Tag: Siem Reap

From Siem Reap To Phnom Penh By Boat On The Tonlé Sap, 8 February 2001

The Day Did Not Start Well – Chaos On Departure From Seam Reap

My log entry for this trip leaves the reader in no doubt as to how I felt:

Rose unspeakably early to catch ferry boat to Phnom Penh. Ghastly boat – cramped and uncomfortable in every way. The journey takes five hours. Get off feeling giddy and odd. Met by guide Weng who takes us to hotel.

We went in one of these monstrosities
The pictures do not suggest that I was suffering quite as much as the words…

The full stack of pictures for this trip and our subsequent adventures in Cambodia can be found on Flickr by clicking here.

Just before we arrive at the Phnom Penh dock – even more chaotic than that at Seam Reap

Daisy’s main memory of this trip, apart from my deteriorating mood, is the chaos on arrival at Phnom Penh. We struggled to find our guide in the crowds. I insisted that we should find him to get help with our voluminous baggage, not least because the plank we had to walk to get off the boat was precarious to say the least – see the image at the top of the page, where said plank can be seen at the bottom of the photo.

Meanwhile, Daisy observed some of the locals stacking several bags on their heads to get them to dry land/relative safety and decided to emulate that method while I went off to find Weng. Or did Daisy “depend on the kindness of strangers” to help her with the baggage?

Neither of us can remember those details. Still, somehow, all of us and all of our baggage came out of the experience dry, united and in one piece.

We have a light lunch of soup full of stuff, then go off touring Phnom Penh…

…First stop, The National Museum, then back to the hotel to sort out problem over airline tickets. Then Monument Books for great cookbooks. Then Central Market (not so interesting). Then to Tuol Sleng Museum (harrowing).

No, not our hotel in Phnom Penh; harrowing scenes at the Tuol Sleng Holocaust Museum

…you wouldn’t catch us taking on such a crazy itinerary these days. Nor doing such a transfer by boat again…although there was a fairly recent incident in Nicaragua…

Nicaragua, Morgan’s Rock to Mukul, 16 February 2016

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, Touring Around Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm & Many Other Sites Around Siem Reap, Morning of 6 February 2001

This day was so very full of touring, I am going to publish two articles about the one day – a morning one and an afternoon/evening one.

Here’s the story of the morning. More of a picture story than a words story.

6 February 2001 – Ged set Khouch a target of 20 sites and we nearly made it. We entered Angkor Thom by the South Gate…

South Gate – not much like Southgate on the Piccadilly Line
Is that Cockfosters? No, it’s South Gate

…and then explored the Bayon and then on to Baphoun, which we can only observe from afar just now…

The Bayon and environs

Baphuon from afar

and then round the side of Baphoun, to walk-through entranceway to Phimeanakas, past one of the perennial musicians.

Then on to the Terrace of the Leper King and the Terrace of the Elephants.

Terrace Of the Elephants

We then left Angkor Thom through Victory Gate – took in Thommannon, Takeo and Ta Prom…

Thommannon

Ta Keo

Ta Prohm – and I thought Woodfield Avenue had tree root problems!

After that, it had to be lunch!

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, Touring Angkor Wat & Siem Reap, 5 February 2001

The thought of flying through the night, losing seven hours in the process and still getting up and touring hard the next day would be inconceivable for us now. But 25 years ago (as I write in early 2026) that is exactly what we did.

…then [we] go off to tour Angkor Wat.

Cover whole complex in a great deal of detail.

Dig the Naga features.

There’s nothing like tits and bums sculptures to up the visitor rate at a site like Angkor Wat – in the same way, such photos up the click rate on a web site like Ogblog

Up and up we went.

Intrepid – that’s the word for climbing explorers like me. Iantrepid even.

The site at twighlight.

Daisy struggled to get the difference between Angkor Wat the temple and the rest of the old City complex!

I don’t suppose Daisy’s new biker boy friends explained it to her either.

[We] go to souvenir shop and then on to market before we realised how tired we were.

As usual, Daisy (Janie) got some superb market photos

Back to hotel for a splendid meal of mixed delights and early night.

We didn’t take many pictures in hotel restaurants back then, so thanks to Ayustety from Tokyo for the following Wikimedia Commons pictures.

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, Getting There, 4 & 5 February 2001

Sofitel Angkor, Photo by ayustety from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0

I wrote a placeholder and links piece for this holiday several years ago, including several pages of write-ups with some of the highlights.

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, Placeholder and Links, 4 February to 27 February 2001

Now, 25 years on, it is time to complete the Ogblogging of this wonderful trip. This page is NOT a highlight. But the following pages, touring the wonders of Cambodia (not least the well-toured Angkor Wat and several other lesser visited places) most certainly are highlights.

4 February 2001 – left London 9 am – by 3:30 am London time the next day we were in Siem Reap! Event free journey – almost pleasant.

5th February 2001 – our guide Khouch drops us at Sofitel – we sleep a while – then we go off to tour.

We were SO ready to start touring…thanks Khouch!