Our journey on the Mekong Express, an old clapped out coach, made Dodsworths look almost luxurious, was slow, so slow. We left Phnom Penh at 8.30 and were still in Phnom Penh 11/2 hours later! The traffic was so heavy and so laborious. We stopped at 1pm at a 'restaurant' at the side of the road, didn't eat anything! We finally arrived in Siem Reap at 3.45. Parts of the road between the two towns are unmade, just wide enough for two vehicles and are shared with dogs, cats, cows and water buffalo. Seen horrendous poverty again, whereas Thailand is poor but clean, Cambodia is very poor and very dirty.
Our coach was greeted by hawkers, touts, Tuk-Tuk drivers, beggars, you name it, all pulling at us and shouting in our faces. We found a Tuk-Tuk and set off to the hotel to discover that Siem Reap is flooded! There has been unexpectedly heavy rain, the Siem Reap river has burst it's banks and the streets are standing in 6 - 8 inches of water, in some places much more. It is impossible to see where pavements end and roads begin!
Yesterday we spent the day at Angkor World Heritage site, which houses Angkor Wat, one of the 'wonders of the world' and absolutely breathtaking. Our Tuk-Tuk had to stop 3 times on the way as there was water in the air filter! We visited 4 of the temples on the site which is a small sample of the many temples which were built over 4 centuries. We saw Angkor Wat, the approach to this is awe-inspiring, one of those OMG moments, it is surround ded by a huge moat. Later in the day we also visited Angkor Thom which was great to walk around, it is built around a forest, it kept me entertained pointing out imaginary snakes to Jim! We then went rock climbing at Ta Keo, a temple with about 50 almost vertical huge steps which entailed using hands, feet and knees to reach the top. Don't even mention coming back down, and it rained, and it was v. slippy.. Finally we went to our favourite, Ta Prohm, which is steadily falling into disrepair and has mystical trees and roots growing through it. We went there in the late afternoon, after the rain and it was sitting eerily in the mist. Quite magical.
We have braved the floods every evening to go to the same restaurant, about 20 yards down the 'river.' Not exactly conducive for evening strolls! A tuk-tuk driver shouted 'river taxi' to us last night rather than 'tuk-tuk. Made us laugh! We did go exploring today but not too far, it's pretty hard work ploughing through fast flowing roads. Anyway, as soon as our clothes are dry we're packing again, not going to Vietnam - too much water there! We've decided to head for Kuala Lumpur, leave here at 6.30 in the morning and fly AirAsia, Asia's answer to Ryanair. Time will tell! We have cut our visit to this part of the world slightly short but flooding forces you to re-think. Still, we are free to go where we choose - and it's brilliant!
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Location:Street 9,Siem Reap,Cambodia
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