Sunday night we went to “Bayon II” restaurant (not “Bayon” or “The New Bayon”) for some pretty good buffet dinner and some traditional dancing. It was worth going for sure, you’d be silly to come this far to another culture and not plonk yourself front and centre for an hour’s worth of entertainment Khmer style. Old-school traditional (we saw similar outfits in 800yr old carvings the next day) as well as some more modern styles were performed, each one either very clever (how far can your fingers bend themselves backwards?) or telling a nice story (eg young romance between fishers).

Recommended viewing.

Monday morning and we’re off to see one of the 7 Wonder of the World, the temples at Angkor!

US$20 seems like a lot (especially when you lose your ticket ad have to buy another, like one of our group) when everything else here is so cheap, but it really is top value for such a privilege. Throw in a tuk-tuk driver for the day (mandatory), lunch, and elephant ride, and a bob up and down in a hot-air balloon (we skipped that one) and for under US$60 you’ve had a day of your life you’ll be telling your great-grandkids about and still grinning widely reminiscing.

Built in the 1100s these temples are really something else. Angkor Thom is a largish area with quite a few buildings through it (it’s a few square kms large), the highlights of which is the Bayon temple, where you’ll find all the great pillars (each one is a room) with a Buddha’s face on each of the four sides. Phreah Kahn, the Terrace of the Elephants and Thommanom are all worth checking out, and we didn’t have time to see everything.

The highlight is of course Angkor Wat. This place is just out of this world, even the outside bridge over the moat and gate are impressive before the ~1km concourse before reaching the actual temple. Inside, inscriptions and impressively ornate carvings are everywhere, and these are just the ones that are left!

Inside further is like an inner-temple but to get to it you have to scale up 3 or 4 stories worth of very steep steps (two hands for beginners on these old worn steps). At the top the view is every bit as splendid as you could expect.

(Our group was feeling very beat after lunch. We told our tuk-tuk driver we’d just and have a quick squiz at Angkor Wat, retire to our hotel for a couple of hours recovery, then return for sunset. Ha! We spent 2 hours inside, including climbing and walking non-stop.)

More creative writers than I can better express how impressive this all is – even though it is incredibly worn and most of the more ornate stone carvings are lost, let alone whatever gold or silk or timber that was part of the original (and alas no 12^th century photos have survived).

Go and see Angkor. Stay in Siem Reap a few days and go. Do it soon, next year, next month maybe, while this place is still cheap and friendly. You will forever treasure the experience.

Which brings us to today.

We saw the landmine museum this morning. Not your traditional type of museum, this is out in a poor part of town, a shack and a little land where an ex Khmer Rouge soldier called Aki Ra has on display all types of landmines, booby traps and other unexploded objects that he himself has dug-up using nothing more than sticks. When he was young, Aki Ra was made to plant mine for the Khmer Rouge, but now he takes in young landmine victim children who all live and have schooling here at this place. If you go there you will see the kids running around missing a limb or two (but still able to slingshot a rat out of a tree with one go!) and most of them are more than happy to how you through the place: each type of device and how traps are laid and how mines are recovered, and to tell you his own story too. This place is great because is displays a lot about Cambodia’s recent history, but also shows you the nature of these beautiful people. It’s free to go and you’re mad not to see it and come away with a souvenir or two.

One more lunch with our group before half of this team heads off. We devoured our lovely Western food from “Shadow of Angkor” where we’re now regulars and it was back to the hotel for goodbyes.

This is just about the end of a significant chapter for Lara and I on this trip. Last night the group shared our thoughts to each other and I said that I was disappointed to be struck down when it came to the crux of the trip – even the one day I had with the people I felt very off in the head and the illness tainted my opinion of Tbeng Meanchey. {Just read those last journal entries…} However, I would never have not come, and I would dearly love to come back and do it again properly. Such is how much I enjoyed and gained from the experience as a whole despite the negatives.

We were warned before coming that this sort of trip changes a person. I think it’s easy to say I’ve been changed even already, and we haven’t returned home yet.

To me this change in itself is wonderful because it opens up a whole new element of life, and so much more opportunity and potential. It’s exciting to think what might come next from this.

Room 144, Sakura Villa,
Siem Reap, Siem Reap,
Cambodia