The pool at our hotel in Phnom Penh - it was sooo cold!!
In the 14th century, Lady Penh found a Buddha inside a tree in the river and had a temple built on this hill to put it in.
It was Buddha day so people were throwing raw eggs at the statues and hanging meat as an offering.
People worshipping
Vegas style - lots of neon lights!
A row of statues and a stina...
A lady was having her fortune read to the right of this statue. She put a piece of wood into a book and luckily for her the page was a good fortune!
A stupa holding either the bones or ashes of a king.
A huge clock on the hill that works and lights up at night.
The elephant is wearing special shoes to protect her feet. She gives rides at the temple on the hill everyday.
There were lots of party posters and sign posts.
Behind the car is a cart loaded with mini bananas!
The streets were crazy!
The public entrance way to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh
Feed me!
The throne room of the Royal Palace. The King had his coronation here.
Although this looks like Brahma, the Hindu God, this is actually Buddhist
The place where the King addresses the public on special days.
The King's residence - he wasn't home when we visited.
The offices of the palace. The French looking building was donated by Napoleon III. It is now an art gallery.
Monks!
This mural is only just over 100 years old, but looks a lot older.
A King's stupa
The Silver Pagoda and library housing the book of the Buddha.
The Silver Pagoda is so called because the floor is tiled with silver tiles! It houses a Buddha that is adorned with diamonds.
The first king appointed by France in the late 1800s.
There were monks in the library reading the book?!
A mini replica of Angkor Wat.
Some musicians playing in worship.
What are those golden elephants doing?
Seats to put on top of elephants.
Which one is the elephant?
An example of a Cambodian house. It was very small and basic.
The bedroom
The outside...houses are on stilts because of the floods!
Decorations for a ceremonial parade.
A replica of the procession for the latest King's coronation.
There he is!
The monument housing hundreds of skulls of people of all ages at the Genocide Centre. It is estimated that 17,000 people of all ages were killed by the Khmer Rouge here.
The independence monument (Independence from France)
The National Museum - a beautiful building
Hindu Linga and Yoni - the top is Shiva, the middle is Vishnu and the bottom is Brahma. The base is the yoni, the source of life. Yup, it's exactly what it looks like...
It's not real!
One of the avatars of Vishnu
Dan's favourite
Statues found in the temples around Angkor Wat
Our hotel - Phnom Penh.
And again...
Stina has just been for a swim to cool off after a day of sightseeing!
Angkor Beer at a Khmer restaurant
The strange wooden thrones we had to sit on at the restaurant
Dan's very pleased with the beer...
He likes the food too :)
Our flags are next to each other on the river bank
Poorer Cambodian people come here to have a holiday. There are lots of hammocks in these huts where they rest. The black inner tubes are for swimming.
They wash their clothes in the lake, which isn't so clean
They fish for food. This lake was manmade and it is ENORMOUS. It is one of two, but the other one dried up long ago.
The children also swim in this lake, which looks like a bit of a health hazard.
Litter!
Sukiyaki - a soup that is cooked infront of you. It looks strange, but was actually delicious.
The Angkor Artisans. People from 18-25 are chosen to be apprentices here carving stone and wood. It has been funded by various organisations including the EU.
The Cambodian Cultural Village. A place where you can watch a series of performances that give you an idea of Cambodian culture.
A Khmer wedding ceremony (not real!).
Chinese dancers
These lion dancers were the best part of the Chinese show
Peacock dancers. These girls were very flexible.
Told you!
A peacock?
Look who's hiding!
Choosing a fiance ceremony (not real!). This seemed more like a comedy than a replica of the real thing!
A suitor
A random guy from the audience was chosen to be the fiance in the end.
We guessed that this was the wedding ceremony
A replica of the Central Market in Phnom Penh.
A replica of the Wat Phnom - the temple on the hill in Phnom Penh
A replica of the Royal Palace
A replica of the National Museum in Phnom Penh.
A replica of the Independence Monument
A replica of the reclining Buddha at the Bayon temple. The actual thing is under restoration at the moment.
AArrggggg - help!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No...it's Dan pretending to be Superman!
The Empress Angkor hotel - our hotel in Siem Reap
Dinner was here...what you can't see is how the inside looked like a school cafeteria!
One of the gates to Angkor Wat
Our first view of Angkor Wat - this is the back
A bas-relief
Our guide!
The Churning of the Sea of Milk
Lots of climbing!!
There is a lot of restoration being done all of the time to maintain the temple
We couldn't go up here - it used to be open to the public but it is becoming too dangerous now
Apsaras
One of the pools that contained holy water. There were four of these around a courtyard.
Angkor Wat from the front
A library - one of two on either side of the causeway leading to Angkor Wat. They are empty now of course!
The main gateway - an imposing structure itself
The causeway with Angkor Wat at the end
stina at the gate!
The causeway is cracking
Inside one of the towers of the crumbling Lolei temple
You can see that the tower on the right has crumbled away
A Cambodian house on stilts to avoid it flooding in the rainy season
Preah Ko, like Lolei is also crumbling
The Linga is missing
stina being sniffed by a stone bull!
The Bakong temple had a beautiful causeway with flowers on either side
Cows were grazing next to the causeway - these cows were significantly fatter than ones we had seen by the roads
It was a big climb to the top - the steps were really big, which made it difficult to climb up and down.
An elephant without a trunk
Street vendors selling all kinds of things including gas (petrol)! See the yellow bottles?
This buffet restaurant was great for lunch!
The pool at our hotel in Siem Reap. We spent a few lazy afternoons here cooling off!
