Well,
since August 3rd were are now in Thailand. Time to update
our blog !
We
already told you about the brutal slash-and-burn policy. Day for day
we cycled along these spaces. It is really sad. This was the reason
why we enjoyed the elephant valley project so much. The forest in the
area of Sen Monorom was destroyed, too, but it had time to grow. The
elephants now live in their natural area, looking for food, taking a
bath in the river. Amazing!
We
wanted to cycle from Kratie to Phnom Phen, but on the bus trip to the
elephant valley I got an bad inflammtaion of my ears with high
temperature for days. I had to take antibiotics so it made no sense
to sit on a bike. Kratie is the provincial capital, small, dirty,
some temples and less restaurants.It was raining every day,
sometimes for hours and we spent most of our time in the small hotel
room. The atmosphere was like in a prison. The evening before when we
wanted to start to Phnom Phen by bus, we met Michael and Kavita from
Germany. They run a small resort on an island in Cambodia and it was
their first holiday for the last 5 years. They have a VW bus and they
invited us to join them on the way to the capital. Yeah , no reason
to hesitate ! Knowing, that our bikes will have a safe transport and
I won´t have to sit in a bloody bus with too less space for my legs
made us really happy ! We had a funny trip to P.P. , and Kavita and
Michael are very nice people. We stayed in the same hotel and had two
good days.
As
you know, in the 70ies of the last century the „Khmer Rouge“ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge) (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rote_Khmer) with
their chief Pol Pot terrorized the country. between 1.5 to 2 million people were
tortured and killed. You can visit „S21“, the torture prison
and the „killing fields“ , but we decided not do this. We know
from Kavita, that it will makes you so depressive.
it is the national
proud of Cambodia. Even on the flag there is a part of the temple.
There are
roughly 3Million visitors per year, but we had good luck, it is low
season and no problems with too many visitors. We took our bikes for
doing sight-seeing. The area is so large, one day we did 40 km, then
20 km and 15km during our 3-day-ticket.
The ruins
are very interesting. They tell so many stories about wars, daemons,
heroes, living of the farmers, they are written in sandstone. Angkor Wat is
only one of all the temples but the absolutley holy place..... It was
built in 1100 A.D. It was built as a Hindu temple, but later adapted
to Buddhism.
Ta Phrom
is one of these temples which has only a small maintenance. The jungle takes the temple back. Roots are growing into the stones and
break them. This fascinating atmosphere was used in the movies
„Indiana Jones“ and „Tomb Raider“. The
German GIZ and the University of Cologne are helping to restore the
stones.
Angkor
Thom is the temple with big faces, looking to the jungle. Expressive
faces, silently monitoring the surroundings.
The
Ta Nai temple was very beautiful, too. In a short documentary we got
information about the
restoration.
There were no other tourists, except two travellers from Austria. A
tropical rain started and made the enchanted atmosphere perfectly.
Three
days seeing stones... well, honestly in one of my dreams during the
night, I lived in a ruined castle, all around me only stones. No joke
! :-)
Another
highlight for me was to visit my second godchild in the SOS
Children´s Village (http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/where-we-help/asia/cambodia/angkor-siem-reap) in Siem Reap. Dun is 6 years old and lives with
his brother and his sister in a nice family. We bought a soccer ball,
Nutella and some apples. As in Bishkek/Kyrgyzstan, this village is
well-organised and the children have a good life there.
We
went by boat to Battambang. First we crossed the Lake Tonle Sap, the
largest in South-East-Asia. He has many fishes and it is caused by an
amazing effect. The lake has only one drain, which leads to the river
Mekong. In dry season the river flows into the Mekong. During rainy
season, the lake has so many inflows from the Mekong and other rivers
or creeks.
People
living there built floating villages. swimming houses, markets and
instead of motobikes, boats.
When
we entered the boat we had been the only passengers. An hour later
and on the river there were more and more people coming onto the
boat. Totally overcrowded. Astrid spent the trip on the roof, ignoring the heavy rain. I spent the time in a narrow seat, too small
for my long legs.
The last
highlight in Cambodia was the „bambootrain“, the only railtrack
in the country. There is no more official use, but some sections are
opened for tourists. Small bamboo platforms with a little engine ,
highspeed 30km/h. So funny ! There is only one track, so if there is oncoming traffic, one train is demount, the other can pass, and
then the plattform with wheels back on the track.
The last
kilometer we cycled to the border. When we looked for a place to
sleep, we always searched for a bamboo hut or even a guesthouse.
There are still many landmines close to the road and many
times there was heavy rain.
Unfortunetly
Cambodia is very dirty. There is no apprehension for trash management. And
poverty is no excuse for throwing all the garbage into the landscape.
Food on the road was hard to find. Only cookies and chips. Better
food only in the supermarkets in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.
Cambodia
was a great experience, too. Poor, but very friendly and loughing
people, despite the horrible history. I will come back, but I do
not know, when.
We
crossed the border to Thailand, and it began to be so different ! But
this in our next blog.
Mekong bicycle trail, with signs !
slash and burn. what a shame !
one-room apartment.
no pyjama ! funny fashion, which many women wear :-)
limbs and prosthesis in Siem Reap
Bamboo Train
very friendly people at the Bamboo Train Station
a little bit of rain ;-)
Giom and Felix, we met them in Bishkek, now in Siem Reap. so great !
boat to Battambang. overcrowded
they remove landmines
our house for one night, protecting us from heavy rain.
still alive, but they sold it fried ! we did not tast it !!!
