Trip to Cambodia Feb 09

[WujouMao]

After being laid off from work last year, i made the right choice to escape the bloody cold weather of UK and stay in Asia for 5 months.

I arrived into Aranyan Prathet/poipet after a long journey from Malaysia to Bangkok Mochit.

Then it was another hour drive to Sisophon.
this is what greeted me in the morning. At least the trains don't run anymore.




the local way to catch insects during the night.


Sisophon's very own bamboo train. more of a trolley really. i would find a better model later on


Next stop, Bantaey Chhmar. some Angkor styled temples a few hours north of Sisophon. This is Bantaey Top






2 sides of this tower have already collapsed


Bantaey Chhmar

[Gabriel]

Enjoyable pictures. Thank you!

[WujouMao]

i'll have to upload the rest later. photobucket is messing up. all my photos are now 100x40

[Wallalai]

Interesting pics, I wait for the rest.

[WujouMao]

Bantaey Chhmar is pretty much fallen down. some buildings are still standing. the main area inside the outer walls have all but been destroyed by looters. some of the outer walls display some fantastic carvings












some other temples on the east side feature the classic Angkor faces


walked around the village, looked at the simple life.


saw the local wildlife and even asked the locals in the area if the fields were free from mines


so you could say i was shitting myself when i found this stuck to a tree. FECK!!!


after that i went to Battambang, which i didnt find all that appealing. iv seen better looking french buildings in Laos. some intresting things were the countryside and the olde pepsi plant which hasn't been used since it was closed in the 60's








banana being dried

[phuketbound]

^Wicked pics. I never made it to Banteay Chram, but did go to Banteay Srei where the Ancient Female God of Shriva is? Did you get there?

There is a Landmine Museum on the way out there, did you get a chance to go? It is really worth it. Saddening that there are still so many landmines in Cambodia.

[WujouMao]

Banteay Srei is 23 miles north of Angkor. U think i paid it a vist 3 years ago. i can't be sure. As for Bantany Chhmar, thats in North west Cambodia. 63 km from Sisophon and 20km east of the Thai border.

u have many more pictures of my trip to Cambodia, but i'm having photobucket issues. i'v uploaded 70 pics and almost half are 100x40, even though i know for a fact they are all 800x533

[britmaveric]

Saw a few landmine signs myself - not a very nice feeling to have.

[WujouMao]

some temples around Batambang.







The Cambodian girl said it was a ghost from a cambodian fabel..

rode the bamboo train from Pursat to Romeas which took 2 days. think it was about 75km in all. [maybe less]


the bamboo train is just a flat bed with and engine. it doesnt move very fast, due to the likelyhood of meeting another 'norry' from the other direction


country side view from the bamboo train.






just how many more people can you fit on?




steady on lass


a vietnamese floating village on the Tonle sap








i sampled Beef and red ants in Pursat town. and deep fried spiders in Skoun just outside Phnom Penh.






i heard it tasted like chicken, like everything does, but it just tasted like something fried, like a grasshopper. gave me an infection in the back of my throat though, a green lump!


visited the capital, saw its hectic traffic and its bars, like you do then went to kep




i wanted to see Bokor hill sation, but its closed for 4 years while they upgrade the road and put a new casino up there. still, i went an saw a 6th century brick stupa in a cave. its in good nick too.



and the roof of the cave




took a long walk over the other side of the river, towards the muslim area. walked through 3 muslim villages little seen by foreigners who just use the main road to bike through


tossing shrimp

drying shrimp

i was knackered



took care to cross this, as i wasnt sure it would hold my weight

and saw the salt fields too

stayed the day in Takeo and took a ride up the canel, got windburn and saw another temple.


6:50 am




then i went to Kompon Thom to see the masons carving huge Buddhas




and saw some old ones carved into the rocks




the next day, my Moto driver told me about a village with temples in boats. i wanted to know more. i was the 1st tourist in these parts. its about 5 clicks out from Kompong Thom and i forgot what the village was called.


there are 3 temples in the ships, the newest one is still being built.






if the other 2 look colourful, then i'm sure this one will just as impressive


inside are beautiful coloured paintings.




these are the carved doors


and no cutting corners in this neck of the world. no hollow doors or cheap look-a-likes. these are solid wood for the doors and window shutters

[Repubblicano]

great pics, thx for posting

[sunsetter]

well done wjm, amazing pics, great thread

[natalie8]

Great pics! Thanks

[ron2mutt]

Super pictures. Thank-you for posting them.

