So we left Kampong Thom on July 17th to go to the province of Siem Reap: which roughly translates to Thai defeat (which the Thai are not too proud of from what I hear). Siem Reap contains many temples dating back to the 11th century AD. We stopped at a temple on the way to the city of Siem Reap just as it started raining. The temple was in utter disrepair due to bombing and general lack of upkeep. We saw a few bomb craters in the ground and blocks of stone piled into rubble. Many of the entrances were completely blocked: although the stone work made for some fun climbing opportunities to gain access to the temple. Trees literally stood atop the walls and libraries with their giant roots engulfing the stone to get into the ground. It was quite an amazing sight.
Other than the van we have been using to go from place to place; we seem to have bad luck with vehicles breaking down. The common denominator seems to be Andy. Pretty much every tuk-tuk (scooter pulling a rickshaw) he enters breaks down within 5 minutes. Our tour bus was no different. After coming out of the temple: the bus would not start. The Australians noticed that it was "beer o'clock" and that the bus was conveniently broken down in front of a little restaurant/shack that sold beer. Needless to say, we amused ourselves until the bus was fixed.
Stay tuned, more pictures are coming soon.
-Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment