We returned the now filthy rental truck (and held our breath that those million pot holes we drove through hadn't caused part of the under carriage to fall off). Then we were off for the airport. We all boarded a Vietnam airline Airbus and took off for Phenom Pehn, Cambodia. At this airport we met our wonderful driver and buddy for the next several days, Mr. Leap.
We then started an even more harrowing drive to Siemens Reap. Divers in Cambodia are similar to those in Laos - passing all other vehicles in a organized but terrifying way (to us). Oncoming traffic scoots over to allow for passing. Passing when oncoming traffic looks way to close is the norm. Having to avoid the very tall and graceful white cows also using the road was frequent.
(I thought this might be my last picture I ever took of Philip. Poor guy - he rode up front and saw all oncoming traffic better than the rest of us!)
The main difference in Cambodia's road traffic and that of Laos is that in Laos there is no honking and in Combodia it is the standard. We were in a nice big van that I'm pretty sure we all thought we were going to die in! Especially since the last two hours of driving were in the dark and guess what? Not every vehicle has lights.
BUT WE DIDN'T!
We arrived all in one piece. Mr Leak got us to our down town hotel. We checked in and went out for our first meal, rested up and got ready for our Anghor Wat adventures.
You can buy a tickets to visit this whole complex for as long as a 7 day ticket. I can truly see how you could use that whole 7 days. This was an amazing complex of structures with a complex Hindu, Buddhist, French, Vietnamese, Cambodia, American history. Our tour guide grew up nearby and as a kid playing on the grounds, before it was rediscovered and cleaned out. It is still being restored. The history is very long and very complex. Our guide said visitors used to be sparse until the American move , Tomb Raider. (Angelina Jolie) was made. That spurred new interest and now, it is packed with visitors from all over the world every day.
Here are just a few of our tons of pictures.
We also went to the big Angkor Museum which gave us a much better idea of this area's complicated history and the reclaimation of this site. Sorry, absolutely no pictures were allowed.
We had a nice stay at our hotel. Massages were decent and cheap. The staff was extremely attentive and the buffet breakfast was great. Needless to say, with young American kids along, we ate lots of pizza, but we did also frequent good restaurants, which coincidently turned out to be usually owned by European or American expats. I ate what seems like now, a lot of fried rice dishes. While service is sometimes confusing caused by language differences and the same annoying custom we have in the sates, where the server DOES NOT WRITE DOWN THE ORDERS, there was often confusion about our orders.
One of out more somber visits while here was to the Land Mine Museum. This was started by a young Cambodian man who himself had been a child soldier, planting explosives. His story is very moving, as is the story of a all of the kids he has taken in and is still taking in who have been victims of the hidden explosives. There is now an orphanage, school and a non-profit agency that raises money to build and fund rural schools. We met the American couple who are instrumental in the support of these things. The original founder and others that the foundation trains also are heavily involved in the effort to find and diffuse the large amount of ordinance still found in Cambodia.
Once we were finished fin Siemens Reap, we jumped in the van with Mr. Leap and headed back to PP. This trip did not seem as harrowing. It was all in the daylight which helped and maybe we were tired and were now, old hands, at these driving/riding adventures. Mr. Leap was good at finding restrooms along the way that were clean and NOT SQUAT TOILETS. In fact, at one pit stop I walked out of the ladies room chatting with a lady who was returning to her large travel bus. She told me that she was traveling with a Jewish group out of New York that funds several NGO's in Cambodia and that they were doing site visits. Meanwhile Michael has recognized Mandy Patakin (correct spelling?) going in and out of the men's room. Turns out that had been Mrs. P that I was talking to. Small World, right?
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