[Mr Brown]

Big thanks 10/10 for that, I miss travelling Cambodia

[SiLeakHunt]

Looks like Bolton before it started getting run down

[Phuketrichard]

anyone heading to Siem rep. Make sure u go to the Angkor NIght show. I went 3 nights ago and it was one of the highlights of living in Cambodia.
view pics here Zenfolio | Richard Reitman Photography

I just came out via Osmach border crossing, ( south of Surin) 110 kms dirt road and glad it hadn't rained hard that ay!!

[meow]

"rode the bamboo train from Pursat to Romeas which took 2 days. think it was about 75km in all. [maybe less]"

Bloody hell you must of had a very sore arse after that! How often would it stop for breaks?

I am planning the exact same thing as you this winter after also being laid off work recently.

I don't have much savings so it looks like it will be back to the old teaching lark again!

Still, anything to get out of the UK, especially in winter !!

[Twocam]

Ah, brings back memories. Lived in Cambodia for a few years back in the 90s and loved it. Try to make as many trips back as possible. That bamboo train is a killer. The one in Battambang is a tourist trap but there are plenty of other places along the line you can catch one.

[WujouMao]

"rode the bamboo train from Pursat to Romeas which took 2 days. think it was about 75km in all. [maybe less]"

Bloody hell you must of had a very sore arse after that! How often would it stop for breaks?

I am planning the exact same thing as you this winter after also being laid off work recently.

I don't have much savings so it looks like it will be back to the old teaching lark again!

Still, anything to get out of the UK, especially in winter !!

yea mate, my arse was killing me and i was sitting on my rucksack with everything else piled around me. the only time there was a break was when there was another bamboo train coming the other way, but you really had to make sure you're the 1st one on again once you get going or you'll lose your seat. and foreigners take up more room. we're taller and long legged than the others. but it was all good fun. not a sole spoke english

[Rural Surin]

Lovely set Wujou. Cambodia has become one of my favourite places. Cheers.

[WujouMao]

i left Vietnam and spent a week or so in Cambodge. decided on doing a 3 day motorcycle trip with a driver to the outbacks of Kompong Thom and across the old angor road, route 66.

its the start of the rainy season, so who knows what this is like in 2 months time.




This is the elephant temple, near Phrea Khan.






visited more ruins in the area. Garuda is on this one.








Phrea Khan. the temple wasnt much to look at. its all blown up. bad thing is is that you're followed around with 2 girl guards who think you're gonna give them a tip afterwards.




saw this nice looking web in the rubble though


have no regard for their own culture.


stayed in this village, the baby's cried when they saw me. guess i really am ugly to them.


National Highway 66.


my Moto driver said if the river ahead in up waist height, we have to go back. but i guess he didnt want to go back either. He buggered his bike though, so i walked for 4 hours while he drained his bike of water


saw a flaoting spider??


and saw the bugger of a spider later one. sizewise, leg to leg its 5 inches long. i just hoped the spider wouldnt lunge onto me and kill me. thankfully it was more scared or me and shot up its web when i came near.


sideview..... jesus!


and the back, just look at those monsters!!

[WujouMao]

continued ahead on the old ankor road, NH 66. thankfully i decided to walk across instead.




had a rest stop in a town, met some giggly kids, who were shy at 1st.


Spean Ta Ong - Angkor bridge


Koh Ker temple complex.




archway of arches


some more spiders with curious web design


Cambodia has a Pyramid of its own. sadly you can't climb it as its collapsing




sorry mum. but its ok. it won't fall


you just gotta love those fig trees with the roots.


fire ants nest. i must say, it aint nice riding through the forest, and they land on you from above, and start biting you on the back of the neck,


And i know why those blasted fire ants hurt now.


Beng Meanla








these things littered the ground


on the road to Dom Dek. Altern 8 anybody?


Kompong Kdei Angkor Bridge. better nick than the other one, and all 4 corners are intact.


saw this customised truck


they have hippo's in this neck of the woods???


just what the hell was he doing.




wonder if chickens suffer from pins and needles too

[Marmite the Dog]

just what the hell was he doing.

By the looks of it, he was driving like an Asian.

[EmperorTud]

He probably swerved to avoid a hippo.

[Frankenstein]

Saw a few landmine signs myself - not a very nice feeling to have.

Much better than the feeling of your scrotum exploding into tiny fragments and raining down all over the countryside.