The Kingdom of Cambodia - Angkor Wat

I'm playing catch-up now - we have been in Cambodia for a few days now. We travelled from Saigon to Phnom Penh on a public bus. This was quite disappointing, as I had pictured us crowded in, hanging out of the windows, sharing our seats with varied farm animals and grubby children. In fact it was an air-conditioned en-suite coach, shared with elegant Cambodians (Khmer people). Doh! Despite the fact that Cambodia is a VERY poor country, our facilities here are good - they are developing the tourist industry with foreign, e.g. Korean money, and we are staying in a fairly swish hotel (I have a window and a hot shower!). It's my turn to have the single room - we three single girls have been alternating, which has worked out well as you are not as isolated as you could be alone, but every few days you get some privacy...
Back to Cambodia (was Kampuchea) - very poor, with a corrupt government. Our guide warned us to ask political questions one-to-one rather than in the group, as he had to watch what he said... Scary. The people here look very different from the Vietnamese - much darker skinned, with longer features. We are now dealing in US dollars, with change under a dollar given in local currency (can't tell you what it's called as it's written in sanscrit...). I was a millionaire in Vietnam, one million dong being the equivalent of about 30 pounds sterling. The local teachers here earn $60 a month; most people live on 50 cents a day.
The countryside is lovely - like a bowl, hills around the South and North West, flat in the centre. The roads are very rough and dusty.
Phnom Penh was a difficult place to visit in some ways. We visited an orphanage one day, and the next we went to Tuol Sleng - the genocide museum, and saw where prisoners were held during the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Only 7 people survived imprisonment. The rest were tortured until they died or confessed and gave information on others, at which point they were killed. Then we went out to see the Killing Fields; the mass graves and hundreds of skulls and bones piled high. As you walk the dusty paths, you can see bones emerging beneath your feet.
On Saturday we flew on to Siem Riep - home of Angkor Wat and many more temples. This is definitely on the list of places one should visit. But not in the hot season! It is roasting here now, so must be unbearable in the summer. We rose at 4am yesterday to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat (that's me there in the first picture). Unfortunately, just as the sun was about to appear, a cloud covered it completely! Hmmm. A thousand cameras put back in their cases! But we carried on and visited several temples - Angkor Wat lived up to its reputation and was truly awesome. The second temple was interesting as it has been left in mainly original condition, overgrown by jungle. The group photo shows one of the trees growing into the buildings. This is where 'Tomb Raider' was filmed, for all you movie buffs. We saw five temples in all - a small fraction of the ones there, but these each had unique features. One of them was only open to males if they had permission from a female to enter - women are top dogs in Cambodia - only recently have they had male generals in the army, according to our guide. Think I'll stay here... The third picture was taken at Angkor Thom - a 3km sq walled and moated city (never seen such wide moats, by the way). I chatted to this local, but he was very stony-faced and didn't reply...
We then visited a land mines museum. Not much to say about that as you can imagine it for yourselves...
We lightened our mood by watching sunset (no clouds this time) over another temple. This was enlivened by my purchase of a whistle (recorder-type, not referee!) from a small boy who then delighted me by singing 'doh a deer' from start to finish. I managed to record most of it on my phone (hoorah, at last, justification for having a multi-functional phone!)
We had dinner in a restaurant with a display of Apsara dancing - this was a highlight of the trip for me, the girls were so beautiful and moved so gracefully; the boys were agile and cheeky. The dancing was in turn dignified and then flirtatious.
Some of the group then embarked on a mission to complete the 24 hour marathon - intending to party until the next dawn came up. I was dead on my feet - the heat and lack of sleep finished me off. I haven't heard whether they made it, no one has emerged for breakfast yet!
Sorry this has been so long. It's probably my last from S.E.Asia, as we go back to Bangkok tomorrow via the Dancing Road (named thus because of the bumpiness of the ride, I'm told), and then on Thursday I leave for Auckland. Really looking forward to that.
I'll reflect on the whole of my trip in a separate blog - impressions overall of Indochina, feelings about group travel vs lone travelling...
My travels in New Zealand will not be so frantic, so my blogging will be more leisurely. I've missed so much out of the past 4 weeks, but I've still written more than enough for anyone's attention-span. Thanks for reading thus far, and for your many interesting and amusing comments. Hang in there - see you again when I'm in NZ!

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