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Cambodia

January - February 2017
A 11-day adventure by Vander Wonders Read more
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  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 1

    First impressions

    January 25, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    As we walked off the plane, the airport building impressed me with its temple like look. As we walked in I noticed the neat dark wood counters and very clear signs both in English and Cambodian. The visa on arrival sign immediately caught my eye, hence we followed without hesitation. The form is pretty much a 2minute exercise and the organized system with lines and clear signs gave me the comfortable "american dream" feeling. There are clear yellow lines to wait your turn. The officers are firm yet friendly, 20minutes later we had our visas and cleared customs. I got the bags due to the "one at a time" policy in Asia. ( you don't clear customs as a family).

    There are CLEAR BOLD signs (AND PICTURES with a crossed out camera) everywhere at the visa and customs area of the airport to NOT TAKE PICTURES! Guess who is taking pictures??Yet he is not stressed to be arrested or taken into a small room, but more stressed about completing the form🙈and me getting lost. I can't comprehend this🙊!!

    Everyone is too busy on their phones so we walked out of the airport without a customs declaration form. Our driver had a lovely printed sign with our names. He ran off to fetch our new way of transportation, its soooo authentic!! Roedolf get 2 local sim cards for us, a standard vander travel-procedure on this trip. We need to be connected right. 4 G data boom !!! ( and so I can't get lost- Roedolfs main concern- it kills me to be so DEPENDENT gRRRRR)!

    I chatted to our driver and looked at the map as he loaded our luggage. Roedolf arrived back from the ATM ( oh and he hates cash but cash is king in Asia)- ( and everywhere else just not in his world) and off we went for our first tuk tuk drive from the airport.

    The streets are cleaner and less chaotic than Vietnam. There is actually a split for cars and tuk-tuks or bikes on the bigger roads. There is a warm welcoming feeling in the air, I am excited to explore this.

    {Issy}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 1

    Our new home in Siem Reap

    January 25, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Airbnb is just legendary! We just checked into our new home for the next 3 days.

    For a fraction of the price of a hotel we get a one bedroom apartment with a lovely open plan living area and kitchen in the heart of Siem Reap. It has laundry facilities which means we can get our clothes from the 11 days in Vietnam washed today.

    Interestingly enough the place belongs to a German guy who has been working in Cambodia for 2 years now.

    The best part is we were able to checkin early and we can checkout very late as we are catching an overnight hotel bus to Phnom Phen on Saturday night.

    After our trip to the Angkor Wat national museum we stopped at a supermarket to stock up on foods we can cook here for the next few days. Thus 3 days without street food 😜. The supermarket on its own was a bit of an experience as most things are very different than what we are use to. A couple of cans of tuna, pasta, fruits, vegetables, bread, egg, coffee and milk and we are good to go. The meats are a far cry from a South African butchery so we are giving it a skip today.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 1

    Angkor National museum

    January 25, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Our afternoon outing was mission getting Angkor Wat informed. Visiting Angkor Wat is the number one reason why we are here. Well other than the fact that this outing confirmed to me I am not museum junkee and that I lose interest quickly, we did learn of a whole new world, the Khmer world, myths and finally the rich history of Angkor Wat.

    Have you heard of religions sharing shrines? Never? Well, it happened once in Cambodia. Angkor Wat was first a Hindu religion temple and then later it was turned into a Buddhist temple. It is located in Cambodia and was first built by Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire. It is the world's largest religious monument and one of the most visited religious sites in the world.

    Angkor Wat is the best representation of classical style of Khmer architecture.

    The temple has been built to represent Mount Meru, the home of the Hindu Mythology lord of Brahma and the demi-god devtas.

    All other temples in the region are aligned to face to the east, this temple was aligned to the west. It faces sunset and the evening sun adds to its beauty in the evening. It could be because its devoted to the god of the west.

    It is not until the 16th century that the temple came to be known by its present name. Prior to this, it was known as Pisnulok, the official title of the Khmer king Suryavarman II that built it.

    In recognition of the important part it played in both the Hinduism and Buddhism, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1992.

    Although most tourists know of the Angkor Wat temple complex, the city comprises of Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple which are equally intriguing.

    Unlike his predecessors who belonged to lineage of kings who practiced ‘Shaivism’ and thus their supreme God was Lord Shiva; Suryavarman II broke ranks with them and built this temple that is dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

    The decorations on the walls of the temple have a uniquely Hindu story telling characteristics. They have fables and myths pictures that tell of the temple's origin in Hindu religion.

    The site receives more than 2 million visitors annually for a reason -It ebbs an aura of divinity that can only be found in Incan and Mayan holy shrines.

    Looking forward to see it tomorrow!

    www.uniglobekalamalkatravel.com

    {Issy}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 2

    Siem Reap run

    January 26, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Woke up at 7am from the streets super load music. We had some coffee, Roedolf helped me to figure out a route with lots of people to get to the Royal Independence gardens. I love to explore this way... here are some beautiful spots en route.

