Cambodia by land March 5 to March 8, 2025

 

We flew from Hanoi to Siem Reap, Cambodia the evening of March 5, 2025 on Vietnam airlines.   The Sofitel Angkor Resort & Spa where we stayed was fabulous!  Lotus flowers and beautiful gardens surrounded the entire resort.  

 

             

Siem Reap literally means Siam Defeated referring to the Khmer sacking of the great Thai City of Ayutthaya in the 17th century.  Siem Reap city is the 2nd largest city in Cambodia as well as the Capital.

I found Cambodia to be much cleaner than Vietnam.  When I asked our guide about this he stated that since COVID Cambodia has made great strides in keeping it clean to enhance tourism.  Personally, I fell in love with the beauty of Cambodia even though it has a very tragic history.

March 6, 2025:  Angkor Wat (the pronunciation is "Unker Wat").  This has been a dream of mine to visit and it did not let me down.  Our AMAZING guide in Cambodia, Rhy, was the best guide I ever had in all my travels.  A very kind, knowledgeable man who was a Buddhist Monk twice.  The modern name Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer language.

 

The 5 spires of the of the main temple of Angkor Wat are the most recognized symbol of Cambodia.  Angkor Wat was built during the reign of Suryavarman II in the 12th century.  It is the only Angkor monument that is traditionally entered from the west, and is also the only one that is a mausoleum.   Other Angkor monuments are either temples or monasteries.  

Originally it was structured in 1150 CE as a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Vishnu.  It was later gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the century.  It is regarded as one of the best examples of Khmer architecture and a symbol of Cambodia, depicted as a part of the Cambodian national flag.

Unfortunately most of my photos are "foggy" I think because was very hot and humid in Cambodia.  

It is believed that the construction of this big canal around Angkor Wat was carefully planned.  The Khmer architects of 12th century AD had thoroughly studied the relation of geometry regarding the ratio between the size of the building and the size of the site required was indispensable.  The moat around the temple does not only play the role of symbol of the ocean in Hinduism but also serves to keep the physical balance of this huge construction and preventing it from crumbling under its own heavy weight as water usually reinforces the strength of sand.

The first gallery is two hundred meters on a side.  The walls of each gallery are filled with reliefs depicting scenes from such Indian epics at the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata, and events from the history of the Angkor empire.

 

                                        Bas relief of King Suryavarman II the builder of Ankor Wat

Our guide, Rhy, explaining something about this statue that I wish I could remember:}

The Sacred Pond is in the lower level surrounded by a courtyard.  It is unknown how much water it would have held or what the functions was.

 The temple is perfectly aligned with celestial events, such as the sun rising over the central tower during equinoxes, indicating its dual role as an astronomical observatory.

Priscilla and Phil were bummed that they no longer allow tourists to climb these extremely narrow and high stairs.  

Statue of Buddha protected by the seven heads of Naga.  Unfortunately some of the heads are broken off

                                                   Priscilla in the hall of standing Buddhas   

                                                            A real Buddha in red:}

Pat Clarke (from Sydney), the friend I met on the Galapagos trip and we joined up again on this trip.

 

                                                                     Phil and Priscilla

Said good bye to Angkor Wat and went to a delicious lunch at The Street 27th Restaurant.  This dude was taking a siesta in his Tuk Tuk outside the restaurant.

                                                         Pictures of our yummy lunch!

                                                  Next we did a little tuk tuk and walking tour around Siem Reap.  

Above is the Grand Hotel of A'kor.  It opened in 1932 by a French developer.  Many famous personalities stayed here such as:  Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Princess Margaret, Lord Snowdon, Jacqueline Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle, Sultan Ibrahim Al-Masyhur, Queen Sofia, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, Roger Moore, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama among many others.  The hotel faces the King's palace and the royal gardens.  Below is looking across from the hotel towards the King's palace.

The King's Palace in Siem Reap.  Norodom Sihamoni is the current king of Cambodia.  He is the son of King Sihanouk and Queen consort Norodom Monineath and the 4th monarch from the Royal House of Norodom

Walk way leading away from the palace.  It was lined with statues of warriors with different weapons.

We were there on a Holy Day for the Buddhists and vendors sell lotus flowers in the park for people to give as an offering to Buddha.

