Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat......Cambodia

   In the early morning I left Siem Reap with Swan the motorcycle driver that I had arranged to hire the previous day. He had assured me that: I could take as long as I wanted to view the temples, and we would cover as much ground as possible. I really did not know how spectacular that this particular day would be.

  Angkor used to be the capital of Cambodia until 1432 when it was abandoned, Phnom Penh then became the capital of this Asian country of almost 16 million (2015). Our first stop on the motorcycle was Angkor Thom, which was a walled city that used to serve as the capital for the Khmer Empire; I had to say that this site was incredible.

                          

                       
                           


                           

   There were so many amazing colossus to be viewed here, the temple (which was constructed in the 12th century) was very large and it had an appearance that could leave one gazing for hours. I felt most fortunate to walk around taking photo's; climbing the stairs and taking it all in. This was truly a place that I could have stayed for the day; just staring at the carved faces and glancing over the vastness of this ancient structure. Many: ruins, sections of the temple or temple walls are strewn around the area just outside the main temples.

                          

                          

                          


  Swan and I then proceeded to the Bayon Temple which sits in the middle of Angkor Thom, most of the existing towers have the faces carved in the rock.

                           


                                           

                                            

    There was a lot of speed walking on my part as I tried to look in every nook and cranny, just amazing to see this in person. We then traveled about 1 km east to Ta Prohm Temple which had some magnificent trees shrouded over it, one can see by the pictures that it was an amazing site.

                           
                              

                               

 Banteay Kdei was the next spot to see, although it had the same Bayon structural design it was tremendous to view. These temple sites are enormous so walking quickly give me ample opportunity to see a good percentage of the attraction. I felt a bit bad for the older tourists who could not climb the extremely steep stairs to the tops of these temples to get the benefit of viewing the complex in it's entirety. There were children walking around selling trinkets to tourists; one girl about 8 was selling bracelets. This girl said "sir, sir, you buy", I told her I had bought one from someone else and she scolded me "why didn't you buy from me?" !!

                             

                         
                           

      There are thousands of photo's to be taken at these temples, there always seems to be a unique vantage point for the photographer. I think that one week would be needed to take in the temples that cover more than 50 kms in all directions around the old capital of Angkor.

  Sras Srang is where we went next, this is a reservoir that dates back to the 10th century. Several statues line the shore, two lions guard the top of a staircase used by swimmers, the view is quit scenic.

  The most famous temple site in Cambodia is Angkor Wat, which  is the largest religious monument in the world. This temple is so important for remembering the past (Khmer Empire), and the present (tourism), the temple is depicted on the Cambodian flag. A couple of million tourists per year come to this Unesco site so it is an integral part of the local economy. This temple is surrounded by a moat and although many tourists visit here you would not experience a crowd since it is so enormous.

 This is the entrance;  very hard to tell how large the structure is by looking from the other side of the moat.

 The outer wall is 3.6 kms in length. The complete wall is intact, this is one view

The temple's

View of front gate from the steps 

Common art throughout the temples are these women figures carved from the rock

   Pictures cannot do justice to the sites that are around Angkor. Whether a person is a history buff, an avid photographer, or a tourist that wants to experience one of the wonders of the world; Cambodia is the place where she/he can get her/his fill of memories. I feel so lucky to have went the 650 kms from the Laos boarder to one of the most popular tourist sites on the planet. I would highly recommend experiencing these temples; give yourself at least 5 days using Siem Reap as a base. AWESOME !!  

Stung Treng to Siem Reap.......Cambodia

 The day I arrived in Cambodia I had left Pakse, Laos at 6:15 am and caught a tricycle to the bus station where a jeepney style vehicle left at 7am to head south. The vehicle was meandering into many small villages via a dusty, bumpy track where locals counted on the transport to get them out of their community. At one of the first stops vendors approached the jeepney windows with chicken/ cockroaches on a stick. The approximate 70 km trip was a bit torturous with the thick dust that was coming in the windows; all passengers put something over their mouth so as not to breathe in any of the fine dirt. Once the jeepney reached the end of the route I got into a taxi with 9 Cambodian guys and we crossed the boarder (that experience covered in the previous blog post) at Voen Kham, Laos and entered Koh Chheuteal Tom, Cambodia. We drove about 50 kms further until we reached a dock where a small boat took us across the Mekong to Stung Treng.

                         


  As I walked the dirt streets of this small city of over 100,000 I noticed that the people here seemed friendly. With only a couple of places to stay; booking a room was complicated by the Governor and other diplomats occupying many rooms. There were about 20 foreigners outside a guesthouse trying to arrange a ride south; I found that with only two buses per day coming and going into city that it may be everyone for them self in the morning.

                             

                              

That night in this sleepy border city was actually quit good as different foreigners hung out together in a restaurant; entertaining. One of the westerners stumbled on some locals getting drunk; they were celebrating that an owner of a car had stuffed many foreigners in his vehicle for a ride south, and charged them 3 times the going rate. They invited all of the other foreigners in this lodging area to have a drink with them, there ended up to be a fun party, although I did not drink like the others.

