Sunday, January 15th:
Most of the group chose to do the 5:00am option of seeing Angkor
Wat at sunrise. 1E did a lot of wheelchair pushing to get
Remy in position to see the sun come over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately
there were too many clouds to see the sun, so it wasn't impressive.
I'm not sure what day, but I bought some
Postcards of the shrines and one of them has the morning sunrise over the
temple. It looks pretty on the card.
1E gave us plenty of history and explanation of the temple.
We picked up several other members in the slow walkers group.
There was one very long wall with complicated carvings that I think
represented the history of the area with the wars, etc.
At end of the tour, 1E told us the story of his family's
experience during the Khmer Rouge civil war. How his mother
and father were separated. His mother was sent to plant rice, whereas
his father fished. He survived by sucking on the juice of banana
tree cuttings. His mother was accused of stealing rice to feed him
and was due to be killed when another woman pointed out how thin
he was and couldn't have been eating stolen rice, so his life was
spared.
We returned to the Sofitel Hotel for breakfast. On the way back
to the room we ran into a woman turning Lotus buds into amazing
decorations. She gave Remy one that she said would last for 3 to
4 days in water. Remy insisted on trying to preserve it by drying
it out. Eventually I threw it out on the boat.
Remy took a nap, whereas I hit the pool for an hour or so, then
I walked around the hotel getting some pictures of the statues and
plants around.
The four of us took a Tut Tut (cart behind a motor cycle)
heading to the guide's recommended mall,
but the driver had some other ideas. First he brought us to a high
end art gallery/store. The Buddhas and other statues there were
amazing, but not what I was in the market for. The silks they were
trying to sell Remy were out of her league also. Next he took us to
a more tourist type shop and I bought a couple shirts, while
Remy got some more scarfs and magnets. I'm not sure what Gail and
Pinky bought, but we didn't need to go to the outlet after that.
Monday, January 16th:
We had to have our luggage outside our rooms at 7:00 am, then
headed for breakfast, etc. About 9:30 we boarded a bus to
Prek Kdam on the Tonle SAP for the cruise ship part of the adventure.
We submitted our orders earlier in the week, so that we had a stop
where our preferred sandwich was provided after about a 2 hour drive.
I tried to take some photos along the way, but my settings must
not have been right for moving in a vehicle. I did have a few
come out ok.
We stopped again after an hour or so to stretch. At this stop we
were able to see what our guide was referring to as the KFC of
Cambodia. I think he said it meant Kill Foods of Cambodia:
tarantulas, frogs, crickets, etc. for sale. Did I forget to
mention water bugs, scorpions, grubs and quail eggs?
When we boarded the AmaDara we were welcomed with another
lunch, then at 5:30 a safety drill, and 7:30 dinner. While we
were making our way to Kampong Chhang I sneaked a few photos of
the happenings along the Tonle Sap
Tuesday, January 17th :
After breakfast we caught a local boat to the floating village of
Kampong Chhnang where we were to witness the everyday life of the
village of mostly fishermen on their boats and their homes floating
on the river. Apparently the local government for sanitary reasons
is making the residents who are mostly of Viet Nam origen move their
houses to the shore in return for citizenship. The river appears
to be inundated with water hyacinths, but the locals are processing
them into fuel and fertilizer. Not sure if I got the picture of the
floating catholic church which doubles as a school. I also tried
to catch an image of some farming and flower collecting on the
shore on the return trip. The guide says we can't call it the
Tonle SAP River, since the word Tonle means river, so it is the
SAP river.
We returned to the AmaDama for lunch and casted off for Koh Chen.
One of the guides gave a discussion of how weddings work in
Cambodia. He showed actual pictures from his wedding. Guys pay a
dowry to girls family in Cambodia, so it is a blessing to have a
baby girl.
He went into details of how the dowry is negotiated, etc.
A wedding is quite expensive there with their elaborate ceremonies.
He had 700 guests, but the gifts from the guests help to pay for the
ceremonies.
we docked alongside the small village of Koh Chen (Chinese Island).
We did a walking tour of Koh Chen noted for its copper and silver
craftsmen. First we stopped at a shop where they demonstrated
making of silver items. They combine tree gum, sand and fish oil
to form the mold which keeps the proper form while it is engraved.
Remy stayed behind with the promise I should buy her something silver
so I bought her some "real" silver ear rings for $10. Part of the
demonstration was how to make silver coated tourist junk.
We passed by some temple displays and ended up in a children's
school where we joined a 4th grade class of 42 kids. They sang a
song, and asked us to sing a song. I'm not sure who picked it, but
we all sang "If you are happy and you know it".
On way back we stopped at a shop where a young a girl was working
on an elaborate bronze chandelier. The shop owner brought us a picture
of what the final product will look like. Apparently it was commissioned
by a government official for his new house. The cost of materials
alone is around $6000 US. He estimated that 4 people are working
on it for 3 weeks.
Wednesday, January 18th :
Tour of Oudong. A half hour bus ride brought us to the Vipassana
Dhura Monastry. Remy had her wheel chair, but wasn't planning to
climb the stairs to get the Buddhist Monk blessings. The group
continued up the steps and she made her way to the exit side.
Somehow our tour guide, Thanh, convinced her it was worth the effort.
He helped Remy up the side steps to be there for the blessing
ceremony. The blessing finished with the monk throwing some
Jasmine buds at us.
We then we did the alms offering where several of the monks
who live there walked along the rows of tourist, and we each gave
them a spoonful of rice for their lunch. We completed the tour
by viewing some of the other structures at the complex.
I think most everyone in our group did the oxcart ride
through the town of Kampong Tralach. There wasn't that much to the
ride except our guide said it would make us familiar with the
typical transportation
means in the country. We took a short Tuk-tuk ride to
independence monument and sihanouk statue. We passed by
the royal palace and night market on the way back.
That evening we had a special Khmer dancers performance of
social dances, white monkey, and mermaid. They were wearing silk
because that is a requirement for performing for the royalty.
The coconut dance is normally done for New Year celebrations,
and they have their version of a harvest dance as well as a
dance with the bamboo poles similar to the one the Filipinos
do.
Thursday, January 19th :
First we went to the killing fields where we saw the mass grave
sites. A building there housed the skulls of many of the
victims that have been uncovered from the mass grave. We were
told that just four persons did all the killings at this site,
killing about 15 persons per day. The Khmer Rouge in all
killed about 2 mm of the 7 mm inhabitants of Cambodia.
Then we went to the S-21 detention center where people were
tortured into confessing where the rest of their family were
hiding so that they could be killed also. We could see the
rooms where they were kept and some of the methods used to torture.
We met one of the four survivors of the camp,
Mr. Chum Mey. He
was selling his recently published book. The walls of the building
included pictures of the victims. They documented the events there
in pretty good detail because they had to file reports to the
Party Officials on how
many people had been interrogated, etc.
