Today no biking but boating instead. We are travveling by baot from Siem Riep to Battambang on the Tonle Sap lake, a journey that will take us 8 hourd. This is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. We had the whole boat to ourselves and we saw the real life in Cambodia today. We were passing lots of floating villages with their houses, schools, pagodas and shops. We visited an artisanal weaving centre where baskets and bags were made fron waterhyacinths. Also there we saw the floating shops passing by to sell their goods. The was one with fruits and vegetables and also softdrinks and beer was being on offer and delivered at the house. We continued our way through this beautiful nature reservation area where lots of birds are nesting. At a certain moment we took 2 more passengers on board, a women and her daughter who were relatives from the boatowner. Our lunchpackets were packed in beautiful baskets that were delicately decorated and the food was served in bananaleafs. We noticed a lot of traffic between Siem Riep and Battambang. At certain points the waterway was so narrow that we nearly touched the other boat when passing. We thouroughly enjoyed our journey and were even a bit surprised that it was already over at our arrival. During our short ride to the hotel, our guide asked if we wanted a ride on the Bambootrain. We did and went for a ride. The Bamboo train consists of a wagon with 2 bars with wheels that are put on the track and on top of that a platform, the size of a tabletop, where 4 (or more) people can sit on a mat. At the back is the driver handling the motor.This contraption travels at a speed of +/- 30 km/hour.There is only 1 track and when a "wagon" from the opposite direction is encountered then the one who has the lightest charge is being dismanteled, so that the heaviest one can continue it's journey. After that then the other one is put back together on the track and can also continue. Palmyre wanted to encounter an opposite train. We did no less then encounter 3, so no complaints are accepted. At the end of the track we visited a brick factory and oven and then went back to our starting point. We had a very fast dinner and where back at the hotel at 8h30. Although we were looking for a drink we didn't find a suitable bar and had all an early night in preparation of the big bikingtrip of the next day.
To day we are biking the longest distance from the whole trip: 90km to Pailin. The trip is along a big road and although we see a lot the scenery is not as spectacular as when we are biking through the little country roads. We are maintaining the pace at 20km/hour and we are having a stop every hour. After about the 3 hour my sore bottom got worse and worse. We stoPped after about 70km for lunch. We had nearly an hour break and it was decided that Fernand and Yves would race against Mr Wayne, our biking guide. Mr Wayne is the biking champion of not only Cambodia but the whole Southeast Asia. The started after the group photo was taken. The others would bike in the company of Mr T except Maria and myself. My bottom had it for today and couldn't "face" another hour on the saddle. Halfway through Fernand was biking after Mr Wayne who we didn't see, and Yves who had been taking pictures was chasing to catch up with Fernand. After them came Alphonse Who really had a great biking day. After them came the closing group with Luk and Lucienne and Palmyre and Mr T. We think that Mr T had a tough ride today.
When all arrived in Pailin we cheered and took lots of pics.
After a good rest we set out to go and admire the big buddah. After the beauty of angkor Wat we were utterly shocked by the ugliness and the tackiness of the edifice and it's surroundings. Back at the hotel we informed Maria and Fernand that they hadn"t missed anything. We also got info on the province and the fact that the people there were still voting for the no 2 of the ex-pol-pot regime. We were also warned not to go outside any path because of the threath of landmines.
Upon our arrival we decided to have an aperitif before dinner and Luc had noticed in the afternoon that there were only 3 bottles of white wine and had put them in the fridge. Thanks to Luc's Good thinking and planning we had lovely cool white wine. After our dinner, Yves gave the enveloppe with the tips to Mr Ty and asked him to take care of the distribution. The whole team was there and there were a couple of short speeches and Mr Wayne showed us pics of his cycling team. It was our last night in Cambodia and we started to realize that the end of our journey was coming near.
We did a lot of biking today. We started at 7h00 and had to go first to the ticket booth to verify if my pass would be considered as still valid. Thanks to the good connections of our guide; he had been the English teacher of the staff working at the booth; the pass was decleared acceptable. We biked 52km before noon. We biked mostly along small countryroads and the last bit was somewhat hilly. It was very hot and our respective bottoms were really sore. Mine continued hurting throughout the day and it was only in the eveningshower that I noticed that I had an infection.
