Last Few Temples

Banteay Srei, East Mebon, Neak Pean, Pre Rup, Preah Khan and Ta Som.

Jaw-Droppingly Awesome

Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Promh and the many temples that make up the Angkor complex are among those places that when the first time you look at them make your jaw drop and you fall into silence as you try to take in the spectacle. Other places that I have seen that have this effect are (this is not a definitive list): 
Taj Mahal
Grand Canyon
10,000 wildebeest coming to the Mara River to drink
Boeing 747
C5A
The balbo of North American P51 Mustangs at Duxford (led by my old boss, Rod Dean)
St Paul's Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral
New York Skyline
Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street
Bagan, Myanmar
Hong Kong Island from Kowloon at night
Entrance Hall of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

These temples are all part of the Angkor Wat complex. Banteay Srei was an awesome experience. Built in 967 AD it was a small temple surrounded by concentric square walls. There were intricate and beautiful sandstone carved walls, doorways, lintels and figures everywhere. Stunning.

Banteay Srey

Pre Rup

Preah Khan

Ta Som

The Roulos Group 

These temples were built before Angkor Wat. Preah Ko was the first built, in 879 AD, and was followed by Bakong (881 AD) which was the first pyramid temple. Lolei was consecrated in 893 AD.

Lolei

Novice monks at Lolei

Sandstone carving let into the brickwork

Preah Ko

Bakong

 

Beng Mealea 

This temple was built early in the 12^th century and is not part of the Angkor complex. It is about 40km east of Siem Reap

Lake Tonle Sap and the floating village

Lake Tonle Sap is an ecological hot spot that was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997.  In the dry season it is 2,700 sq km in area and 1 m deep but 9m deep and 16,000 sq km in the wet season. The lake empties through the Tonle Sap River into the Mekong at Phnom Penh during the dry but the rise of the Mekong in the wet forces the water back upstream into the lake during the monsoon. There are many fishermen who live in stilted houses nearby or in floating villages on the lake.

Stilted village

Rain shower approaching

Main channel to the lake

The village shop comes to you!

Floating village

The storm arrives

Spotted a couple of overloaded vehicles on the way.

'Chinese' Buffalo and timber

Pottery stoves on a freight tuk tuk

Hard workers, more strange food, embarrassing moment

Hard Workers

All the Khmer are hard workers - many work 7 days/week, most work 6 days/week. They have to, just to make a living. I talked to a colleague about his normal day. He told me he starts by studying English from 0530 to 0630 when he goes to New Hope from 0700 to 1130 (normal Khmer lunchtime). Home for lunch and a nap. 1430 - 1645 back at New Hope. 1700 - 1800 teaching English to children. 1800 - 1900 teaching English to adult beginners. Then the rest of the day is his own! Saturday and Sunday mornings he teaches “newspapers” - he reads the papers with a class of English-language students and explains them as required. Meanwhile he is working on a Master’s degree in English and wants to sit the tests for the Phnom Penh Language Institute (the best in Cambodia). If he succeeds he will have to travel to Phnom Penh every Friday night for the weekend (for 2 years) to learn TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Another colleague told me that he has been working at New Hope for 4 years. Prior to that he worked at the Temple Bar in Pub Street for 10 hours/day, 7 days/week for 2 years. He had 3 days off per year. If he was sick he was allowed to go upstairs and rest for an hour. He was paid US$2 per shift. 

More Strange Food

I ate fermented fish which is called 'Cambodian cheese' and comes as a sauce in a small bowl as a dip. It definitely had a smell of cheese - quite strong - not really to my taste but considered a delicacy locally. It was mixed with chilies and other unidentified stuff. One dipped pieces of very rare-cooked beef into it. The beef was excellent. One of the unidentified ingredients put into the ‘cheese’ dip turned out to be deep-fried, red ants. These tasted quite bitter but not unpleasant. 

Embarrassing Moment

As I walked past the medical centre the receptionist behind the desk asked me why I was limping. I told him about being out running, stubbing my toe, falling over and how much it hurt. Then I remembered this chap was a paraplegic in a wheel-chair. I felt very foolish.