    {Issy}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 2

    Run & explore

    January 26, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    The amount of statues and sights along the way was a nice surprise. The light was perfect this morning. I also ran in one crazy busy street, which was pretty interesting watching the stuff the locals sell. One observation Cambodians are definitely way more pedestrian friendly than the Vietnamese. A productive morning with sightseeing & 10.5km under the belt.

    {Issy}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 2

    Old Market in Siem Reap

    January 26, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Here you can find the "wild Isabel" in her natural habitat of shopping.

    We went to the Old Market in search of light long pants for Isabel so she can enter the temple complex at Angkor Wat in something less warm than jeans.

    Needless to say she was not too unhappy about being there. After about 3 shops you have basically seen it all and tried everything on as they all sell the same stuff.

    As soon as you ask the price they will highball, lets say $8 for pants (by the way even their high ball figure is very cheap) then if you take more than 3 seconds to reply they say "but I can give you a discount, how about $6?"

    Then you start bargaining and say $2 which is obviously stealing the food off their table or at least thats what you think. They would respond with $5 and then you would walk away and they would scream after you, "ok sir how about $4....?" If you don't turnaround they would try $3 and even $2 in the hope you turn around.

    Other sales tricks are, as soon as you walk away they will say "I would give you an immediate sale discount". One lady actually said to me, "what are you willing to pay, I will take it if I still make profit".

    We ended up spending $9 for light blue long pants with an elephant pattern and a t-shirt with giraffes on it and we purchased 3 fridge magnets for $1. I think thats good going considering we started at $20 for the pants and the shirt plus we started at $1 per magnet.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 2

    Chasing perfection

    January 26, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Everyone raves about the mystical spiritual feeling you get when visiting Angkor Wat, as we literally almost ran from the backside of Angkor Wat,to catch the light and the sun at the perfect moment, I thought yeah right. In all honesty just being there for that magic hour of sunset, was an enriching experience. Our guide was incredible, he knew exactly where to go and he is obviously befriended with the guards as he would say "quick take a couple of pictures here, we aren't really allowed here"- right up Roedolf's alley off course.

    Perfection is not attainable but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence!! Today we nailed it, life is all about timing and our timing was perfect.

    Amazed by Angkor
    {Issy}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 2

    Tomb Raiders

    January 26, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    This is where our tomb raider journey begins. Unlike Angelina Jolie in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider Movie, we had to first queue for tickets.

    Our guide/temple photography expert took us to buy tickets for tomorrow and told us that we can use those to also get in today to catch the sunset for free. Already glad we have this guy!

    We stopped at the back of the temple which is clearly not where almost 10,000 tourists a day enter.

    We first walked over what looks like reasonable size river, this was actually the mote that goes around the temple, this should already have indicated to us that what we are about to see would be magical. Then we entered through a hole in the exterior city wall which have fallen into ruins over time.

    Inside the wall was a lush jungle and you could hear birds and insects all around. As we turned onto a path leading to the temple we could see the main tower of the temple sticking out between the trees and I got goosebumps as it felt like we were in the scene of a movie just walking to the temple.

    We did not have time to go inside today but we were amazed by the sunset and the beautiful colors that nature brings to this beautiful 900 plus year old temple.

    I can not wait to see more tomorrow!

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 3

    Angkor Wat sunrise

    January 27, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Angkor Wat ("Capital temple") is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres). It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.

    One of the main tourist attractions is, watching the sunrise over the temple. As I understand, there are no religious significance to it but just a cool thing to see as the sun basically rise behind the temple with the temple reflections seen in the pools of water at the front if the temple.

    Our guide Samueth picked us up at 5am in order for us to get to the temple, find a good sport for photos in time for sunrise at 6:30am.

    We arrived with plenty of time to spare, after the mile walk from the Tuk Tuk we found good spots on the edge of the reflection pool on the right side of the temple. For some reason 98% of the tourists go to the left pool as that has more water than the right one, but ironically has more water plants so the better reflection was where we were.

    Samueth's local knowledge and a specially camera angles where very helpful here. He used to be a photographer by trade but now does temple tours with photography tours as one of his options, for a couple of extra dollars. We chose this option which basically worked out only a few dollars more than just getting a Tuk Tuk to the temples and back to the hotel.

    The sunrise was a bit disappointing after the very beautiful sunset we saw yesterday. There were just not enough clouds to make for an array of colors but was still special to witness the sunrise.

    The temple itself is extremely impressive inside with beautiful carvings everywhere, all of which has a mean or tell a story. Probably the most striking carving was the "Churning of the Ocean of Milk" is one of the most well-known legends of the Hindu mythology and of the Cambodian culture. That story is depicted on a 49 meter long carving on the wall of the east gallery of Angkor Wat temple. Its basically a picture of angels and demons holding a tug of war with a snake. I am not so much convinced by the story but the artistry is amazing!

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • TravelerCambodia
    Day 3

    Ta Prohm temple (Tomb Raider)

    January 27, 2017 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Ta Prohm built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and originally called Rajavihara. Located approximately one kilometre east of Angkor Thom and on the southern edge of the East Baray, it was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm is in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings and the fact Lara Craft Tomb Raider Movie was shot here, have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

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