Cambodia - Siem Reap

We were up at 4.20 am to meet our guide by 5am to go visit Angkor Wat at sunrise. We were already awake by sound of the chanting of the monks, it seems their voices carry quite far as every morning since being in Cambodia we have heard them before sunrise. 

I knew that Angkor Wat gets very busy, even at sunrise, so I was expecting it to be a bit manic, but it wasn’t bad at all. We sat waiting patiently for the sun to rise hoping for a golden morning, but sadly that did not happen. I took photos of the pre-dawn blue hour and then suddenly the sun was up and was too bright to get any decent photos. This was taken just after sunrise as Angkor Wat is reflected into a pond. We walked all over and up the various levels - there are a lot of steep steps at the temple, and as we were not able to eat any breakfast or drink anything with that early departure, I felt a bit light headed and dizzy at one point. Angkor Wat was built in 1150 as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, but it gradually was transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of there 12th century. It was an enjoyable experience to see this famous place, considered to be the largest religious structure in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1992. Our guide wanted to continue seeing other carvings but by 8.30am I was more than ready for my breakfast and a coffee, so we returned to the hotel. 

Today was a scheduled free day to relax at our hotel as it is quite a lovely place with an enormous heated swimming pool and beautiful grounds, but instead we asked our guide and driver if they could take up to the floating village at the nearby Tonle Sap lake. Tonle Sap is the largest lake in SE Asia, it belongs to the Mekong River system and it changes size greatly during the year depending on the season. During the wet season the river level rises and changes direction, reversing back up into the lake, and during the dry season the water flows out of the lake and back down to the delta. About 3 million people live around the lake area, and today we visited the floating village of Kampong Phluk where people live in houses built on tall stilts due to the flooding river. We hired a boatman to take us up the river channel to see all the houses, which are densely packed next to each other in the water. It's an amazing sight to see, and these days there is electricity there and we think there is sanitation, that wasn’t made clear to us. The conditions don't seem easy and in the extras you can see a photo of children going to school in a sampan, as living on the water that is how they get around. Despite the poor conditions there are mobile phone masts and everyone seems to have a phone! There are schools, temples, even a Catholic Church and we saw a large medical centre too - life on the water is just a different way of living.

We were also taken to a ‘crocodile farm’ which was a houseboat that had some captured crocodiles in a small pen under the boat, it was horrible to see. They are raised to sell for their skins to make leather goods and I did not enjoy seeing them and I certainly was not interested in buying any crocodile skin products! They also had a civet kept in a very small cage it was very upsetting to see. Apparently the crocodiles are endangered but somehow these ‘farmed' ones are allowed. 

We went back to our hotel for a light lunch and to relax. We made use of the gym today and Gavin had a swim in the pool. 

Tomorrow more temples….