February 21st - Day 15 - Siem Reap

I'm posting this early in the morning as I've just received a comment from Fred & Ernie Nelan's daughter, Nina.

I just wanted to say, you guessed correctly which route Fred took yesterday! Bob Howells was close to them for some of the route and took some really great photos of them trying to get that massive GM Avalanche of theirs, through the very narrow track. It included winching tree trunks out of the way!

Nina's comment can be read by clicking on the Comment link at the end of yesterday's posting.

Well here goes with a few photos taken yesterday on the 'jungle' route by Jim Carr.

Traffic jam!!

One of the hazards.

John Brown taking photos of Felicity Devonshire heading down into a river bed.

I'll post Bob Howell's photos later.

The hotel has the most wonderful swimming pool. It must be that largest one I have ever seen.

After our brief visit to Angkor Wat yesterday evening to see the sunset, this morning we decided to use John Brown’s route through the temple complex in our road book. As well as the route, John showed us the best places to go to and also gave a fairly detailed description of each temple. This made the whole exercise of trying to explore this large area of buildings so much easier.

Our first stop was at Angkor Wat. It is truly one of the wonders of the world. Built in the 12th century over a period of 35 years, it is difficult to convey how magnificent it is. The moat they excavated around it is nearly 200 yards wide and is over 5 kms in length! You walk over a causeway to the entrance and once through the entrance buildings you see the immensity of the temple site and it is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.

We walked to the central temple and took dozens of photos. Below are some of them.



It was becoming a very hot day with the temperature above 30 Celsius. We decided to move on to the next huge temple, Angkor Thom. As it was no so hot we just drove around the temple taking photos.



We then drove to one of the truly wonderful sites, the temple of Ta Prohm. This temple is a semi ruin, and even though some restoration work is being carried out, the intention is to leave a large part as a ruin. The site is famous for the enormous trees that appear to grow out of the temple buildings.



Unbelievably large roots cling to the sides of the buildings like giant octopus tentacles.



Many of the building are being destroyed by the trees, but the way they are taking over the temple is what makes Ta Prohm so special.

The drive took us past a lot more temples, some hidden in the forest and others by the side of the road. The whole trip of 40 kms was a memorable experience and one I would definitely recommend.

Now for an update about one of the participants. The good news is that Gerald Haigh and his new co-driver, who has taken over from his wife Jane, has finally caught up with us after all the problems he had with car paperwork at the Thai/Cambodian border. They will travel as passengers tomorrow until we cross back into Thailand tomorrow afternoon, where they will pick up their car at our hotel in Korat. At least he will be able to enjoy the next two weeks of the trip. At one point we wondered if he would have to abandon the tour.

So, in the morning we will be leaving early to cross the border into Thailand. I think I speak for many of the group when I say how much we have enjoyed Cambodia. It is a poor country that has suffered so much. The people are universally friendly and maybe sometime in the future we will return to enjoy their hospitality once again.