Cambodia - living with the past

The Royal Palace on the riverside in Phnom Penh


Cambodia's independence monument based on the temples of the past


Dinner with Pia at a wonderful French restaurant


Linda suddanly doesn't seem so tall sitting on the Giant Root tree!


Laura Croft's tree from Tomb Raider movie


Another tree....


The corridors of Preah Khan


The dancers of the past


The god Shiva battles with the demons


Dinner at The Dead Fish Tower

Following a brief three hour sleep, we arose again to head off to Cambodia. We were eating breakfast on the riverside in Phnom Penh before I have even turned over most Saturday mornings! I could not believe I was finally in Cambodia, a country with one of the richest ancient civilisations in Asia and one of the most brutal recent histories.
We spent the day strolling the streets and visiting coffee shops, before relaxing in the home of a Swedish lady Pia who works for Sida in Phenom Penh. We sipped cold white wine and gorged ourselves on delicious Swedish cheese and ham, as we listened to some of her experiences of living in Cambodia for the past two years.
After dinner in a wonderful French restaurant we enjoyed a nightcap at the Foreign Correspondents Club before retiring for a brief but well deserved sleep.
The bus left for Siem Reap at 7am. Two interesting experiences from the journey was the care observed by the driver on the narrow roads - a slight difference to what we are used to in Dhaka! The second was getting a lesson in how to eat a cricket, although I abstained from indulging I was intrigued by this Cambodian snack as well as by the trays of fried spiders being carried around. We opted instead for bananas and plain baguettes.
With a brief break for lunch at BouSavy guesthouse for lunch and a shower we headed off into Angkor to discover the secrets of the past.
A brief mention here for my grandfather in Canada, whom I received an email about upon arrival in Siem Reap. He is in hospital in a serious conditions, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
The first afternoon was spent marvelling at the wonder and beauty of the tree temple otherwise known as Ta Prohm. Here we gazed upon the famous Giant Root tree and the Tomb Raider tree, and all the other wonders of the temple which literally has the jungle living in its midst.
Second stop of the day was Preah Khan where apart from a very talkative Indian couple from Delhi who were a wealth of information for us, we were the only other people there. The temple hosted numerous corridors which were illuminated by natural light, as well as a hall of dancers and a god’s room. The carvings on some of the walls were so well in tact that it is hard to comprehend just how old they actually are!
I tried the Cambodian dish Amok (a fish curry) later that night at a wonderful restaurant called The Dead Fish Tower. The restaurant was set on different levels and dancers performed some traditional Cambodian dancing.