Kingdom of Dragon Flies and Lizards
Cambodia is a country for which water is in no short supply. From the air it appears as a lake with occasional trees. Many of the buildings are barely above the water line (or not in some cases).
After landing in Phnom Penh we stayed with Navy's family for one night. The rooms here typically all open to the outside (no internal corridors) and outdoor kitchens are common. Our room was tiled on all surfaces but the roof. We also had great difficulty in determining what was a towel and what was a blanket in the items provided.
As you would expect from a tropical climate most of the houses are build on stilts to prevent flooding. What was not expected is that it appears that the height of the stilts is something of a status symbol, resulting in houses with 3m stilts alongside others with 200mm stilts, which looks quite odd.
Dragon flies are everywhere here, and their are accompanied by an abundance of lizards attempting to reduce their numbers. Most rooms have at least one gecko hanging out on the wall.
We drove to Siem Reap to meet up with the rest of Navy's family from Melbourne. The roads are poor at best, we are told there are areas where people will accept money to fill pot holes for the cars, then remove the dirt again for the next vehicle.
Our travel group became 13, which somehow managed to function, or at least appear to. We spend the majority of our time in Siem Reap exploring the many ruined temples in the area. These are straight out of films, I recommend a visit. The city itself is almost entirely a tourist trap now. Almost everyone speaks very good English there and is determined to sell anything they can get away with. It is also very clean, safe and not too adventurous for westerners.
Today we drove back to Phnom Penh (all 13). This is a very different city, but there is still a tourist area, which we appear to be in.
After landing in Phnom Penh we stayed with Navy's family for one night. The rooms here typically all open to the outside (no internal corridors) and outdoor kitchens are common. Our room was tiled on all surfaces but the roof. We also had great difficulty in determining what was a towel and what was a blanket in the items provided.
As you would expect from a tropical climate most of the houses are build on stilts to prevent flooding. What was not expected is that it appears that the height of the stilts is something of a status symbol, resulting in houses with 3m stilts alongside others with 200mm stilts, which looks quite odd.
Dragon flies are everywhere here, and their are accompanied by an abundance of lizards attempting to reduce their numbers. Most rooms have at least one gecko hanging out on the wall.
We drove to Siem Reap to meet up with the rest of Navy's family from Melbourne. The roads are poor at best, we are told there are areas where people will accept money to fill pot holes for the cars, then remove the dirt again for the next vehicle.
Our travel group became 13, which somehow managed to function, or at least appear to. We spend the majority of our time in Siem Reap exploring the many ruined temples in the area. These are straight out of films, I recommend a visit. The city itself is almost entirely a tourist trap now. Almost everyone speaks very good English there and is determined to sell anything they can get away with. It is also very clean, safe and not too adventurous for westerners.
Today we drove back to Phnom Penh (all 13). This is a very different city, but there is still a tourist area, which we appear to be in.
posted by Bruce at 6:59 am
2 Comments:
I loved Siem Reap. We stayed in a very simple Guest House, which was not brilliantly located. However, for $15USD per night per room, I'm not complaining. We choose to stay at Chea's Guest House on account of my family knowing the family of the owners (seriously). This ended up working in our favour, as we were paid lots of attention and given many locals' tips on how to deal with certain situations (eg corrupt ticket inspectors at Anghor Wat).
The road between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is not that bad. Sure, not brilliant by Australian standards, but driveable. :)
I recommend you stay in Siem Reap for at least 5 nights if you want to see all of the major sights without rushing...
Also, there is a water company here called "Navy"! Very cool. :) There is also a hotel in Siem Reap called "The Sothea".
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