Cambodia - Part 3

We spent our first two days in Cambodia learning what the country was like 1,000 years ago.  On our third and last day, we learned about the present.

Our hotel, Sojourn Boutique Villas, is located in a farming community called Treak Village.  We took a guided tour of the village to get a small glimpse at life in the rural part of the country.  The villagers are poor but everyone has a roof over their head and enough food to get by.

Looking down one of the village's roads

Most live in homes similar to this one

A few have bigger, newer homes (some financed through bank loans)

Almost all of the villagers work in the rice fields that surround the village

This rice is ready for harvesting

A few other vegetables and fruits are also grown

There were lots of cute kids

Kids everywhere have the same positive outlook

Bigger kids go to school here

Everyone is headed home for the day

Boys and girls wear uniforms to school

The good folks at Sojourn go to great lengths to support the community.  They employ many people from the village and provide them with training including teaching them English.  They have also established a non-government organization to support projects that will improve life in the village.

New plastic water pumps are replacing the old metal ones

Garbage bins (made from recycled tires) have been provided

So are composting toilets

Plastic bottles and bags are used to insulate part of the medical clinic

Sojourn not only does great things for the community but they run a five star hotel.  The hotel was one of the nicest places we've stayed on our trip.  The staff were extremely warm and friendly and the food was excellent.  If we've convinced you to come to Cambodia, Sojourn is the definitely the place you should stay.

We weren't exaggerating when we said it was nice!

For a country that's very poor, you see many positives in Cambodia today including lots of smiling faces and schools full of joyful kids.  The economy is also growing led by tourism and textiles (check the labels on your clothes and you'll probably see "Made in Cambodia").

You get a good feeling that the country is headed in the right direction.  This is great to see as Cambodia has had it very tough over the last several decades.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cambodia was heavily bombed as part of the Vietnam War.  Cambodia has been described as the most heavily bombed country in history.

In the mid to late 1970s, the Khmer Rouge regime seized power as the country faced starvation.  The regime forced all city dwellers into the country to work on agriculture and rural projects.  About 2 million people (one-third of the population) died as a result of executions, disease and starvation.

The 1980s saw civil war in Cambodia.

Three decades of war has left the countryside covered in landmines and unexploded bombs.  Clean-up efforts are ongoing but it is estimated that it could take another 20 years to remove the remaining 4-6 million landmines and bombs.  In the meantime, there are several hundred casualties and injuries each year.

Only in the last 15 years has Cambodia had peace and stability.  The country has made lots of progress in that time but it still has a long way to go.  Efforts by groups like Sojourn are helping immensely.

The people of Cambodia and the country are easy to love and we'll definitely return in the future.  It'll be great to see the country's improvement.    

Vanessa and Blake

Cambodia - Part 2

We saw lots of temples on our first day in Angkor and we were worried that we'd be ''templed out" and not enjoy a second day of touring temples.  We were wrong.  We enjoyed the temples on day 2 just as much (and maybe a bit more) than the temples on day 1.

The first temple of the day was Banteay Srei.  It's 1,100 years old.  The temple is built from hard red sandstone which can be carved like wood.  The builders took advantage of this and covered the walls of the temple with intricate carvings.

Banteay Srei - a small temple compared to other Angkor temples

Us at one of the outer doorways

Each doorway has detailed carvings above it

Close-up of the carvings

Carvings above the entry into the temple

Us with the inner temple buildings

The entry to each building has two guards

Detailed carvings on the inner temple buildings

Another close-up look

Pre Rup is the oldest temple we visited in Angkor.  It's over 1,100 years old.  The architecture wasn't as amazing as we'd seen in other temples but the view at the top was worth the climb.

The temple

The very steep climb to the top

Looking up at the sky inside one of the temple's towers

Vanessa taking the previous photo - she'll go anywhere to get a good shot!

View from the top of the temple overlooking Angkor

Last but not least is the temple called Ta Prohm.  The temple is unique because of the enormous trees growing amongst and through the temple buildings.

Ta Prohm, like all Angkor temples, was abandoned when the Khmer Empire fell in the 15th century.  The jungle moved in and grew over all of the temples until restoration work began 100 years ago.  Trees were cleared from all the temples except Ta Prohm because it was so well merged with the jungle.

The entrance to the temple

One of the silk-cotton trees overgrowing the temple

Us in front of the roots so you can see how big they are

The temple was featured in the movie "Tomb Raider" starring Angelina Jolie

Tree roots grow down and sideways across the buildings

Some restoration work is being done

Tree roots and buildings are woven together and are holding each other up

Here are a few other photos from our second day in Cambodia.

Our driver, guide and the tuk tuk that we took to the temples

Houses in the country are on stilts because of flooding

Sugar from palm trees is boiled and made into very sweet candies

We have a little more to share from Cambodia.  Not to worry if you're feeling "templed out" - there won't be any temples in the next post.

Vanessa and Blake

Cambodia - Part 1

We loved Cambodia!  It had everything - great sights, great weather, great food and great people.  It was a very nice surprise and we wish we could have stayed longer than three days.

We landed in Siem Reap which is a small town in northwest Cambodia.  We didn't spend any time in Siem Reap as it's the surrounding area that's remarkable.  The area is called Angkor and it was the centre of the Khmer Empire that ruled much of southeast Asia from the 9th to the 15th centuries.

Kings of the Khmer Empire loved to build and they built many cities and temples within Angkor.  Angkor was a huge interconnected community with a size equal to today's Los Angeles and a population estimated at 1 million.

The kings built spectacular temples and the most impressive is Angkor Wat.  It is 900 years old and has a unique design with a mix of Hindu and Buddhist elements.  You say "wow" as soon as you see it.

The central buildings of Angkor Wat

View of the temple's outer walls - 1 kilometre across and almost as long

Us between the outer walls and the central buildings

There are lots of carvings of devatas (Hindu guardian spirits) on the temple's outer walls

The long walls of the central buildings are covered with carvings depicting Hindu stories 

Close-up of part of the walls

There are several Buddha shrines in the temple

One of many long corridors in the temple

Steep steps to the main temple

Next up was Angkor Thom.  It was a city within Angkor that was built 800 years ago.

Angkor Thom had a population of over 100,000 but all that remains today are the city's temples.  The reason is the Khmers used stone as a construction material only for religious buildings - only the gods were worthy of high quality building materials.  Everything else (including the king's palace) was made of wood which disappeared long ago.

Entrance to Angkor Thom

Bayon Temple at the centre of Angkor Thom

Each of the temple's towers has four faces (one facing each direction to watch over the city)

Close-up of one of the faces - all are smiling

Detailed carvings on the walls including this one of the Khmer army

Baphuon - another temple within Angkor Thom

Much of Baphuon had collapsed and it has taken 50 years to restore it

They're still working on the central tower

This area with elephant carvings was used by the king for public ceremonies

This was the end of our touring for the day but Vanessa kept her camera in hand and took a few great photos.

No one drives fast but they do lots of other unsafe things (texting, no helmets for kids, etc.)

Frogs were a regular visitor while we ate dinner

This last photo is a page from the menu of our hotel's restaurant.  It mentions "cooler and drier" months for Cambodia - in these months, they have daytime highs over 30 degrees Celsius, nighttime lows over 20 degrees and almost 100% humidity.  Knowing this, the comment about needing to keep cattle warm at night made us laugh.

More great stuff to come from Cambodia!

Vanessa and Blake