Well….I got thru re-visiting Vietnam pretty well, let’s see how I do in Cambodia ?

It’s been fifty years since my “visit’s” to Cambodia, where I never visited any of the major villages or cities. I only saw mountaintops and associated supply trails into Vietnam. My team was dropped multiple times, the first two without maps, and we actually didn’t know we were in Cambodia 🙂 I will say that during those missions, we discovered two (that I can remember) ancient temples, overgrown with trees and shrubs, and actually pretty cool. As young guys in teens / early 20’s, we never thought about cutting our way in to “loot artifacts”, something that is done quite often still.

     My “Tourist Attire” in Cambodia 1969.

The morning of our arrival by ship at the Phenom Pen Pier for disembark, we were plesently suprised that the cruise ship takes care of all Immigration proceedures for us. They collected our passports and gave to the Cambodia Immigration Officers, who took them ashore to their office, and returned them stamped and ready. Please not that we did in advance on-line apply and get a 30 day Visa for Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Terminal / Immigration Station at the dock in Siem Riep, Cambodia.

We enjoyed cocktails, waiting “on board” for our stamped passports and “entry papers.”

This is the “Top Deck Bar / Lounge” where we waited for paperwork.

Thank god we weren’t driving 🙂

Nothing to see here…just a water buffalo loose, eating grass roadside 🙂

Pretty nice restaurant on the way to Siem Riep.

The crew had already taken our bags ashore to the dock where our private car was waiting for us with our driver. In advance this transportation was booked, for a private trip four hours to Siem Riep, to our Luxury Resort, the Zannier Hotel Phum Baitang.

View from our table.

       Yummy !

   Beer !

On the way to our resort in Siem Riep, we stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch.

Worth noting.. Angelina Jolie spent three months at this hotel while filming Tomb Raider, so we figured, “How bad could it be” ? 🙂

         Our Suite at Zannier.

Outside our front door 🙂

     Local Wildlife 🙂

     Grounds were beautiful

     They remembered 🙂

    Food was 5 Star !

    Yummy…Yummy !

The resort was quite impressive, well appointed, with excellent restaurants and bars in the middle of rice paddies, complete with water buffalo. Our suite included a private green space with a small pool.

   Yup ! They harvested rice from their own rice paddies.

It was quiet and peaceful environment, exactly what I would imagine Angelina would appreciate after long days “on-set”. It was also quite a bit of distance from downtown, and all the activity, like “Pub Street”, so if that’s what you’re looking for I would research hotels in town.

    We “did” Pub Street !

Not only is food cheap in Asia, but the beer and drinks were too.

   Dancing up a storm on “Pub Street”.

 So they say 🙂

Speaking of the famous “Pub Street”, we did head in there for the “experience”, and it turned out to be a very good one. Asia is well known for these “party streets”, especially in Thailand, with lots of loud music, are and “ladies of the night”, everywhere. That’s what I was expecting here in Siem Riep, but that’s not what we found the night we went.

   My good friends John and Shannon….just chillin 🙂

It did look like a party street, decorates with lights, some music, a few people on the street, but not what I expected. We picked a place on the sidewalk for drinks, but noticed some good tunes coming from a bar across the street, and headed there. We had noticed a large group of “younger” locals head in there, but we still scored a tale for four near the entrance. The music was good, people dancing, then I see my buddy John and wife Shannon up there getting their groove on.

And then a young lady on the dance floor starts calling me up, and the rest is history.

We had arranged for a tour guide, “Mr. Thearin” from Hanuman Travel, while in Siem Riep to take us to the best sites, including of course, Angkor Wat, one of the most famous in the world. The first tour day, we visited two sites, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, with our lunch booked at Sala Kdei Khmer House. Lunch would be quite an experience in itself :).

Angkor Thom was built in the 12 Century by King Jayavarman VII as a Buddist Temple.During its prime it was inhabited by between 80,000- 150,000 people. Its name means Great City, which it was until somewhere around 1609 when abandoned. In the late 14th Century when invaded by Siam (Thailand), the city was raqnsacked.

Ta Prohm Temple is the modern name of a temple near the city of Siem Reap, Cambodia, about one kilometre east of Angkor Thom, on the southern edge of the East Baray. It was built in the late 12th century and early 13th century and was originally called Rajavihara. It has been used in many movies, including Tomb Raider, because of the temple walls engulfed by large tree roots.

   Do those steps look “steep” ?

    Yup !

    At every site, they would have these with the name of the site, in English, Cambodian, and maybe Hindu?

 Amazing how trees grew over these old temples.

   The “New Tomb Raiders”

 There were some pretty long hikes to some of these sites.

   Guardians at the gate.

We arrived at the stone wall and gate of Sala Kdei Khmer House and proceeded thru the garden to the restaurant. We were greeted there by staff who informed us before we could have lunch, we first must have a “foot massage”! WHAT ? I’m not sure if this happens to everyone, or because our guide booked us, he included this, but never less we headed upstairs to the “Food Massage Room”. A rather large room with mats on the floor awaited us, and I think we all “groaned” together ! After climbing stone steps all morning and walking, the idea of getting on the floor, and later getting back up didn’t sound like much fun.

