It was a hard goodbye from Bangkok but at the same time it was good to get out of that urban roller coaster for a while... so after an hour and a half we finally landed in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The country is so flat, there are really few hills scattered around the whole country but there is a huge river though.
We got to know the little town a bit and get comfortable in our hotel preparing for the next day's big thing, visiting Angkor Wat, the famous World Heritage Site Khmer style temple complex.
Indeed it is a wonder of mankind arquitechture since it was all carved in stone and it was a lot of carving done because after Angor Wat, which is around a couple of square km's big we went to Angkor Tom which is another complex of temples which covers an area around 3 times the size of that of Angkor Wat.
It really is a treasure of the human artistic and arquitechtural engineering.
Too many tourists though, it would probably had a more "mystical" vibe to the place if there weren't so many tourists.
And that's where I get to the point about the socio-economic situation of the country.
After the Khmer Rouge, the revolution that spilled a lot of blood in Cambodia in the 70's the place was left in ruins and all the educated people, journalists, doctors, writers, historians and so on were all tortured and killed leaving the country with majorly the poor and uneducated ones to clean up the mess... so sad.
I payed a respectful visit to the Killing Fields, which were exactly what the name says, extermination camps with multiple shallow graves where tens of thousands were executed mercilessly and also to the Genocide Memorial which was a school used by the regime as a centre of torture and execution of those who posed a threat to it in anyway.... really a bad vibe there...
The country is indeed very poor and in a lot of need of investment, training and education of its people but the good thing in all of this is that even after all the tragedy they have been through they all have smiles in their faces and are happy to help you with any information to get you where you want to go.
A lotta love Cambodia!!!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Thailand
We arrived in Phuket, Thailand and the difference between that and Japan was shocking!!!
It was sooo damn hot, the traffic was insane (in an outlaw sort of way) and the women were wearing a lot less close... not to mention language and culture obviously.
We took a boat to Phi Phi Islands in the morning and it was just a paradise, crystal clear water, those huge rocks right in the middle of the water, white sand, ahh.... just perfect!!!
We went for a day trip in a small boat with some other 6 or so tourist around the small Islands around the area including the one in the movie The Beach.
The snorkeling was sooo cool, there are so many varieties of fish and coral reefs and sea animals in there and the water is so cool and clear, the sun burning my skin as I swam and dived around the place.... I missed that so much, last time I went inside the water was around 3 years ago in Brazil.... long time...
The Beach itself wasn't as great as it looked in the movie, I preferred other spots, but still was a beauty of nature for sure!!!
And, as all unexpected things that do happen and, perhaps, should happen in a decent trip to exotic places, our boat wouldn't start so we had to be towed by another one very slowly and enjoying the sunrise all the way back to Phi Phi Don... lovely.
Than after a descent hand picked grilled lobster at one of the local restaurants we went for a night at the local stadium to watch some Muay Thai matches (thai boxing for those who don't know) and maaan.... those kids and men fought really hard but gracefully at the same time.
The crowed was yelling with the blows and knock downs, it was a hell of a night!!!
the other day we just walked and shopped around the island and in the afternoon went back to Phuket to catch our flight to Bangkok.
Now let me tell you something... Bangkok is the practical definition of the word "intense"!!!
There are so many people there, so many buildings, cars, bikes, tuk tuk's (a mix of bike with chariot) that for the more layed down it may be a hard time trying to understand what the hell is going on... I just loved it!!!
The people are beautiful, the Buddhist temples and shrines are so many and so beautiful!!!!
The food is excellent and cheap and you can find pretty much anything you want in there and when I say anything I mean ANYTHING!!!
That's what Bangkok's about and I loved it!!!
I even ate a local delicatessen, roasted grasshoppers and maggots, which I actually liked a lot and will definitely have some again with beer. That was right before the countdown for the New Year which was downtown and with literally millions of people in the streets to watch the fireworks and so on... I will definitely come back to Thailand, love at firs site!!!
It was sooo damn hot, the traffic was insane (in an outlaw sort of way) and the women were wearing a lot less close... not to mention language and culture obviously.
We took a boat to Phi Phi Islands in the morning and it was just a paradise, crystal clear water, those huge rocks right in the middle of the water, white sand, ahh.... just perfect!!!
We went for a day trip in a small boat with some other 6 or so tourist around the small Islands around the area including the one in the movie The Beach.
The snorkeling was sooo cool, there are so many varieties of fish and coral reefs and sea animals in there and the water is so cool and clear, the sun burning my skin as I swam and dived around the place.... I missed that so much, last time I went inside the water was around 3 years ago in Brazil.... long time...
The Beach itself wasn't as great as it looked in the movie, I preferred other spots, but still was a beauty of nature for sure!!!
And, as all unexpected things that do happen and, perhaps, should happen in a decent trip to exotic places, our boat wouldn't start so we had to be towed by another one very slowly and enjoying the sunrise all the way back to Phi Phi Don... lovely.
Than after a descent hand picked grilled lobster at one of the local restaurants we went for a night at the local stadium to watch some Muay Thai matches (thai boxing for those who don't know) and maaan.... those kids and men fought really hard but gracefully at the same time.
The crowed was yelling with the blows and knock downs, it was a hell of a night!!!
the other day we just walked and shopped around the island and in the afternoon went back to Phuket to catch our flight to Bangkok.
Now let me tell you something... Bangkok is the practical definition of the word "intense"!!!
There are so many people there, so many buildings, cars, bikes, tuk tuk's (a mix of bike with chariot) that for the more layed down it may be a hard time trying to understand what the hell is going on... I just loved it!!!
The people are beautiful, the Buddhist temples and shrines are so many and so beautiful!!!!
The food is excellent and cheap and you can find pretty much anything you want in there and when I say anything I mean ANYTHING!!!
That's what Bangkok's about and I loved it!!!
I even ate a local delicatessen, roasted grasshoppers and maggots, which I actually liked a lot and will definitely have some again with beer. That was right before the countdown for the New Year which was downtown and with literally millions of people in the streets to watch the fireworks and so on... I will definitely come back to Thailand, love at firs site!!!
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