Pre Rup temple at sunset. We climbed up to the top and watched the sunset over the forest.
The towers turned golden as the sun began to set
Ummmhh - whose feet?
Spot stina!
Dan enjoying a rest after a hard climb to the top!
Too much sun does strange things to people...
The south gate of Angkor Thom - the statues on either side of the causeway tell the story of the churning of the sea of milk. This is the demons...
This is the Gods
Four faces, but not Brahma the four faced Hindu God. This one is Buddhist.
3 elephant heads
The temple Bayon with apparently 37 of its original 54 towers still in tact.
More stairs to climb!
Inside one of the towers looking up!
We jumped infront of a massive group of Chinese tourists to get this picture!
It's like a giant stone jigsaw that needs putting back together
Baphoun temple, of which only a little bit can be entered because it is under going reconstruction. This is where the original reclining Buddha can be found
The old palace wall with a tree growing on top. There is nothing left of the palace now apart from the Elephant and Leper King Terraces
Baphoun
Someone turned a cowpat into an offering?
One of the gates to the old palace
The gate to Baphoun...someone's sleepy!
The Elephant Terrace so called because of the elephant detail on the walls. The King would mount his elephant here
Stina blocked the middle elephant trunk!
One of twelve towers near the Elephant and Leper King Terraces. People were sleeping in the doorways to shade from the sun!
A gekko, but we weren't sure whether it was dead or alive!
The main platform where the king watched the ceremonies
The Terrace of the Leper King
Stina unsuccessfully trying to be part of the bas-relief!
Bayon from a different angle
Another trip to Angkor Wat - this time without our guide. We wanted to see the sunset there on our free afternoon.
That is a terrible face, but those Cambodian silk trousers are super cool!
The classic Angkor Wat picture!
This time we walked around all of the bas-reliefs following the guide book, so that we could identify the points of interest.
Look how big the temple is in comparison to stina!
A monk contemplating the eight-fold path?
The sun left golden shadows in the courtyard as it began to set
Once again it was a hot day and the sun went to somebodys head...
Hooping infront of an amazing backdrop!
Check out the little boy sitting down behind. He was very intrigued!
Those trousers are just too cool!
Hooping over...it's time to get ready for sunset
But oh no...clouds came in :(
There was no glorious sunset this time, but the temple looked very eerie as it got darker and the lights came on to illuminate the bas-reliefs in the galleries
This is the back of Angkor Wat again. It was so eerie back here because there wasn't another person in sight and the sounds from the surrounding forest were very loud!
The childrens hospital set up by a Swiss doctor. Children can come here for free treatment, but have to wait outside until their number is called. Many leave at 4am to travel into Siem Reap to try and get a number to be seen that day. There is always a huge crowd of children outside
More Cambodian homes
Banteay Srei is a miniture temple with lots of carvings still in tact. It is the womens temple, but no women helped to build it! Unlike many of the other temples, this one wasn't built by the king, it was built by his priest. This was Dan's 30th birthday!!
Look how small and dainty everything is! We were like monsters inside!
The hill we thought we were going to have to climb...
The beginning of our 30 minute hike up the mountain in the midday sun!
Nearly at the top. Who knows what Dan is pointing at?!
Steep! Sweat sweat sweat...
So close now
At the top are carvings of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. Some of the Khmer Rough lived up here until the late 1990s.
See Brahma? It's one of the few carvings or statues of him in the whole region
The water skating bugs! There were so many insects up here!
A local killing a wild chicken
The Khmer Rouge probably sheltered in here
Look at all the lingas!
Ribbit!
Dan was soooo sweaty!!
Lots of yellow butterflies!
So many butterflies
Holy light?!
This was the mountain that we climbed!
A mango orchard
It's difficult to see, but there is a cow crossing the road infront of the car
This pig is still alive, but it is being transported to market
Many of the men in this village were part of the Khmer Rouge, but turned away from it after the atrocities. Aid agencies showed the villagers how to make things out of natural resources to sell and the village is now prospering.
More fuel!
East Mebon; This temple was originally on an island in the middle of a huge manmade lake, which has now dried up.
The gate to Ta Som
Statues have been locked away to stop them being stolen or broken.
This is how it really looked - the first one was with the flash!
Another giant jigsaw that needs putting back together!
Trees are growing around the walls!
There were lots of gekkos on the wall at this restaurant.
Why is he staring at Dan?
Banteay Kdei temple
It was a long walk all of the way through
The wooded path to Ta Prohm
Ta Promh temple made famous by Tomb Raider
It is another temple that is constantly being restored
Trees are growing all over the walls in this temple because this was the one chosen by the French to leave to the jungle to see what would happen. The result is quite amazing...
A famous scene from Tomb Raider...apparently anyway!
A smiling face in the hole of the tree roots
It's starting to give under the weight
The roots look like long toes
Lots of pieces to put back together
Ta Keo...our last temple of the trip
The "very important mountains" are in the distance, but it's a hazy day
The climb and descent to the top of this temple was perilous!
The mulberry bushes used to feed the silk worms
Silk worms
The cocoon produced by the silk worm - the outside is used to make raw silk, which is rough and the inside is used to made the smooth silk
Worms in cocoons. Only 20% are left to turn into moths to continue the life cycle, the rest are killed before they turn into moths to preserve the cocoon to make silk. They eat the dead worms and apparently they taste like peanuts.
Worms making cocoons from saliva
Taking the silk from the cocoon
Weaving the silk
Our last night in Cambodia - the Apsara Dinner Dance Show
Beautiful dancers!
The Coconut Dance performed at weddings
The Apsara Ballet and the end of our trip.
