Angkor Wat

Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow.

Meg and Sam have this dreadfully banal Charlie and Lola tape, which they have fortunately now lost interest in but which used to be a firm favourite. (For those without kids, Charlie and Lola are a really annoying brother and sister about whom there are endless boring stories, and who need some top tips on how to speak properly). Anyway in one of the stories Lola discovers the tooth fairy and says, in her irritating voice, 'I can't believe that there is a tooth fairy, WHY didn't someone tell me this before?!'.
For some reason, this refrain keeps going round in my head as we look around Angkor Wat. The ruins are STUNNING. Not just impressive, or beautiful or any of the usual adjectives. They are absolutely breath-taking and I am incredulous that I've never realised quite what I've missed out on by not coming here before.

Angkor Wat itself is a single (but huge temple) which is amazing, but what I had failed to realise was the sheer number of temples that form part of the group, and the variety contained within.

Our first stop was the Bayon (see photo below) which is a huge temple with faces carved out of the rocks staring out in all directions. Again, I had seen pictures before but I hadn't realised quite how big it was, or quite how many faces there were staring out at you. But this was just for starters. We have been exploring solidly for four days and have continued to discover new favourites every day; we have still only really touched the tip of the iceberg. It is just staggering. Some temples are immaculately maintained, others have been left slightly more 'naturally', with the jungle still all around and tree roots working their way through ancient stone work. Some are huge pyramids with steep staircases you can climb, others have cloister after cloister after cloister, each brilliantly carved.

There are hundreds of them and only the most impressive merit a mention in the guidebooks and on the standard tour itinerary.

On the third and fourth day, Mum and Dad hired bikes and we rode out to some of the temples a little further away. We all felt very virtuous as the buses and tuk tuks roared past us.

They left this morning and the children are bereft. There were tears all round and even the promise of ice-cream did not do the trick....Meg continued to sob for the best part of twenty minutes!

Sambor Prei Kuk

From Phnom Penh we hired a van to take us west, stopping for the night in a smallish town, well off the tourist trail, called Kamphong Thom. En route we climbed a holy mountain (the only slight hill in a country that thus far is as flat as a pancake). The views from the top were beautiful, as were the temples and the 850 steps up gave us all a good work out. Well, most of us. Mike was not feeling quite so lively and persuaded the van driver (against his better judgement) to drive him to the top. We then all jumped in for the descent, which was positively perilous as the brakes were awful and the incline very steep. We had a precarious moment when the brakes suddenly failed and we went careering around a corner but fortunately the driver got things under control again.

The following morning we headed to some Pre Angkorian ruins called Sambor Prei Kuk. These are about 1200 years old and consist of more than a hundred brick temples situated in the middle of the jungle. They are wonderfully atmospheric; during our morning there we saw perhaps 5 other tourists, so these are rather off the beaten track but we all loved them. You were able to clamber over all of the ruins so the kids played at Indiana Jones and we all played hide and seek endlessly.

We then drove on towards Siem Reap, the base for visiting Angkor Wat.

Phnom Penh

After a week or so following the Mekong south through Cambodia, we cycled to where our quiet road intersected a major highway into Phnom Penh and jumped on a mini bus. There was just too much traffic, and the drivers too crazy, for cycling to be fun. Arriving in Phnom Penh we biked to our hotel and even that was an experience that you wouldn’t want to repeat too often. The following day, in a state of HIGH excitement, we headed out to the airport to meet Mum and Dad who were arriving for ten days. It was lovely to see them; we’ve been away for nearly five months now, the longest I’ve spent away since my tour leading days. Over the next couple of days we went sightseeing in and around the city, returning frequently to the blissful oasis that was out hotel (the Billabong, in case anyone is heading in this direction). There was a pool there and the kids spent many an hour showing off to Granny and Grandpa.

More pictures

 The Mullet...

 Nope, we just couldn't live with it........... so we went to the other side of the market for the second haircut of the morning.....

Cue the skinhead, poster boy for the Aryan Youth.

 Relaxing after a morning on the bikes..

 Finally, FINALLY, reaching tarmac again after far far too long on a dreadful dirt road. Admire, if you will, my fancy lemon yellow cycling trousers.

Meg is the bag lady on the bike, somewhere in Central Laos.

Crossing the Mekong (for the first of four crossings in a single day).

More pictures

 Three generations in front of Angkor Wat

 Bayon Temple (Angkor Thom). Wow.

 Dad and Meg taking their sightseeing seriously.

 Grandparents and grandkids

Same again....

pictures

This was when we left the main Route 13 in S. Laos and headed off towards Vietnam border.

 Reaching 2000km YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 The kids make friends in Laos..

Hanging out in the Plain of Jars

The Road That Nearly Killed Me ............. doesn't look too bad but ooh so long.....

Meg holds on tight to an orange (given to her by friendly Chinese child passing in 4wd). The old lady tried to extricate it but Meg was not having any of it.

First night out of Luang Prabang.

Hello Cambodia

Here we are in Cambodia, in a small Mekong town called Kratie. We arrived from Laos a couple of days ago, after a long hot dusty ride over the border. Met a couple of very friendly but corrupt officials who were after money for all sorts of ingenious things - exit stamp, money please; temperature check for health reasons, money please; entrance stamp, money please. Luckily we were almost completely out of funds (Mike's rather blase confidence that there would be bank facilities at the border having proven unfounded) and were thus genuinely unable to pay most of these.

Our initial impressions of Cambodia are very favourable - it is perhaps very slightly greener than southern Laos, but still parched. The people are very friendly and continue to take a great interest in the children.  The landscape through which we cycled at first was very remote with rather frightening land mine signs placed frequently along the road to deter you from heading into the bush, but the towns are lively, with great markets and more to look at than in Laos.

We are spending a few days exploring the Mekong and then heading for Phnom Penh to meet Mum and Dad. All are very excited!