2nd Visit To Angkor Wat Temples

Using the same tuk tuk driver we headed off to one of the furthest temples, Banteay Srei, 37 kilometres north of Siem Reap. The journey took 75 mins. Passing through many small villages at a sedate pace we could watch the villagers going about their daily tasks as everything is done outside........cooking, washing, children playing, and working out in the rice fields. On the way back we stopped at a butterfly centre for about an hour.

Back at the main complex area we visited several more temples, each one unique in its size, colour of sandstone and carvings, as they were built over several hundred years by different kings. 

Visit To Floating Village

After the experience with the village family, our guide asked if we would like to visit the floating village. It would cost $20 each for the boat to take us across a vast expanse of flooded forest to the village, plus of course a tip for them. The houses, shops and school are built on rafts which float up and down with the water level as it changes from the wet to the dry season.




The Classrooms



A Day In The Life Of..........

Another day, another tour. This time out into the country side to spend time in a village with one of the poorer families. To help them with some of their daily tasks and to see how they live from very little income. We were introduced to a mother and 3 children, her sister and children and her niece. The niece was one of the few children from the poorer families which are chosen for free education at a American sponsored school. The remaining children just get basic education at the local school. All the men were out in the fields working. We began with an ox cart ride pulled by 2 buffalo around the village. Back at their house which is constructed with palm leaves woven onto a pole which is then layered with others and encased in a bamboo frame to make the walls and roof. We were shown how to weave the bamboo leaves onto the pole using thin strips of bamboo cane with a metal point pushed onto the end as the needle and thread. For lunch we helped prepare the food and cook it over a log fire. The starter was soup, the main ingredient was fish mixed with celery, tamarind and other herbs. The second course was a typical Cambodian dish which included lemon grass, peanuts, garlic, chili, root from ginger family, salt, sugar and fermented fish paste which was at least 12 months old, To add extra protein they collected a red ants nest which hung in the mango trees, shook the ants into a bucket of water to kill them, scooped out and mixed with the other ingredients. This was then finely chopped into a coarse paste, pummelled and shaped into a flat cake about the size of  a thick slice of bread, and wrapped in a banana leave to be cooked by heating on a grill over the fire. This was eaten by scooping onto a piece of cucumber. I thought it was very good, but Janina could not put it into her mouth. For desert we had mixed fruit., Our guide also brought sandwiches if we could not eat their food

The Red Ants

Angkor Wat Temple Complex

Hired a tuk tuk....$15,  for the day to explore the Angkor Wat Temple Complex. For those who may not know about Angkor, I suggest you google it. For a 3 day pass we had to pay $40 each. We only visited the 3 main sections, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom, plus 3 smaller ones....This took 8 hours, a lot of walking and climbing, with only a short time out for lunch. You need a tuk tuk to take you around the temples as they are spread over a large area.