Siem Reap, Cambodia

GATEWAY TO ANGKOR WAT Angkor Wat is considered the 7th Wonder of the World. Siem Reap, which literally means the “Defeat of Siam”, is the most prosperous region of contemporary Cambodia. Its close proximity to the Angkor Wat temple complex has turned the city into one of the world’s premier travel destinations. More than one million travelers visit Siem Reap every year to explore over a thousand years of Khmer heritage built near Tonle Sap Lake, the foundation of the economic power of the ancient Cambodian empire. ANGKOR WAT AND THE TEMPLE REGION The primary attraction for visitors to Siem Reap is the Angkor Wat and the Angkor Temple Region, which blankets more than 300km of northwestern Cambodia. The Angkor Temple Complex has been designated a UN Heritage Site and consists of hundreds of structures from the 9th to the 14th century that tell the story of the rise and fall of the Khmer empire. This vast collection of historical structures are decorated with intricately carved, priceless Khmer artwork and that provide an archaeological and a pictorial history of an empire that ruled much of southeast Asia for five centuries. Structure range from partially renovated temples, pagoda and imperial residences to recently discovered ruins which are virtual untouched for the last 500 years. As we walked out of the Raffles Grand hotel to our bus this morning we were surrounded by the smells of Siem Reap….odors of burning wood and essences of incense. It is a very comforting, almost zen like aroma. Also, Love the hotel! Arrived at Angkor Wat at 5:30 this morning to experience sunrise on the Temple. It was pitch black, but the place was already packed with people. After the sun arose and the photo sessions were done, we enjoyed a picnic style breakfast at the temple entry. We entered the temple for a special monk blessing ceremony performed just for our group. Then we set about touring the massive temple. It was surprising to see dozens of monkeys running all around the temple. They like feeding in the garbage there. Throughout the morning we visited Angkor Wat Temple, Bayon Temple, Elephant Terrace and Ta Prohm (the temple used by Angeli Jolie in the filming of Tomb Raiders). Our great surprise of the day was an Elephant ride through The Bayon Temple. It was so amazing to sit upon such a beautiful massive creature. Hopefully we got some good photos. Afterwards we fed our sweet elephant mini pineapples as a treat. In the afternoon we visited Tonle Sap Lake, a floating village accessible only by boat. The brown river and water that they live upon in floating homes is terribly polluted. Tonle Sap Lake is home to fishermen on floating villages accessed by a river canal past half-submerged mangroves and flooded shrub land. Every year, the lake yields about 300,000 tons of fish, making it one of the world’s most productive freshwater ecosystems. That and the floods that pulse through it in monsoon season, swelling it to as much as five times its dry-season size, have earned the lake the nickname “Cambodia’s beating heart.” But the Tonle Sap is in trouble — from overfishing to feed a fast-growing population, from the cutting of mangrove forests that shelter young fish, from hydroelectric dams upstream, and from the dry seasons that are expected to grow hotter and longer with climate change. We had a great time in Cambodia. It is such culturally interesting country. There are so many temples that are a marvel to walk through. Sadly, it appeared all the younger tourists were most interested in going to the one where they filmed Angelie Jolie’s movie, Tomb Raider. We had an adorable tour guide, Sam, who is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge reign. He was 16 at the time. He told us some incredibly sad, but enlightening stories about the horrible things that were enacted upon his family, including his father being murdered. He was also told us some local culture stories and shared that his youngest son is getting married next month. They have 1850 people coming to a hotel for the dinner reception! Talk about a big wedding!! We noticed a girl on a bicycle selling a food that looked like nuts. Sam said don’t eat those…the girls fish the snails from the heavily contaminated lakes and they will give you “happytitis” or typhoid! Not even educated locals will eat that or drink the water from the tap here. Heaven knows, we don’t want to come home with Hepatitis. NG hosted an amazing dinner party for us last night…..more like a Ball. The evening began with a cocktail reception by the pool. Then gates were opened to reveal beautifully decorated tables and a stage where Cambodian dancers were performing for us. They performed the Blessing Dance, golden Mermaids and Apsara dances. There were dozens of food stations set up with each one featuring a different type of local specialty food to try. Jim was most happy that they had banana ice cream. He’s been ice cream deficient! Sadly, I’ve caught a cold. I’m convinced I inhaled some nasty gunk while we were in the boat on Tonle lake yesterday. Apparently, in many pharmacies in Peru and here, you can walk in and get any med! Emily, our trip Doc, had to go pick something up that wasn’t in the NG med bag. She said it was crazy what you could buy without a md RX. Hoping she has tucked some cough meds in her supplies. She is absolutely adorable and we are having a great time with her. She “rounds” on the plane every time we take off and land. There are a fair number of old folks on the trip that she has to monitor. I can’t imagine doing this trip when you’re 75 or 80! I keep worrying someone is going to fall and break a hip during excursions to the old ruins that are so treacherous to climb through. Weather wise, we have lucked out everywhere so far. Cambodia was not nearly as hot as expected, thank heaven. And it looks like China and Tibet are going to be warmer than expected, highs in the 40-50 range. Hope Tanzania is on the cooler side by the time we hit there. One of our guides was checking his phone for the Super Bowl scores while we were standing in the temple yesterday waiting for Sunrise…that was a weird thing, especially as we are kind of clueless about what day it is now. We hit the road running early again today. Breakfast at 6:30 and back to the airport at 8am to take the plane to ChengDu. We hop off the plane and go straight to the Giant Panda center. We’ll spend one night at the hotel there, then go back to the airport tomorrow morning early to catch a commercial flight into Tibet. That should be an ordeal. So far we’ve always had our plane of a private charter and have avoided being mixed in with the locals and tourists. We are constantly packing and re packing.