Phnom Penh Royal Palace

Immediately after reboarding, our ship cast off to take us to Phnom Penh. Here we lined up to ride our own personal cyclos to the Royal Palace. Our guide called our vehicles rickshaws. Whatever the correct name, they were wonderful. On our three-wheeled bicycles we were scooting between and around  all of the other traffic on extremely busy city streets until we arrived at the Royal Palace.

Our First Glimpse of the Royal Palace Compound

We have arrived.

The white face is Brahma

Royal Ceremonial Robes

Before we finished our tour, the skies opened up and it started to pour. After half on hour or so we decided that we simply had to move on. Donning heavy raincoats, we climbed into our cyclos. On some of the roads the water was a foot or more deep, but the traffic just kept moving on. It was a wonderful ride and a great adventure.

Kampong Luong Silver Village

When we awoke, our ship was tied to the shore. After breakfast we climbed onto an ox cart to travel through the small village of Kampong Tralach. A bus took us to the Silversmith village of Konpong Lounge. Here many of the people make their living working with silver.

Off We Go

Following Closely

Switching to Our Bus

Forming Copper

Shrines

Pounding a Copper Plate

Adding a Pattern

Silver Plating

Comfortable in a Hammock

Avalon Siem Reap

Before lunch we checked out of our hotel and boarded a bus to find our cruise ship. As we left Siem Reap we were driving through an area which is sometimes flooded during the wet season. The road was raised and many houses were built on stilts. Then, just before reaching our pier, we found that some of the homes were simply floating on the water. Our guide explained that these home would soon move downstream as the water level dropped.

We climbed aboard a tender on Tonle Sap. This is the name of the river and it is the name of the lake to which it flows. Tonle is the Cambodian word for sea or ocean and sap means freshwater. This is a very large freshwater lake, greatly swollen because we are at the end of the wet season. We passed a large floating village on the river and eventually found our boat, Avalon Siem Reap, on the lake.

Long Tailed Boat

Another Tender Like Our Own

The sign indicates that there are bumps in the road in the dry season.

Floating Homes

On the left is a fish trap.

Our First Glimpse of Avalon Siem Reap

Our Room

Our Room

Our Room

The Outdoor Lounge

Deb Making Herself at Home

Just a Hallway

Dining Room

This will be our home for the next seven days. Today nothing is planned so we can just relax.

Siem Reap Evening Food Tour

Tonight we went out for dinner. Kim (from Urban Adventures) came to our hotel to pick us up shortly after five o’clock. Of course, just before he arrived it started to rain. It then started to pour just before we climbed into our tuk tuk. Of the three tuk tuks, ours was the only one without side panels. Somehow we managed to stay mostly dry as we drove across town to a local market. The street food stall where we stopped had a tarp over it. Here we were to have our appetizer.

Three small platters of barbecued beef and a tray of sliced vegetables were placed before us. The sauce for the beef was a mixture of fermented fish and coconut milk. To this we added a few spices including lemon grass and sliced peppers. The last item was a spoonful of dried red ants. With our chopsticks we dipped the beef into the sauce and then into our mouths. It was very tasty with only a little bit of crunch.

The rain had then almost stopped so we wandered to some fruit stalls to sample several fruits which most of us (We were now a group of eight) had never tasted or even heard of. I now have an idea that I quite like jackfruit, longan, rambutan, mangosteen and several others.

Across the road we next found what Kim called delicacies. Now we know that deep fried grasshopper wings get stuck between your teeth. Fried silkworm larvae taste somewhat dry and even dusty. When you eat small fried frogs you just pop the whole thing in your mouth. The bones are crunchy but they are very tasty. Fried black beetles look just as shiny as they did when they were alive. I decided not to try the crickets.

The rain returned and started to grow stronger so we cut the market visit short and headed to a Cambodian restaurant for dinner. Along with a glass of wine, Deb and I both followed Kim’s recommendation and ordered a dish called amok. Deb had chicken and I had fish. It was served in a carved out young coconut and was accompanied by rice.

After dinner, Kim asked if we wanted a ride back to our hotel or if we would like to be dropped off at Pub Street. We went home and crashed.

Bayon Temple

Here the towers are dominated by the faces of Buddha. Most of the many towers have four faces looking in four directions.

The entrance is through one of the towers.

Deb took a Tuk Tuk ride around the ruins.

The faces are very compelling.

In profile, the faces are very serene.

Nose to Nose

Each tower was meant to represent one of the provinces in the empire.

Our guide identified this face as the happiest and the most famous,
perhaps because it is at a perfect level for a Kodak moment.

Just as we were leaving, monks were coming in.

Ta Prohm

Whereas Angkor Wat has received a great deal of restoration, this temple has been left more or less as it was found. Here we get a real sense of how the centuries have treated these ruins. After the collapse of the Angkor Empire, most of these cities were deserted for many many years. Trees have worked long and hard to reclaim the jungle.

When I get home I will have to go back and review the Angelina Jolie movies. Parts of the Tomb Raider series were filmed here.

The ruin contains many beautiful features and carvings, but the trees dominate.

Apsara

We will soon be on the cruise ship, so now Avalon has arranged a welcome reception. Dinner was meant to be a feast for kings. It was presented very beautifully and consisted of many small dishes. It tasted good, but not remarkable.

The facilities were lit with candles and flares and was beautiful at night. It was located in an industrial area which I'm not sure I would want to see in daylight.

The dancers were very beautiful but the production was not as polished as others I have seen in Thailand.

Two small monkey boys met us at the entrance.

The first dance involved some kind of secret.

The girl was playing coy.

The movements were very formal and very stylized.

The Five Apsaras

Just before this picture, the girl on the extreme right had made some kind of error and had been chastised by the dancer beside her. Before she left the stage she seemed to be fighting to hold back her tears.