We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant with a watermill and were then dropped at the start of the hikingtrail. 1,5km up the mountain path that was covered with rocks but in the shade odf the trees we found the waterfall and the carvings in the stones of he holy river. This is the river of the 1000 lingas. We followed the river for a while and then back to the trail to go down. After some refreshment that was badly needed, we went to visit the temple of Banteay Srei. This temple was discovered in 1914 and was restored according to the anastylosis method, consisting of numbering all the pieces found on the ground and the re-construct afterward. The temple was rather small but the carvings were absolutely beautiful. A real pleasure for the eye. In the evening, Palmyre, Alphonse and me went to a dinner including Apsara dancing. This was in a big hotel and full of tourists. Dinner was a self service buffet and was average. But the dances were worth it. These girls have to train very hard to be able to bent their fingers and arms in these un-natural possitions. Sometimes their hands looked like a flower. The costumes were beautifull qnd they had lots of make-up and the head-wear was spectacular.
After the show we went back by tuk tuk. When I asked the price, the man asked us how much we wanted to give. I said 1$ which was the same as in Phnem Phnom. At the arrival at the hotel after a very short ride,the man was profusely thanking us for business. So we suspect that we paid too much but for us that was OK. A drink together on a terrace next to the hotel concluded this beautifull day and our stay in Siem Riep.
Today is the highlight of our trip. We are visiting the temple complex of Angkor Wat by bike. We set out from the hotel in the heavy and chaotic morning traffic of Siem Riep. Our first stop was at the ticket booth where we had to take our helmets off in order to have our picture taken. After 10 minutes we received our 3 day passes with a severe warning from the guide that we had to keep our passes with us and no torns would be tolerated. I will tell you later what happened to mine. We continued our tour and the first temple we visited was Ta Phrom. The is also the temple where the film Tomb Raiders with Angelina Jolie was turned. Indeed the spectacular settings with huge strangling figtrees overtaking the temple buildins was aweful. We walked through the grounds and were really impressed. On our way back we stopped at the orchestra that was playing traditional music. All musicians were victims of the landmines, missing a foot or a limb or both. Part of the revenues they generate with the concerts goes to support landmine victims and their families. Then we continued our tour od Angkor Thom the vast complex. We saw the elephant terrace fron where could watch the ropedancers who were walking and dancing on ropes hanging between the 5 facing towers. Quite a spectacular view that must have been. We then biked to the temple of Bayon. This temple was astonishing with it's 54 towers with each 4 faces. We were admiring these whilst walking through the temple. We also climbed on 1 of the towers and admired the views around us. After this it was time for lunch. Again we received a delicious preset Khmer meal. After the meal when I wanted to pay for the coke that I drank, they would not accept the 2 dollar bill I had. I was getting worried that I wasn't going to be able to pay with these in other shops but the guide assured me that the owner of the restaurant was peculiar and that this was an exception.
And then: Angkor Wat temple. We entered through the majestic lane that brought us to the temple itself.we walked through it and were admiring the temple and the surrounding views. The we climbed the steep wooden steps to visit the main tower that is representing the mount Meru. Although a lot of conservation work was going on, we were able to visit and admire. We were informed by Vuthyn our very charming guide, that these steps were the only put there last year and that the tower couldn't be visited by the public before that since ther were only very steep stone steps and that was too dangerous for the tourists. The reason as to why these steps were so steep was to inspire respects to the king. When you have to climb so steep then you have to watch your steps and your feet and can't look up to the face of the king. In eastern culture to look someone in the eyes when talking was proof of bad manners. After we all got down,We continued then through the galleries with their bas-reliefs telling us stories about kings and wars, angels and demons, gods and thei wives and concubines and our guide told us all of them. Our harts and heads were thrully filled with impessions of beauty and admirations for this ancient culture.
After our visit we had to wait a bit for Yves who was lingering in the temple.
We got at the hotel and were grateful for this day full of beauty and history. Since it had been very hot I washed the T-shirt that I had been wearing beforez we went for dinner. When we got back from our dinner and some shopping at the local markets,we started to prepare for the next and only then I realized that my temple pass was inside the pocket of my T-shirt. I fished it out and was appaled to find only a little roll of paper. But thanks to the puzzle talent of Palmyre we were able to re-construct more or less the pass. The next morning, after the paper had dried I went to the reception to fetch a pot of glue and Palmyre glued it to a piece of paper. When I told the guide that I "washed" the pass and showed him our work, no comments were needed. The look on his face was suficient.