We visited a school that taught different skills:  weaving; woodwork; metal work; tile work etc.

That evening our group went to see a performance by Phare Circus.  The performers are  graduates of Phare Ponleu Selpak's vocational center in Battamag.  The school was formed in 1994 by 9 young man coming home from a refugee camp after the Khumer Rouge regime.   It is a free school for orphaned, troubled,  socially deprived children to heal through art, music, acting and acrobatics.  It was a very powerful performance we saw that was told through the eyes of a young girl, Sokha who suffered lose during the Khumer Rouge regime.  

 

March 7, 2025 a group of us got up at 4 AM  to go out at 5:15 AM to catch the sun raise over Angkor Wat. I woke up to the most incredible heavy pouring down rain I have ever experienced.  The guides kept saying we will drive up there because maybe it will clear by the time we get there.  When we got there the guides got out of the bus to "evaluate" the situation going up to the temple.  They stepped out of the bus in ankle deep water.  Eventually they came back and deemed it was not safe go hike up to where we needed to go to see the sunrise. They offered that sunrise tour again the next morning but one 4AM wake up was enough for me to skip it.  But Priscilla and Phil did it and they generously shared pictures:

 

Back to our beautiful hotel for breakfast before we headed out to see Ta Prohm Temple - also known as the "Temple Raider Temple".   The film "Temple Raider", starring  Angelina Jolie was filmed here in 2000.  Angelina Jolie is revered in Cambodia.  She has done a lot of charity work there through the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

 Ta Prohm is an ancient Buddhist monastic complex that was constructed in 1186 AD under the reign of the Khmer King, Jayavarman VII.  The temple was posthumously dedicated to Jayavarman VII's mother.  

After the fall of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century, the temple of Ta Prohm was abandoned and neglected for centuries.   It was rediscovered in 1860 by Henry Mouhot.  It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1992.

The Temple was built without mortar and after it was abandoned trees took root in the loosened stone.  The banyan and kapok trees were not planted but are spontaneous growths from seeds delivered by birds from the neighboring jungles.

 

 

                                                                            Our Group

Priscilla and Phil

 

This tree like cut out in the wall on the top of the door has some structural benefit but I cannot remember what:} 

Now we are off for a Gondola ride around Angkor Thom along the ancient ruins of a small baray (type of reservoir typical of ancient Khmer water management).  

                                                                Priscilla and Phil

Sheri and Andre

Jim and Carolyn

      

                                                            Annie and Rebecca

                                                          Me floating among the lily pads!
 

Next Stop:  Angkor Thom (sounds like Uncle Tom:})  Angkor Thom means "Great City" also known as Nokor Thom.  It was established in the late 12th century by King JayavarmanVII as the capital of his empire.  

The south gate going into Angkor Thom.  Below are the sculptures going into the bridge.

                                  The Bayon Temple is the most notable temple in Angkor Thom. 

The Bayon Temple, which was constructed during Jayavarman VII’s reign, is unique as it is the only Buddhist state temple and the last to be built in the Angkor Empire (also sometimes called the Khmer Empire). While temples continued to be constructed during the Angkor period (9th–15th century), none were on the scale or harnessed the wealth and resources of the Bayon after the death of Jayavarman VII.

                         Baby and adult monkeys were playing in the courtyard by the Bayon Temple. 

                                                        Fantastic carvings on the walls here.  

We were given the option to walk through this part of the temple.  The guide said there was not much to see and it was dark so I decided to skip it.  Priscilla, Phil and others went and when they came out they said it was full of bats and stank of guano.  

                                And there was more monkey business when we exited Angkor Thom

 

That evening we were given a private Apsara show.  This show was the formal type of Apsara dance, characterized by slow, graceful movements and intricate hand gestures. The dancers wear traditional Khmer clothing and have a graceful appearance. The classical dance usually presents a story of the ancient Angkor period.  It was amazing the how their hands bent almost backwards and delicate movements they they were able to do!!

After the show we were treated to a fabulous dinner at Sok-Khak River Restaurant where they serve artfully presented, refined French dishes. 

March 8, 2025 we left our beautiful hotel and had a 4 1/2 hour bus ride to Kampong Cham where we got on the Mekong Jewel for our Mekong River Cruise.