Welcome to Singapore

 

Goodbye Cambodia and hello Singapore. We flew from Phnom Penh airport to Singapore via the budget airline Jetstar, who were excellent. 

We arrived to a tropical storm in Singapore. 27 degrees and pouring rain. Our Plane circled for 30 minutes while the storm passed over Singapore airport and the pilot waited for the all clear to land. As we cleared customs, Ruth was waiting to meet us and organised a Grab taxi to take us to her apartment. The apartment is on the 36 floor overlooking the city. A nice home for a few days. 

 

Thank you Ruth for your hospitality. We are looking forward to the next few days. 

And back to Phnom Penh

 

Our Cambodia adventure ends tomorrow when we fly from Phnom Penh International airport. So today we travelled by car from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. A five hour drive through the centre of Cambodia. Our driver picked us up at 8am, so he initially battled through the morning traffic, where he demonstrated some interesting overtaking manoeuvres, but gradually the traffic reduced and the journey became relatively uneventful. Our driver was keen to tell us about his country, so he briefly stopped in one village, which is built along the main road we were taking. In this village they predominately make flat rice. Home made automated hammers pound pan heated rice until flat, which is bagged and sold around the country. There were no health and safety manuals consulted when these machines were built. 

Flat Rice Making

After a break we arrived safely in Phnom Penh around 13:30, so time for late lunch and one last explore of the city.  There is a combination of new and old buildings in the city, with roads lined with overhead power and telephone cables. I couldn’t resist taking the photo below, which shows that the engineers who installed the cables clearly focused on quantity and not quality. 

Then we came across the Nagaworld Casino. This was built with foreign investment and designed for overseas guests. A vegas style hotel casino in Cambodia. It has a full modern duty free shopping area, which would fit in to any modern western city. A different world from the one the Flat Rice makers we met earlier in the day know. 

Cambodia has been fun, tomorrow we head to Singapore. 

Exploring Siem Reap

Siem Reap River 

 Our last day in Siem Reap with nothing planned. We spent the morning lazing around our hotel swimming pool and then walked to the local coffee shop. This is a town which has benefited from the investment the Angkor ancient temple tourism has attracted. We sat outside the coffee shop with our middle class cappuccinos and cake, and contemplated that we could be in any city in the world. No idea if this is a good thing, but it shows how Cambodia is changing.

 

We headed towards a new palace which has just been completed for the Cambodian king. This will be his new residence in Siem Reap. A Tuk Tuk driver persuaded us to go on a guided tour of the city. For $3 for an hour we could not refuse. Our drivers name was Paul and he was excellent, whizzing us around the streets and sites of Siem Reap. We declined to visit to another Killing Fields site, but it highlighted the scale of what happened under the Khmer Rouge regime. Tuk Tuk drivers have struggled since covid so we tipped him nicely at the end of the journey.

 

Raffles Siem Reap is part of the Raffles hotel chain, built in 1932. We started the evening by visiting their cocktail bar. Raffles Singapore is famous for the Singapore sling, in Siem Reap it is the Grand D'Angkor Sling, their own variation and signature drink, which uses local Angkor Gin. A nice way to end our time in Siem Reap. 

This is a city which dates back over a thousand years, which is both modernising and holding on to its history. It looks like it will continue to thrive and evolve. We will miss you Siem Reap.

 

Temples of Ankgor

 

The Angkorian empire lasted from the 9th to the 15th Centuries. The empires capital for much of this time was a few miles north of Siem Reap. As the empire went into decline, the whole area was gradually abandoned and finally over taken by the jungle. During the 19th century colonial times, French historians started to rediscover the lost cities and temples. Some restoration work started in the 1960’s, but in 1992 the area became a UNESCO World Heritage site, attracting increased funding from countries around the world. The area is now protected and further restoration is underway. Hollywood played its part to promote the area with filming of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider in 2001. The Cambodian government now understand its value to attract tourism. Pre Covid, thousands of people would visit each week. Post Covid, the number of visitors is currently around a third, which meant our timing to visit was perfect. 

Angkor Wat is one of the most famous temples in the region. We were advised that sunrise is the best time to visit, which meant a 5am start. Our guide helped us purchase tickets and arranged for us to enter from the quieter rear entrance. It was still dark as we walked a path through the forest to the temple. He shone a touch to spot any Python or Cobra snakes on their night time crossing, fortunately there were none to be seen. It was just becoming light as we reached the temple and it is stunning. It was difficult to comprehend that this was lost to the jungle for 500 years.

Even though we arrived at 5:30am, there must have been at least 1000 people there to watch the sun rise. 

We left Angkor Wat to visit Angkor Thom, which was built about 100 years after Angkor Wat. This was the walled capitial city and in many ways more impressive, but less preserved.

The longer we travel through Asia, the more we understand that health and safety standards are different here when compared to Europe and the US. You could argue that they have kept the responsibility for making decisions with the individual and not the state. No doubt cost is the real reason. The safety around the Angkor temples was no different. Steep steps up the top of the monuments which are not good for anyone with vertigo. But without them you would not be able to see the full glory of these constructions. 

