Page 2: Singapore and Cambodia 2008

Singapore and Cambodia 2008

Singapore

In 2008, my daughter Joelle announced that she was getting married and invited us to the wedding. Bill agreed that we should go and in my usual fashion inveigled him into going to Thailand and Cambodia before going to Melbourne for the wedding. Reluctantly he agreed.  Unfortunately, as we were getting ready to leave, Thailand was experiencing political unrest that had escalated into riots. We decided to forego Thailand and to spend a week in Singapore instead as we were flying through Singapore on our way to Cambodia.  

We arrived in Singapore during the Hindu Festival of Diwali. Here's Bill showing off in the Indian district of Singapore.

Singapore is a beautiful place, clean and safe.  However, I like adventure, exotic places and am not afraid of confronting the unknown. Singapore is not what I consider to be exotic.  Yes, the culture is different, but basically, it is very commercial and urban-based. We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Shangri-La just off Orchard Road, the biggest shopping street in Singapore.  We visited the original Raffles (beautiful), the night zoo (very interesting) and took a ride on the Singapore Flyer (something like the London Eye).  We had a good time, but the best came when we went to Cambodia.

Cambodia

Oh, Cambodia.... we loved our visit.  Yes, even Bill said:  "I have a special place in my heart for Cambodia". Although Cambodia is very poor - it is a beautiful country.  We visited in November, just after the monsoons, so the great Tonle Sap Lake that would normally be approximately 2,000 square kms was now at its largest at approximately 16,000 square kms.

Cambodians are gentle people with many of them being of Chinese descent, and the majority being Khmer. Most Cambodians practice buddhism with a mix of hinduism.  Although most are very poor, they don't hesitate to offer hospitality and help. 

Our first stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap which served as the capital of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th centuries. It's an ancient culture and this area is rich with ruins and temples.  Here's a few photos from our stay in Siem Reap and surrounding areas.  I will not to into a lot of details about the sites we visited because you can easily find out about them yourself on Google.

The favorite mode of transportation is via motorcycle.  Sometimes you can find an entire family riding on one very small bike, including Mom riding side saddle, infants, toddlers and older kids. There can be up to 4 or 5 people on one bike.  Helmets are not required and no one follows any particular order on the roads.  They are very polite though and a simple "beep beep" will indicate that someone is going to pass you.  

On our first day, our tuk-tuk driver takes us to the temple grounds (Bayon) where we go for an elephant ride around the temple.  It was a hoot!

Here's the Bayon Temple aka Angkor Thom. 

My husband Bill is a show off (just kidding - he's just the opposite, but I do love to tease him).  Here he is sitting at the entrance of our hotel in Siem Reap while we wait for our tour guide. We found that nearly every morning we were there, it poured rain for about an hour and then it would stop and everything would dry quickly and the rest of the day was beautiful.

When we first arrived at Angkor Wat, it was raining, but it did not take away from the awesome beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After a few minutes, the rain stopped and the sun began to shine.

Here's the server at the hotel lobby bar.  She was very friendly and quickly learned how to make a "Lucie's special martini". Every day when we returned from our adventures, she would be waiting for us and started making our favourite concoction.  We felt like royalty!

This is the Bakong Temple. The carvings in this temple are so delicate, it is said they were carved by women. 

This it the Tah Prohm Temple.  It's very popular. That's where they shot Tomb Raiders.

Lolei was my favourite temple. Because it was the furthest from Siem Reap, there were very few people there and so it was very quiet. I felt a spiritual connection here.

After climbing a 1.5 km mountain, we come to a riverbed that has been carved full of Shiva Lingas which are symbols of the power and deity of the Hindu God Shiva. It was amazing and very beautiful.

Here is a wonderful negotiator - he should be hired to negotiate treaties!  He wanted to sell me a book on the temples and ruins of Siem Reap and surrounding areas.  He bargained with me and listed all the benefits of buying his book.  I told him that I would think about while visiting the temple, thinking I would never see him again.  But lo and behold he was waiting right at the gate as we exited the temple grounds and had come up with a deal that I couldn't refuse!

The next day we're off on the Great Tonle Sap Lake to visit a flooded village 3 hours away from Siem Reap. Here's our craft and our crew. On the left is the GPS (he sits on the front of the boat and tells our captain if there we're about to hit trees or other things that are under water), in the middle is our English-speaking guide and on the right is our 17-year old captain.

This is the vegetation our boat has to navigate through. Sometimes these leaves get caught in the motor and our captain has to get out and untangle the mess so we can move on. It can be a tad distressing not knowing whether or not you will make it back. 

Another view of what is in the water. Sometimes we can only see the tops of large trees.

Here's our captain - only 17 years old, but very confident and capab

This is the home we visited. This house is built on stilts. The floor is made of wooden slats and you can actually see through the spaces between the slats.  At this time of year the house is approximately 10 feet above the water.  There is no furniture to speak of in this house and the lady of the house cooked our meal on a sort of camp stove on the floor.  There is no running water, electricity or sewage.

Surprisingly the meal looks clean and appetizing. I don't know how she could do this given the conditions. There is soup, rice, a whole fish, tiny deep fried fish and a salad.  As I attempt to serve myself from the whole fish I note that the insides have not been removed - no problem - our guide swoops them up and eats them - it seems they are a delicacy!

Here is the son of the family with his friend observing us while we eat.

OK - so we've been "on the road" for 3 hours at lunch for about an hour and all this time drinking water because it's so hot.  Well ... I do need to relieve myself.  No problem - you that little piece of white cloth on the left? Well, that's the privacy curtain.  In front of it is a square hole in the floor and all you have to do is squat and pee into the river whilst everybody in the water street behind has an excellent view of your posterior.  Oh joy!

This is what the houses look like from a bit of a distance.

Here are the kids playing in the "water street" while we have lunch.

Our second stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Once known as the "Pearl of Asia" this French-built city was devastated during the period when the Khmer Rouge evacuated all of its residents and sent them to the country to become farmers.  During that period (1975 to 1979) people who were rich or educated were tortured and executed (Killing Fields).  It was a very difficult place to visit - many people live on the streets from begging and many of them are missing limbs and, understandably, have grown hard and violent. The streets are littered with garbage and there is nothing much left to admire.  

Phnom Pehn is a city of contrasts. On the right is a delapidated apartment building (where people live) and on the left is the King's Palace - beautiful and well-kept.

Everyone rides on motorcycles - even monks!

Palace of King Norodom Sihamoni
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