Today we travelled most of the time in the bus. After 4h30 driving on the "highway" we got to Sambor Prei Kuk. With highway I mean the road between Phnom Phen and Sien. Riep that is used by all kind of traffic: cars, motorbikes, bikes, ox-cart, tractors, pedestrians and catlle. Lots of schoolkids biking or walking from and to school. All along the way there are stall where just everything is been sold: food, vegetables, fruit, hardware, gasoil etc... In order to get to the temple complex we had to drive along a road where there were more holes then road and I can assure you that we were quite shaken and that the we had a wobbly wobbly ride. At our arrival we were again welcomed by lots of kids trying to sell scarves. We had a dezlicious lunch with roasted chicken and rice and afterwards we went with the guide to visit the temple complex. We were vrey impressed and we excited with anticipation of what we would encounter at Anhkor Vat the next day. Also sad to notice the damage done by bombing to these beautiful temples of ancient times. Also nature is quite destructive for these buildings. We continued for the first time by bike today. En route we had suddenly a rainshower and were drenched in no time. We took shelter until the rain stopped. The road was very wet and as a result we were all covered by red mud. Quite a spectacle!
We tried to clean ourselves as good as possible before entering the hotel. We biked +/- 30km today and had to climb back in the bus in order to arrive on time at the hotel and our dinner. The hotel is located near the old market.
Our dinner was in a restaurant -/+ 50meters from the hotel at the market. Luc wanted the dinner served some time after we reveiced the aperitif and explained this to the staff. But it came as no surprise to us that they didn't understood and that as soon as we had our drink, the food was served. A stroll around the market concluded our day.
Today we started our journey to Oudang at 7h30 am. We first drove outside Phnom Phen because the traffic is too horrendeous to bike safely. We started after 15km and biked through small country roads full of holes. Even if we had to pay attention to the road to avoid the obstacles and holes, we managed to admire the beautiful views. Water was all around us and we saw nenuphars and lotus flowers on bith sides. Eveywhere were we passed by, the children came running to the side of the street and were welcoming us with their "hallo hallo". Offcourse we answered them and kept waving. We could also see that the people are poor, the few cows that we saw on the sode of the road were very skinny and were practically all bones. At a certain moment we stopped for a break and realized that we were missing Yves. He had gone straight on where we had to take a right turn. So the bikevan had to catch up with him and guide him back. The funny thing was that Yves didn't realize at first that the van was trying to indicate him to turn directions, but he thoufgt that theyv were asking him if he was tired and wanted to come in the van. He indicated that he wanted to continue to bike ! After the intermezzo we continued our way to Oudang. On our wayN we (the 4 ladies) asked the guide to make a stop at the local shop. This was really special. The shopowner was selling eveything from flower and sugar to hardware, gasoline and balloons for kids. After our local shopping we went to the Oudang temple. We stopped at a parking and at our surprise we saw Luc passing by at great speed on his bike. He hadn't noticed that we had stopped. We all yelled but to no avail. Then Fernand chased him on his bike to bring him back. At the parking lot we were immediately surrounded by a bunch of little charming kids who spoke a couple of words English. They were fanning us and trying to sell flowers and bracelets. They accompanied us throughout ouer visit. We had to do a steep climb of 400 steps but the astonishing view was our reward. We asmired the stupa and took lots of pictures of the wonderful views. On our way back down we had lots of fun and we saw some monkeys. At our return we were served a lovely lunchpoacket which we ate seated on a carpet on the ground. The kids around us looked so hungry that we gave them some of our lunch. That was until a hungry monkey came and pinched the food out of the lunchboxes. After that we returned to the city.we did 50km in total on the bike. In the afternoon we visited the Royal Palace. The ladies were wearing tops and we had to buy T-shirts to cover our shoulders before we were permitted in.
Beautiful buildings and an incredible display of wealth were awaiting us to see, all situated in tropical gardens that were meticulously maintained. After that we went for some local shopping and Maria and myself went back early to the hotel by tuk tuk. We had ordered a massage.
We had a really early start since our boat for Phnom Phen was leaving at 7 am. At our great surprise our guide returned the tips that we had given him the day before. Then we were off to the boat and Cambodia. We had to make 2 boarder stops: one at the Vietnamese and 1 at the Cambodian boarder. It was at the Vietnamese boarder that I realized that I had lost my small purse with my bankcards and creditcards and ID and drivers licence. A real bummer, but nothing could be done about it. It was a long and uncomfortable boatride and after 5h30 we reached Phnom Phen where we met our tourguides: Andrew and Monti or T. They brought us to a nice restaurant where we chatted in Dutch with the manager who was from the Netherlands. After lunch, Andrew toke us for a visit to the killing fields and afterwards to the S-21 prison. It was awful to see the extend of the horrors committed by Pol Pot and his regime. It got to us and we realize how horrible and cruel people can be to each other.
Then to the hotel. After check-in a lovely dinner concluded our first day in Cambodia.
