National Museum Feb 13

First, I'll start with a flower.....

....and then I will show you how perky I was at the hotel cafe this morning. I am actually feeling quite a bit better, especially after getting some electrolytes into me to balance the ones I lost sweating and being sick. Recognizing this is a new experience and I have extra packets to use later when I am feeling crappy from the heat.

The front of my guest house, Me Mates Place with one of the staff on the step. It is not centrally located but close and walking distance to a lot of places. It is a nice guest house with air conditioning and nice showers, clean and mostly Aussie cooking downstairs.




After I realized I was always thirsty and nothing was working to quench it I decided to get over to the pharmacy and get some stuff.


A neighbourhood view along the way.....



.....and another.




The electrolyte stuff, which tasted just like Gator Aide, made me feel a lot better, enough so that I decided to tackle the museum in the afternoon.


To get there I passed the Palace but I decided to give it a miss as there is a charge and I had heard they don't let you inside of much anyway.


I shot some pictures of the Palace buildings through the fence.






The National Museum has gorgeous buildings and grounds.

Inside, I was going to take pictures of the three main Gods as they had them all but I only got this one. He is Vishnu and in really good condition except for a few missing arms. He pre-dates Angkor Wat. Just as I was taking aim at Brahma I was told no pictures.





The inner garden at the museum is very nice too.





Walking home I passed this Coffin Shop with coffins painted with bright, happy designs.





Then I passed an Irish Pub with a special on roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. I just told my stomach to get prepared and went in to have some. It caused me a bit of pain because I hadn't been eating all that much but it was so worth it.





Closer to home they were just setting up the night market.




These mats are for eating your food after you purchase it from the food court at the market.

Right across the street, actually on the street, they had been setting up for a wedding since yesterday.

Here are the caterers. I wonder what they are cooking.

Well it turned out to be not a bad day. I know I will be able to travel tomorrow and our air conditioner is working again.

Next to Nothing. Feb 12

I was out for about an hour this morning to get a watermelon, which I was desperately hoping would make me feel better. I took a tuk-tuk and after I got the watermelon I went by a computer place to get a flash drive to replace the one I left in a computer a while ago.

That little trip took it all out of me and I had a rest.

The watermelon was very ripe and soft inside so rather disappointing.

So, I am bored, still sick and feeling crappy but still alive.

Nothing! Feb 11

OK, I am officially signing in sick. My tummy bug is trenching in.

I went out to pick up laundry and some tums, otherwise I have been on my bed.

I am taking care of me. We'll talk again tomorrow.

The Killing Fields Feb 10

I was busy looking for the Malaysian Embassy yesterday without much success but as it turns out, after checking with Lonely Planet, I don't need a visa to enter there. Glad I remembered to check.


I went out to the killing fields right away this morning to avoid the heat. It was already 30 degrees by 9:30.
The killing fields at Chheung Ek are one of many such fields but it is the largest and closest to Phnom Penh.

Here we have a monument to the dead which contains bones which were recovered from the burial site. There are seventeen levels of platforms containing bones some of which are under ground level. I took their word for that.

The thatched roof is over the site of one of the larger graves containing at least 100 people.

This is the area which has been excavated showing how close together the pits were. It has grown over with vegetation and they have stopped excavating because they have more than enough for evidence.

In areas where they have been digging more bones and pieces of clothing surface as people walk over them.

By the 1990's Cambodia assisted by the United Nations was able to arrest the leaders of the Khmer Rouge and bring them to trial. The party head, Pol Pot, died at home under house arrest. Kaing Guek Eav "Duch", the man in charge of the prison and torture chamber known as S-21 was sentenced to life in prison just last year. Before he was arrested he had resumed his career as a high school teacher in a small town. Cambodia has no corporeal punishment.

I think it is time for a flower.

Looking across the fields driving back to the city.

Next I toured the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was the former S-21 prison. It is located in a former high school. Here you see the courtyard of the school much the same as it was except for the added graves. The wooden stand in the foreground which was used by the students for gymnastics was used by the Khmer Rouge to hang prisoners for torture.

It was a large school with a nice design. Here is just one building with three stories of classrooms. Of course the rooms were modified to be prison rooms now.

When the prisoners were taken in they were identified and photographed. Many of those records have been preserved and the photos displayed in the museum to honour the dead.

I went back to my guest house, which is air-conditioned, by 1:00 to cool off and regroup before walking in the neighbourhood. The Wat Phnom Historical and Cultural Tourism site is near me.

I think there might be too many temples in this part of the world, but it was very beautiful.

And to finish off, a stroll down the promenade by the Tonle Sap River.

I have decided to stay one extra night here because if I fly on Feb 14 instead of 13 it costs half as much. I had no idea that Valentines day kept so many people at home.

