Cambodia ? Where is that ?
Oh ! Africa, this time !
One more Marathon ?
Do you want to loose a limb by stepping on a land-mine ?
Wow ! Will you be visiting Angkor Wat ? Awesome !
Stay only in 5 star hotels, if you don't want to get stranded in an alien country without passport and credit cards.
These are some of the reactions of my friends and colleagues, when I told them about my upcoming visit to Cambodia. Dilip and Mani planned this trip long back and lured me in (with almost no effort) when they got to know that I was fired and jobless.
It was a short 3 day visit to one of the most unglamorous sounding places on earth, Siem Reap, Cambodia, an under developed South East Asian country, located between Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia has several old Hindu temples in ruins, discovered over a period of time, built between 8th and 12th century. Apparently, Cambodia was used as source of slaves by neighbors for 100s of years (after 12th century) till the French invaded and colonized in 19th century. That explains the sorry state of majestic Hindu/Buddhist temples.
We could visit Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu temple in the world with Ramayana and Ksheera Sagara Manthanam carved on walls along its infinite corridors, Bayon, a temple that's a mix of Hindu and Buddhist traditions with 216 faces carved on its majestic towers, Ta Prohm and Beng Mealea, some of the temples that were left as they were found with huge banyan trees grown randomly all over the place as a result of centuries of neglect. Tomb Raider used Ta Prohm as one of the locations. An interesting thing among several others that we could see was a carving on the walls of Ta Prohm that resembles a Stegosaurus, a type of dinosaur lived 150 million years ago in North America and Europe. Several countries, including India, are extending their help to restore some of these temples. It seems, it takes 3 full days to just visit all the major temples in Siem Reap area.
We concluded the first day with a visit to a Fishermen's village that apparently floats on water from Tonle Sap and attached to a mangrove forest. Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia with a size varying between 2700 sq. KM to 16000 sq. KM depending on the season. When our boat took us suddenly from a narrow canal into Tonle Sap, we couldn't believe that it's just a lake and not sea, as we couldn't see the other end in any of the 3 directions.
We spent one full day doing Dirt Biking in the Cambodian country side with Hidden Cambodia Tours. Though we had done lot of long bike rides earlier, Dirt Bikes were new to all of us. So, we started the ride a bit carefully. But, soon enough we discovered the fun of high raised and fully suspended Dirt Bikes and the way they love uneven roads and sandy stretches. We were ecstatic by the end of the day and Mani could end the ride only with a promise to come back and do at least a 5 day ride. The good part of Cambodia is except for one main road, every other road is a dirt trail and that makes it a great place for such rides.
We spent the evenings in pub street in old market area of Siem Reap city. Old Market area stands out of place with western styled pubs and restaurants to entertain tourists. Night life of Pub Street in particular is comparable to any happening European city, except that it goes very light on one's pocket. The area has a lot of massage parlors mimicking the popular massage culture of neighboring Thailand. But, we found that they are just poor mimics.
Though several friends and colleagues warned us about the safety of the place, it turned out to be quite a safe place. We could roam around on our own, even late in the nights, after finding several tourists from the west doing the same confidently. We stayed at Sam So Guest House, close to old market area, at a throw away price of 54 USD for 3 people for 3 nights that includes a good breakfast, airport pickup, excellent Wi-Fi and air-conditioning. Sam So couple routinely go out of their way to make their guests feel at home.
As I posted earlier, it turned out to be more than just an interesting visit, after visiting a lot of pompous west. Thanks to Dilip and Mani for the excellent company and not giving up when I first said no to the trip :-)
Photos...
Oh ! Africa, this time !
One more Marathon ?
Do you want to loose a limb by stepping on a land-mine ?
Wow ! Will you be visiting Angkor Wat ? Awesome !
Stay only in 5 star hotels, if you don't want to get stranded in an alien country without passport and credit cards.
These are some of the reactions of my friends and colleagues, when I told them about my upcoming visit to Cambodia. Dilip and Mani planned this trip long back and lured me in (with almost no effort) when they got to know that I was fired and jobless.
It was a short 3 day visit to one of the most unglamorous sounding places on earth, Siem Reap, Cambodia, an under developed South East Asian country, located between Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia has several old Hindu temples in ruins, discovered over a period of time, built between 8th and 12th century. Apparently, Cambodia was used as source of slaves by neighbors for 100s of years (after 12th century) till the French invaded and colonized in 19th century. That explains the sorry state of majestic Hindu/Buddhist temples.
We could visit Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu temple in the world with Ramayana and Ksheera Sagara Manthanam carved on walls along its infinite corridors, Bayon, a temple that's a mix of Hindu and Buddhist traditions with 216 faces carved on its majestic towers, Ta Prohm and Beng Mealea, some of the temples that were left as they were found with huge banyan trees grown randomly all over the place as a result of centuries of neglect. Tomb Raider used Ta Prohm as one of the locations. An interesting thing among several others that we could see was a carving on the walls of Ta Prohm that resembles a Stegosaurus, a type of dinosaur lived 150 million years ago in North America and Europe. Several countries, including India, are extending their help to restore some of these temples. It seems, it takes 3 full days to just visit all the major temples in Siem Reap area.
We concluded the first day with a visit to a Fishermen's village that apparently floats on water from Tonle Sap and attached to a mangrove forest. Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia with a size varying between 2700 sq. KM to 16000 sq. KM depending on the season. When our boat took us suddenly from a narrow canal into Tonle Sap, we couldn't believe that it's just a lake and not sea, as we couldn't see the other end in any of the 3 directions.
We spent one full day doing Dirt Biking in the Cambodian country side with Hidden Cambodia Tours. Though we had done lot of long bike rides earlier, Dirt Bikes were new to all of us. So, we started the ride a bit carefully. But, soon enough we discovered the fun of high raised and fully suspended Dirt Bikes and the way they love uneven roads and sandy stretches. We were ecstatic by the end of the day and Mani could end the ride only with a promise to come back and do at least a 5 day ride. The good part of Cambodia is except for one main road, every other road is a dirt trail and that makes it a great place for such rides.
We spent the evenings in pub street in old market area of Siem Reap city. Old Market area stands out of place with western styled pubs and restaurants to entertain tourists. Night life of Pub Street in particular is comparable to any happening European city, except that it goes very light on one's pocket. The area has a lot of massage parlors mimicking the popular massage culture of neighboring Thailand. But, we found that they are just poor mimics.
Though several friends and colleagues warned us about the safety of the place, it turned out to be quite a safe place. We could roam around on our own, even late in the nights, after finding several tourists from the west doing the same confidently. We stayed at Sam So Guest House, close to old market area, at a throw away price of 54 USD for 3 people for 3 nights that includes a good breakfast, airport pickup, excellent Wi-Fi and air-conditioning. Sam So couple routinely go out of their way to make their guests feel at home.
As I posted earlier, it turned out to be more than just an interesting visit, after visiting a lot of pompous west. Thanks to Dilip and Mani for the excellent company and not giving up when I first said no to the trip :-)
Photos...