   I was not able to get on the bus in the morning, it seems that locals had paid days ahead to book a seat. I managed to find two couples who were willing to share a taxi at noon, that give me 6 hours to walk around among the locals. We arrived in Kratie at about 6pm, the first thing I did was buy my bus ticket for Phnom Penh the next morning.

                             

                             


There was a lot of poverty on the 150 km trip south; locals appear to live a very simple life in shacks,

                              


the roads were in very poor condition as the taxi bounced and swerved to miss large potholes. I just got to the bank and post office before the business's closed; that evening I ended up playing soccer with two workers who I had met.....again locals provided excellent comradery.

   The main attractions in Cambodia are the world famous temples that were built between the 9th-13th centuries. These sites were off limits for westerners during the tragic turmoil that Cambodians suffered under the tyrant Pol Pot who was the leader of the Khmer Rouge. In 1969 the Cambodians were carpet bombed by the American's during the Vietnam War so there has been hardship for these Asian's for decades. Pol Pot close off this country to the rest of the world to commit genocide (after the American's helped him become strong). Anyway, the last Khmer Rouge member fell in 1998, for years people like myself have come to this country to see the historic structures. Traveling in Cambodia can be slow (time consuming), disorganized (chaos); and can leave one very dirty.....if you want to witness these amazing temples old style.

     The bus ride from Kratie to Phnom Penh was good (although crowded), there was excellent scenery, many temples could be seen from the bus window.

                       


 I also saw a lot of garbage on the streets, many locals spit, pick their nose and pee just about anywhere. There were two English guys on the bus who had been to Phnom Penh before so I joined them in their tuk tuk, rather than fight with the locals who were trying to grab my backpack (they would get a kick-back for bringing a customer to a hostel or hotel); we went to a backpacker hangout by Boeng Lake. The alley that we ventured down was crammed with guesthouses and internet cafe's so I knew I would not stay there long. I took the same tuk tuk back downtown by the bus station and found a room at the Morakat Hotel for about $10 US. Once I checked in I went for about a 4 hour walk which enabled me to see the Independence Monument.

                           


 After the Monument I headed to the Kings Palace where I had to rent a shirt for $3, since mine was sleeveless, and then pay another $2 to bring my camera in. The Palace was okay, I took many photo's of the buildings, which were mostly temples.

                           

                           

                           

  There are a lot of beggars in Phnom Penh, this capital city of about 1.5 million. I had to get used to walking past these poor people without a reaction, after I had donated my daily allowance for charity. I went to the Wat Phnom which sits on the highest point in the city, there were so many beggars up there, and many children.

                          

 Two loose monkeys went after me when I tried to take a photo of them; I swung my small pack at them to keep them away until I was able to retreat. Once back down to street level I walked around to familiarize myself with the city of approx. 2 million. Many old boats were being navigated down the Tonl'e Sap River.

                        

    Often Cambodians can be seen playing Jianzi on the streets; this game originated in China about 2,000 years ago; players keep a feather ball in the air with everything but their hands (mainly feet), many people are very good (men and women). Many locals walk around with their pet monkeys.

    The hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh was a little overwhelming; there was a lot of honking and general city noise. After 2 poor sleeps and about 20 kms of walking to seek and discover, I had seen enough of this historic city and headed out in the morning on the bus to Siem Reap. The bus station was so small and crowded, 3 busy streets cross where all of the buses try to pull in, there is a lot of chaos. There were some motorcycle accidents on this day, one has to believe there are many daily when you watch the near misses on the roads. We stopped once to pick up a passenger and the police were there to receive some pocket money from the driver; I saw so much of this activity in different countries. The scenery on the 250 km trip was nice and there were entertaining views of locals.

                         

                         

                       

     Once we arrived at the bus station in Siem Reap all passengers were swarmed by tuk tuk and motorcycle drivers looking for temple customers. I shared a tuk tuk with an English guy; on the way to the Popular Guest House the driver stopped and wanted to negotiate where we were staying; he said "if I take you where you want to go then you use me to drive you to the temples tomorrow".

  It seemed like every road in Siem Reap was being worked on at the same time, while walking the streets I sucked in so much dust. There were a lot of tourists around since this city of 900,000 is the starting point for trips to the temples. Siem Reap is so much different than the rest of Cambodia, there are 5 star hotels where the patrons get a package deal for guided tours of the temples. The first lodging that I stayed in had a few rude staff members so when I woke up in the morning I found a new place to call home before I went on my temple excursion. I found Swan parked on the street and I hired him to take me to temples on his motorcycle. After about 650 kms of rough road travel through Cambodia, one of the best days of my life was awaiting me.

San Fernando....Philippines

   After leaving Buang my wife and I made our way to Nalvo Sur, Luna, which is the village of our friends. The people from this village were friendly and I managed to find some young guys to play basketball with (Philippine National Sport). I witnessed my first Philippine wedding while in this village, six pigs were butchered and cooked for the 2 day event which had a couple of hundred people in attendance.

