flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia next
day. The flight took about an hour. My Cambodian
agent, Tom, was there at the airport to meet us.
Siem Reap is a small town that
exists mainly to serve the world famous antiquities
and temple complexes of Angkor. Nobody could ever be
disappointed by this trip. Angkor has been named one
of the wonders of the world.
First we checked into the Sofitel. A
magnificent 5* hotel built among beautiful tropical
gardens & lakes. The style is traditional
Cambodian but with all the modern comforts &
luxuries. It's stylish, elegant & relaxing.
Next day was our full day tour of
the vast temple complex, covering an area of 200
square kilometres. We started our visit from the South
gate of Angkor Thom, visiting the Bayon and Baphuon
temples, the Royal Palace and the Terrace of the
Elephants. In the afternoon we headed for Angkor Wat
& Preah Khan. Every temple has it's own unique
beauty but the Bayon temple stands out as the most
remarkable. Over 200 large faces carved on its 54
towers, each tower having 4 faces at each direction.
Angkor Wat, the largest monument of the Angkor group,
is an architectural masterpiece. No description can do
justice to it, you just have to see it for yourself.
The impressive sight grabs you right from a distance.
The moment you step out of the car from the gate it
takes about 10 minutes to walk to the temple, crossing
the river & the parkland, leading to the steps of
the temple. The magnificent temple towers above you
like heaven.
This immense monument occupies a
rectangular area of about 500 acres defined by an
enclosure wall which is surrounded by a moat. The
enclosure wall measures about 3 ½ miles. It takes
several hours to walk through the entire complex &
the four walls of level one that still contain the
many beautiful stories carved into the walls. I
dreamed about visiting Angkor as a boy now I have
fulfilled my dream. It met all my expectations &
more, much more. I am going back again in the future.
I need a few more days to see & wonder at this
place.
Tonight my agent Tom hosted an
evening of Cambodian culture at the Chao Praya
restaurant. We ate a delicious Asian buffet feast -
Cambodian, Vietnamese, Japanese & Chinese dishes.
The choice was marvellous. I particularly liked the
Dry Steamed Fish, Chicken Curry, Deep Fried Battered
Squid, Noodle Soup & Mixed Vegetables. There was
also barbequed seafood & wonderful Cambodian
desserts. We ate & drank Angkor Beer on the garden
terrace watching a lovely dance performance on stage.
It was most enjoyable & entertaining. We checked
into the Princess Angkor hotel that night, a lovely
& very comfortable standard hotel offering a touch
of luxury.
We left for Phnom Penh next day. The
flight took about an hour. We checked into the
standard La Parranda hotel. This small hotel stands
opposite the imposing 5* Intercontinental hotel. Our
city tour started from The Royal Palace, a 'must see'
tour. This Royal Palace is less than half of the size
of the Thai Royal Palace in Bangkok but with as much
interests & beautiful architecture & gardens
to enjoy. It also has a less commercial feel than
Bangkok. The tour is by individual Royal Palace tour
guides & ours was a young university student
studying tourism. He was extremely pleasant &
spoke good English.
The afternoon tour was a visit to
the genocide museum Tuol Sleng, the former Khmer Rouge
S21 prison. This is not for anyone who does not want
to see the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. It's a haunting
place still echoing the pain & suffering of the
many who were tortured to death. If you want to see
the horrific history it is on show with pictures &
displays of those periods of hell in detail. There is
no 'dressing' here: its raw and powerful. The
afternoon tour finished with a visit to the Killing
Fields just outside Phnom Penh. Again this is not for
the faint hearted. Many visitors end this visit in
floods of tears. Our car took about an hour from the
city centre to arrive in the countryside. A huge
shrine stands at the entrance, a tall block of glass
window about 30 fleet high storing hundreds of skulls
found here. Beyond this terrifying shrine are the
remains of many big communal graves.
That night we had another fantastic
buffet feast in the Ton Le Sap restaurant in Phnom
Penh city.
Before we left Cambodia on the
afternoon flight, we spent the morning shopping at the
Central & Russian Markets. Both markets offers
good buys for local art & crafts & some
antique pieces. The markets also offer interesting
sights of food, flowers, gold & jewellery, CDs
etc. I did all my shopping in one morning. We left
Phnom Penh at 16:00 on Saturday via KL and arrived
back at Heathrow 6 o'clock Sunday morning.
I had a wonderful 2 weeks holiday in
Vietnam & Cambodia.
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