Janice on the steps in Baphuon Temple

The whole of the Angkor Thom City is around nine square kilometres and has multiple temple sites. All impressive. The Angkorians spent decades building these temples, cutting and shaping the stone. Lava stone, which is less attractive for strength and foundation. Sandstone to finish and carve. They were influenced by both Buddhism and Hinduism. The style reflecting which religion. Elephants were often carved. The photo below is from the Temple of the Lepa King. 

Temple of the Lepa King in Angkor Them

The buildings were amazing, but what added to the area is the way that nature has developed around the sites. Trees, which are hundreds of years old, growing on and in the ruins. The Spung tree, which grows over 100 metres high, develops its trunk and roots around the walls and temples.

 

The temperature during the day was above 30 degrees and very humid. This is a tropical area, so we should not have been surprised when the heavens opened and it started to poor. We managed to hide in a temple, eventually deciding to make a dash for our car, but got soaked. We drove 500 metres down the road to find it had not rained and the sun shining. No wonder everything grows so well here. Our guide Sing So waiting for break from the rain.

After lunch and time to dry we finished the day on a high, with a tour of the Temple of Ta Prohm, which was the site used in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider film. It was lost to the jungle for hundreds of years. The trees have grown on and around it, which is why it created a perfect film setting. Both the Spung and Giant Fig trees have grown here. The Giant Fig tree is the one in the famous film setting in the picture below. 

Tomb Raider film setting

But the Spung tree is equally impressive, with this one dominating the Ta Prohm temple. 

Spung Tree Ta Prohm.

And this ended our day, tired and hungry from our long day exploring these amazing temples. It’s time to find out what goes on in Pub Street. Good night Cambodia. 

 

Siem Reap

 

We have moved to Siem Reap in the north of Cambodia. This is the second largest city in Cambodia and home to hundreds of overgrown temples and the ruins of Angkor Wat and Ankgor Them, which date from the12th century. Our return journey to Sihanoukville from Koh Rong Sanloem was back via our small hotel boat, followed by speed boat. Sihanoukville has a small airport, which we used to fly to Siem Reap. The story goes that Sihanoukville became the home to online casinos for the Chinese around 2016. Huge amounts of money flowed into the city and crime levels increased. This caused a massive explosion in flights from China to Sihanoukville, to the point that they could not handle the flow of people. Around 2018 Cambodia banded Casinos in the area and then the travel ground to a sudden halt. The interest in Sihanoukville from China stopped, building work dried up leaving empty carcasses of unfinished buildings. Today the airport is quiet. There was around 20 people on our flight and little other people at the airport. No doubt like Bournemouth airport in the 70's.

Siem Reap has been visited by millions of tourists over the years, attracted by the ancient ruins. In recent years UNESCO have declared Angkor Wat a world Heritage site and one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. This resulted in a massive increase in tourism, especially from China. But there is more to Siem Reap than the ancient runins and temples. It is a city with its own character and beauty.

But since the pandemic we understand it is a little quieter now, although it is a party town, which is highlighted by their most famous street - Pub Street. They clearly decided not to create any confusion on why someone should visit.

We have a 5am start tomorrow, so only a brief visit today, but it looks like a fun area.

And more beach

 

Our beach apartment - Moonlight resort
A tribute to Snorky from Banana splits

We woke again to pouring rain, but it soon past, so today was a beach day. This time Saracen beach, which is where our beach front dome is located. It’s a tribute to Snorky from Banana Spilts if you can remember them. A stroll along the beach after breakfast and then back to our resort to our books. Very boring, but really appealing after four weeks of exploring the mad but beautiful Asia. A dip in the sea is as far as it got to introducing a little excitement into the day. So todays update is short, just a couple of photos of our beach. It’s a place we would love to visit again, but its been a long journey to get here, therefore unlikely will make it back, so a few photos to remember our time here. If you are thinking about visiting Cambodia, put this island on your list to visit. 

For dinner, a curry, an Angkor beer and the Wales v Iran World Cup game. Not Wales finest performance. 

Lazy Beach Day

Koh Rong Sanloem is a tropical island, which means it receives plenty of rain and last night we had a lot of it. When we woke it was still raining, but very warm. The local fisherman were trying to empty their boats of water where it had rained so much. A jog along the beach seemed like a good way spend a little time while it was still raining. 

As the rain cleared we were recommended to visit Lazy Beach on the other side of the island. This is a walk across the island to a secluded beach which is rated as one of the top 21 most beautiful beaches in world by National Geographic. No idea how they measure this or how true it is, but it was good motivation to walk over. Our walk took use over the island through the tropical forest, walking through the streams of water created by the overnight storm.

Lazy beach is stunning. There are a few huts built into the tree line behind the beach where backpackers can stay. This is where it is appropriate to refer to the guests as backpackers as you need to walk the forest trail to reach Lazy Beach. There is a wooden restaurant, which sold a wonderful curry, but apart from this it is fairly untouched. Still lots of plastics washed up the beach, which highlights the problems our seas and oceans face. 

      

The map of our walk over to Lazy beach recorded by Janice on her walking app. 

Good night Koh Rong Sanloem.