Day 6: Farewell Cambodia, Good Evening Vietnam
A brief note: Found out our guide's name is spelled Ly, not Lee. So don't be confused by the reference to Ly in this report.
We spent our last day in Cambodia visiting temples in the sky. If god lives on the mountain, then we certainly crashed his party. Today was the last day of Phchom Ben, a 2-week Buddhist festival in which people offer food to monks in order for it to be received by their ancestors. Because of this, we got to see the temples at their most crowded. Our first stop was Ek Phnom, a 12th century Hindu temple that sits directly behind a modern Buddhist temple. In the courtyard we tried something called pamelon which looks like a giant orange on the outside and a giant grapefruit on the inside. Eacata assured me that it was quite tasty.
Next was Phnom Banan, a temple that sits atop a 300-400 m mountain. To get there, you have to go up 359 steps. This is the stuff of my worst nightmares. I almost gave in halfway up, but Ly was kind enough to take my backpack from me and to give me the encouragement I needed to make it the rest of the way. The temple was, of course, beautiful the way only an untouched ruin surrounded by nature can be. I also met a nice man who was bringing his family there for the first time even though he's lived in Battambang all his life. He said that it's difficult living in this area since it was the site of the worst Khmer Rouge death camps. I can only imagine. The way down the steps was almost worst than going up. I want a new set of knees, thank you very much.
After leaving Phnom Banan, we stopped at a vineyard where we tasted a delicious rose and a brandy to die for. We also tried some freshly pressed grape juice. It's amazing how much better stuff tastes when it hasn't been processed and loaded with sugar.
Our final temple was Phnom Sampeou. The mountain has a series of caves in which the Khmer Rouge threw down the bodies of hundreds of murdered innocents. Many of the skulls and bones are still there. It's a solemn, depressing, terrifying place, but the people have turned it into a place where the dead can be remembered. After leaving the caves, we continued on to several more temples, including one that looks like it's covered in gold. Clever yellow paint is clever.
Our last activity on Phnom Sampeou was to try some local delicacies. We ate some kantouch fruit that is extremely bitter and makes your mouth water, keeping it moist. I didn't think it was that bad so after the initial shock, the moistening effects wore off. I did not, however, try the dead chicken fetus still in its shell. Eacata thought it was very good, so I'll leave the description for her to relate. I did take video of our guide cracking into it. So...yeah.
The pleasant surprise of the day came in the form of a baboon troupe that was hanging around I suppose to steal food from the worshippers. I was very glad to see them. Coming all the way to Cambodia and not seeing any monkeys would have been very disappointing.
We then said goodbye to Battambang and headed back to Siem Reap by car, which is only a 2 1/2 hour trip. There we ate our last Cambodian meal in style at a 5-star restaurant called Nest. It did not disappoint. I got my last fix of Amok fish, and we had a delicious dessert of water chestnuts, coconut, and mint over ice. Yum! While we ate, we completed a trip evaluation form, in which we couldn't find enough good things to say about Ly and Cambodia.
A tearful farewell at the airport saw us on our way to Banking, Vietnam for the second half of our trip.
Hanoi is a city in the most crazy, sprawling, population of 6 million people sense of the word. Even so, the flavor of Southeast Asia is strong with a noticeable plethora of motorbike and bicycles competing for road space with cars and a somewhat lackadasical attitude towards traffic signals. This year is the 1000 anniversary of the city, so the streets were thronged with merry makers, although our guide Dan assured us that the number of people walking around is normal. I don't even feel this clustrophobic in midtown Manhattan. Walking around will be...interesting. Because tourism isn't the end all be all like in Siem Reap, I might have to make quite a bit of use of the phrasebook I picked up. Time will tell.
We spent our last day in Cambodia visiting temples in the sky. If god lives on the mountain, then we certainly crashed his party. Today was the last day of Phchom Ben, a 2-week Buddhist festival in which people offer food to monks in order for it to be received by their ancestors. Because of this, we got to see the temples at their most crowded. Our first stop was Ek Phnom, a 12th century Hindu temple that sits directly behind a modern Buddhist temple. In the courtyard we tried something called pamelon which looks like a giant orange on the outside and a giant grapefruit on the inside. Eacata assured me that it was quite tasty.
Next was Phnom Banan, a temple that sits atop a 300-400 m mountain. To get there, you have to go up 359 steps. This is the stuff of my worst nightmares. I almost gave in halfway up, but Ly was kind enough to take my backpack from me and to give me the encouragement I needed to make it the rest of the way. The temple was, of course, beautiful the way only an untouched ruin surrounded by nature can be. I also met a nice man who was bringing his family there for the first time even though he's lived in Battambang all his life. He said that it's difficult living in this area since it was the site of the worst Khmer Rouge death camps. I can only imagine. The way down the steps was almost worst than going up. I want a new set of knees, thank you very much.
After leaving Phnom Banan, we stopped at a vineyard where we tasted a delicious rose and a brandy to die for. We also tried some freshly pressed grape juice. It's amazing how much better stuff tastes when it hasn't been processed and loaded with sugar.
Our final temple was Phnom Sampeou. The mountain has a series of caves in which the Khmer Rouge threw down the bodies of hundreds of murdered innocents. Many of the skulls and bones are still there. It's a solemn, depressing, terrifying place, but the people have turned it into a place where the dead can be remembered. After leaving the caves, we continued on to several more temples, including one that looks like it's covered in gold. Clever yellow paint is clever.
Our last activity on Phnom Sampeou was to try some local delicacies. We ate some kantouch fruit that is extremely bitter and makes your mouth water, keeping it moist. I didn't think it was that bad so after the initial shock, the moistening effects wore off. I did not, however, try the dead chicken fetus still in its shell. Eacata thought it was very good, so I'll leave the description for her to relate. I did take video of our guide cracking into it. So...yeah.
The pleasant surprise of the day came in the form of a baboon troupe that was hanging around I suppose to steal food from the worshippers. I was very glad to see them. Coming all the way to Cambodia and not seeing any monkeys would have been very disappointing.
We then said goodbye to Battambang and headed back to Siem Reap by car, which is only a 2 1/2 hour trip. There we ate our last Cambodian meal in style at a 5-star restaurant called Nest. It did not disappoint. I got my last fix of Amok fish, and we had a delicious dessert of water chestnuts, coconut, and mint over ice. Yum! While we ate, we completed a trip evaluation form, in which we couldn't find enough good things to say about Ly and Cambodia.
A tearful farewell at the airport saw us on our way to Banking, Vietnam for the second half of our trip.
Hanoi is a city in the most crazy, sprawling, population of 6 million people sense of the word. Even so, the flavor of Southeast Asia is strong with a noticeable plethora of motorbike and bicycles competing for road space with cars and a somewhat lackadasical attitude towards traffic signals. This year is the 1000 anniversary of the city, so the streets were thronged with merry makers, although our guide Dan assured us that the number of people walking around is normal. I don't even feel this clustrophobic in midtown Manhattan. Walking around will be...interesting. Because tourism isn't the end all be all like in Siem Reap, I might have to make quite a bit of use of the phrasebook I picked up. Time will tell.