                           

 I put many details of the event in my journal and we appreciated the opportunity to partake in this celebration. The first night our sleep was very limited with all of the festivities, the karaoke, screaming pigs, and the DJ playing through the night; so after the second full day we made our way back to the Hideaway Resort.

  On the way back to our lodging we stopped in San Fernando for the market; while there we climbed the 150 steps of Heroes Hill at Freedom Park which give us a good view.

                                    


                          

 The steps were lined with statues of the prominent men that influenced Philippine history. In the morning we left Buang on a bus and eventually made it to Bolinao after a long days travel. I loved the fact that we could just stop and get off the bus to either seek adventure or check out something that sparked our interest. Our first stop of the morning was in Agoo to see the Agoo Basilica, it was very nice inside.

                                           


We walked to the Imelda Park (the ex leader Marco's wife), which was nothing special. From Agoo we hopped another bus to the unpleasantly large Dagupan where we had to fight heavy traffic to get to the west side of the city.

   We boarded a jeepney to Lingayen, the capital of Pangasinan, where we took a quick photo of an old cathedral (we would be returning here) before catching a bus to Alaminos. Like so many small cities there was another old cathedral in Alaminos.

                                


We finally checked in to the Celeste Seabreeze Inn in Bolinao after traveling about 200 kms by bus and jeepney. Bolinao sits at the top of the Lingayen Gulf; Santiago Island is just a stones throw away from shore.

  In the morning I took a walk around the coast in search of shells, the locals who were digging for clams looked a bit surprised. After breakfast we made our way to Cabarruyan Island but that stay was short lived, like Bolinao the locals were not very friendly on Cabarruyan. We took a jeepney to get on the island and then a tricycle to Anda for 50 pesos. When we tried to get a ride to Pingan the tricycle drivers were more interested in playing cards than making money. Perhaps drivers did not want to go one way and return empty or they were just being lazy; this was confirmed from a fellow passenger in the jeepney we took off the island; he told me that the men on the island were lazy.

   We arrived back in Lingayen and got lodging at the Kilometer One Hostel before arranging a boat ride to tour the hundred islands. We jeepney'd to Lucap which is the departing areas for the Hundred Islands National Park and paid 350 pesos for our boat trip.

                        

                        


The islands are actually scrub covered coral protrusions that rise up from the gulf; some have beaches, and most were concaved on the bottom from the pounding sea. Several islands were damaged from the earthquake a couple of weeks previous, as were a couple of bridges on the way to Bolinao, seems like the Lingayen area had a tremor with a strength of 6.7.

   It was getting close to Christmas so we headed to Lupao via Dagupan, Carmen, and San Jose to spend some days around there before heading back on the road in seek of adventure. There were more than a few sleepless nights since people do not control their dogs or roosters; and the mosquito's were plentiful. I swam at the dam a couple of times and we had a pig roast for new years; that night in itself was an experience. For the celebration of the new years people burn't tires on the street and there were loud explosions as home made bombs were going off for hours.

  On the Tuesday after New Years the word I wrote in my journal was "crazy"; yet again I would push the limits. I had planned to go on a bike ride, although I had been so busy in Canada that I hadn't gotten on my favourite machine for several months. At 7am I left with Simo and his friends who were young cyclists in the area who rode 6 days per week; Simo had a friend that would rent me his speed bike for the day.

                                      


The plan was to ride from San Roque to Santa Fe and back, little did I know the hell that I would go through. At first I was enjoying myself, taking the lead for 10 minute periods before falling in behind to take advantage of the drafting provided from these guys who were half my age. There were a lot of smiles and the speeds we were achieving on the straight parts were exhilarating.

  Once we hit the mountain pass then life on the two wheels changed a bit. Not only was the pass steep but the heat reflecting off the pavement started to take it's toll on me. The worst part was sucking in the exhaust of the buses as they slowly passed us on the switch backs spewing black smoke (at a time when deep breathes were essential). Racing down the 10 km slope into Santa Fe was more than satisfying, the scenery was beautiful and there was a sense of accomplishment.

                        

The big problem was that after a short rest we had to climb back up the 10 km pass.

   After 8.5 hours I somehow made it back to San Roque after 150 kms of riding. I was so exhausted and dehydrated that I could barely stand, the last 10 kms were truly hell. The temperature was about 35 degrees and the enjoyable pace on the way there ended up draining me near the end. Besides the beautiful scenery I can attest to the accomplishment on such a difficult task and be thankful for meeting such nice young cyclists.

  A couple of days later we attended the second Philippine wedding where again there was an abundance of good food and more of the loud tunes provided by a disc jockey. By attending 2 different weddings I was able to become familiar with the customs of a union between couples in the Philippines; many activities like attaching money to the brides dress while she dances with her new husband differ from our weddings. Another awkward ritual is announcing the amounts of funds that are given to the bride and groom by guests of the ceremony.

  Once the holiday season was finished it was time to move on and experience new territory...... covering new ground for the first time is rewarding for many of us.