Siem Reap to Phnom Penh Feb 9

It was nice to drive through the country today. Cambodia is flat and full of rice fields. You could see for miles so I spent the journey looking out the window, a nice little reminder of home.
This was the best of the blurry shots from the bus.

The trip was only six hours so after I arrived I had time to go looking for the Malaysian Embassy to get my visa. I hired a tuk-tuk and gave him the address from my map. He said he was OK and drove to a street that had buildings which could have been Embassies so I got out but he couldn't point to one so I told him to wait and he asked for his money (only $2.00 US). I said no, I want you to wait and he asked to be paid again so I paid him. When I finally found an address on something I realized that it wasn't even the right street. While I was asking directions from some security guys he just drove away.

It was another version of "You walk now." and I never seem to see it coming.

So, the guards showed me on the map where we were and I started walking and did find the address about 10 blocks away but there was no Embassy. There was a hair salon though and hairdressers know "everything" so I went in and sure enough the girl I spoke to told me not only that the Embassy had moved recently but where they moved to.

See, I was right.

By then it was too late to go so I will do it tomorrow.

We stopped at a town along the road for refreshment break and parked beside a little market.

Right behind the motorbike are a couple of steel bowls of bugs, cooked of course. There was a modern restaurant as well if your tastes ran to something else today.

I think these must be cockroaches, also cooked. They actually smelled nice. I bet the Cambodian taste for bugs comes from the days when they were starving under the Khamer Rouge.

These babies were bigger than my thumb.



Tonight I had supper at a pizza place, a thick crust pizza place and was it ever good but it made my tummy hurt. Maybe I should have stayed fasting a while longer.

I booked my next flights to Bangkok overnight and then on to Koh Samui. With so many beach places in Thailand I had trouble picking a couple I thought I would like.

Well, that was my day. I still feel crappy with upset tummy.

Last Day in Siem Reap Feb 8

This morning's views from our balcony. Everything looks great from up here but at ground level there is a lot of junk and a dirt road and buildings made of unpainted wood and tin.

It amazes me when they build a big fancy hotel but on ground level most of the frontage is machine shop or some other unrelated business. They just don't have the concept of street appeal.

Another view from the same balcony.

The only thing I did today was the Angkor National Museum. It was historical, but from centuries ago. There was a room of 1000 Buddhas and many other beautiful artifacts from the temples. It actually helped explain a lot of what I saw out at the temples.

Pictures weren't allowed anywhere inside.


I walked back to the guest house where I laid low for the rest of the day. I have caught a bit of a bowl bug I think so close to home is the best. I haven't felt like eating much all day.

On the way I passed this statue.

I crossed over this little river.

Tomorrow, Phnom Phen by bus.

Siem Reap Orphanage Visit Feb 7

It is amazing the beauty that can be found along a simple dirt road.

Today my driver is taking me to an orphanage but he wanted to stop at a Buddhist temple first because it had some history of the killing fields. It was a worthwhile stop.

Here is a little temple that was in front of the main temple. It contains the bones and skulls of people who died on the killing fields. There was a display of faded photos also.

The orphanage I went to was one of the sites of the Poor, Street Children and Orphans Training Centers which is a division of PACDOC, Preahatit Community Development Organization of Cambodia. They are a non-profit NGO.


Here is the entrance to the site.

When I went in the school all the children ran in also and grabbed a seat. They are so eager for an interaction. They performed about four songs for me.


I talked about Canada and showed them where I was from on the map. I wasn't prepared that they might expect me to teach them.


Instead we played some games outside.

They are in the process of building a new orphanage across the road and this will be the new school.

This is the front of the existing orphanage.

Some bags that the children have been weaving to earn money.

The factory where they make another type of bag, shown below. A lot of stuff in the markets has been made by children or is sold by children.

Here is lunch cooking in the kitchen.

They didn't tell me about this urn. It is either for water for washing your body, cloths or dishes.

A wall mural made by the kids.






This baby looks happy now compared to the looks she was giving when I was closer. She was trying to write in her book and I was disturbing her.



Here we have a communal louse picking session.

Don't know where she got these flowers.

The older kids coming home from a real school for lunch.

Group photo with staff in the back.

It was poor conditions and yet they are giving a chance at a life to those who would have had none. Some are orphans, some from poor single parent families and some are kids they have retrieved from traffickers who intended to sell them to beg in another country.

One never knows if kids begging on the street have been stolen and sold to do that. There are so many things which just aren't what they appear. As a matter of fact, an orphanage could be used as a front to rake in donations. I'm not saying this one is but I'm not saying I know that it isn't either. They have people coming by everyday giving money and gifts who don't check out a thing.

Anyway, there does appear to be a need for aid here in the form of manpower, materials, money and food. I would seriously recommend a healthy business check before making a major commitment though.