 Yup ! Monkeys everywhere in Asia 🙂

An hour later, trying to stand up, would have made a great “comedy video” 🙂

We headed down to the restaurant, which was beautiful Asian design and enjoyed some awesome Cambodia delicacies, along with some mega size beers.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying our resort, and private pools, and of course cocktails and a splendid dinner at one of the two restaurants.

   These two girls were troopers, never complained about heat or climbing stairs 🙂

You have to understand that Siem Riep is the largest UNISCO Site in the world, with tons of sites, therefore we had to keep pretty busy the four days there. So, we were off the next day, all day, visiting three sites, Banteay Seri, Banteay Samara and Preah Khan.

Banteay Sri Temple, thought by many to be the jewel of the crown of Angkorian art, is cut from stone of a pinkish hue and includes some of the finest stone carvings anywhere in the world. Begun in 967, it is one of the smallest sites at Angkor, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in stature.

  Sorry for the sideway photo 🙂

Although theft has mutilated much of the temple’s treasures, Banteay Samre Temple is worth the extra effort to experience the elaborate architecture and fine carvings.

Preah Khan Temple is located in the Angkor Archaeological Park and is still largely unrestored. It is one of the larger temple complexes within the historic park. Preah Khan translates to “Holy Sword” in Khmer, named by Jayavarman VII in honor of his battle victory against the invading force of Chams, who belonged to a kingdom in what is now Vietnam, in the year 1191.

Finally, on our last day, we visited the famous Angkor Wat Temple Complex early in the morning before sunrise, and I do mean early because the sunrise is spectacular and a very famous photograph. Unfortunately, as the sun rose, the clouds and rain arrived, and our “spectacular photo’s were screwed !

 Like 5 AM awaiting the sunrise over Angkor Wat…that never came 🙂

    It’s still a stunning site, notice the reflection ?

   The “Money Shot”… with reflection of Angkor Wat in the water

  Monks morning prayers

Angkor Wat

 They actually built swimming pools in the temples

Luckily, our driver supplied cooling icy towels between temples 🙂

Angkor Wat, the largest monument of the Angkor group and the best preserved, is an architectural masterpiece. Its perfection in composition, balance, proportions, relief’s and sculpture make it one of the finest monuments in the world.

 Climbing down the stairs was dangerous, especially when wet…and it was raining !

You see my shirt ? It wasn’t raining ! That’s how HOT it was 🙂

Wat is the Khmer name for temple (the French spelling is “vat “), which was probably added to “Angkor “when it became a Theravada Buddhist monument, most likely in the sixteenth century. After 1432 when the capital moved to Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat was cared for by Buddhist monks. 

I made it to the top…but was concerned with getting down. It’s steeper than it looks.

 That’s a long way down !

Many of these temple steps had no handrails.

  The view from on top.

It is generally accepted that Angkor Wat was a funerary temple for King Suryavarman II and oriented to the west to conform to the symbolism between the setting sun and death. The bas-reliefs, designed for viewing from left to right in the order of Hindu funereal ritual, support this function.

We spent about three hours at Angkor Wat, and realized it was one of the most interesting of all the sites in Cambodia, although they did all have that “special moment” in different ways.

 Our guide pointed out many bullet holes in the temples from the last “invasion”.

 Our guide explaining to Marsha how smart she was not climbing the steep steps to top of temple.

Now, on to lunch and a unique Cambodian “Culinary School” experience. We had booked a private cooking class at “Sala Keri” Restaurant, where we enjoyed lunch and a “foot massage” earlier in our stay. Our class was from 9 AM until 12 noon when we would dine on our delicious menu or what we hoped would be delicious.

  Getting ready for our cooking class 🙂

When we arrived and I realized it was the same restaurant, I actually was hoping for a foot massage after the earlier climbing. Unfortunately, one was not included, but the driver told John and I, that he had a “special place” for massage for us later that day. ? :).

   “Snacks on a stick”

Before we started the class, we were escorted by the Chef to a local market to see where Chefs and locals bought their “fresh” fruits, veggies, fish, poultry, exotic bugs, and frogs!

Frogs on a stick anyone ?

I will say that the fresh “wet markets” we had experienced in Vietnam, as well as others here in Cambodia were extremely clean and actually beautiful.

Pan of “live eels”

This one was not ! we walked in mud, and experienced what I would call “un-sanitary conditions”, aqs well as some questionable products. There was a roadside stand where they served “things on a stick”, and my buddy John bought a couple “frogs on a stick” for all of us to sample.

On our way back to the restaurant, we asked the Chef if he had shopped there for what we would be cooking today. He replied that we would in fact be using some things from that market, but he had cleaned them really well.

  We did make some tasty dishes.

John gave the frogs to a local and we didn’t try them. You have to be extremely careful with “street food” in Asia, most is good, but you always have to remember, eating bad street food can be hell on your intestines and your vacation.

  Just Yummy !

  And we did Graduate with Honors 🙂

The following day, we were packed and on our way to the airport and flight to Bangkok, Thailand. We would be parting ways with John and Shannon, as they continued in Cambodia and then moved to a different region in Thailand.

The four of us had “Bill and Teds Great Adventure”…..On Steriods ! What a trip 🙂

We enjoyed traveling and experiencing Vietnam and Cambodia with these guys, and look forward to our next travel adventure together.

The best travel companions….ever !

See you in Bangkok, Thailand.

      

Gary…..The Pirate