820 Photos later!

Just re-read the last entry from Siem Reap and it was very vague so I thought I would flesh it out a little...
So I did have a hamburger at KL airport, and it was revolting, think I might try sticking to Khmer food for a while, don't think it will last long though, unless I magically begin enjoying cooking for one.
Anyway, temples day 3.
I was on the road in a trusty Tuk Tuk by around 8:10, headed for Preah Khan, a huge, and comparatively less visited complexes in the Angkor group, and the best thing about getting there so early was that there were no crowds, and you could wander the temples and not see people around every corner, it was wonderful. Like Ta Prohm, Preah Khan is overgrown and in various stages of decay, but that gives the place so much character, and there were so many little halls and walkways to get lost in, I was there wandering for nearly 2 hours.
From Preah Kahn, my Tuk tuk driver took me to Preah Neak Pean, an unusual little temple as it was an island temple, surrounded by a moat and then 4 more pools attached to the moat via spouts, it was pretty cool, but probably would have looked better if there was some water in the ponds.
From Neak Prean, the next stop was Ta Som. Bizarrely, I don't really remember anything about this temple, but I do have pictures to prove I was there, it is another Buddhist temple built in during the reign of King Jayavarman VII and according to my trusty Angkor book, it is a miniature version of Ta Prohm, possibly why I don't remember as it just blends in with the others. From there it was onward to East Mebon and Pre Rup, these were two older temples built in the 9th and 10th centuries, and bizarrely made from clay fired bricks rather than the basalt of the later temples. At Pre Rup, I was given my own personal tour from one of the security guards in the temple, which was pretty cool, he mentioned some of the history of the temples and pointed out some interesting carvings in the stone work, so that was really great.
From there it was off to a little local restaurant, not too far from where Marg, Bill and I ate the day before, and it was here that I had my last Khmer lunch, so of course I had an Amok, steamed in a banana leave, it was sensational! Although like the day before the restaurant was operating on Cambodia time and it took over an hour to have a light lunch!
Anyway it was good to have the rest as I had he most exciting temple to come that afternoon and I needed my rest.
So off we headed to Ta Prohm, this was my second visit to this temple, and just getting there was a bit of a challenge, unlike the other day when we were dropped off at the East Gate, we went directly to the West Gate, but had to pass by some men chopping down a tree first, the road was blocked off and there was a rope stretching from high in the tree, around 2 other trees acting as pullies, and then tied to the back of a truck, after 2 tries of the truck trying to pull down the tree, they let the traffic through, about 10 minutes later I heard an almighty thud, as the tree fell to the ground.
Anyway, Ta Prohm for the second time was I think more beautiful than the first visit, it was undoubtedly more peaceful as in the heat of the day, most of the big tour groups return to Siem Reap for lunch and siesta, so the ruins were pretty much my to wander as I pleased, and it was brilliant. I slowly wandered the remote and secluded corners of the site, finding some beautiful areas to just sit and contemplate the world.
I think by the time I was done with contemplating, my Tuk Tuk driver was ready for a rest, so we headed back to the hotel, where I arrived around 3pm. After a bit of a rest I walked into town to the old markets by the river for a bit of last minute shopping, and soaking up the Cambodian spirit before heading home.
I dined again with Marg and Bill on our last night in Siem Reap, and we ate at a different little local restaurant, which like all the places we had been previously was really good and the food was fantastic, and SO cheap, $2.50 for a main meal, how awesome is that!!
Anyway I decided to do something different for my last night, so I caught a moto back to the hotel. It was a little scary, especially weaving in among the traffic with no helmet on, but I was very good and didn't panic! And I made it back to the hotel safe and sound, so there you go.
Thursday I managed to lie in till about 9am, amazing!! Had a leisurely breakfast and went and packed my bags to go to the airport at 11am. It was interesting to find out, when I got to the airport that my flight to KL, that I was lead to believe was direct, actually went via Phnom Pehn! Oh well, I got to make a quick visit, and I am so glad that I did, on the take off from Phnom Pehn airport, I am sure I saw our houses that we were building, and I believe that I even managed to snap them in a pic, so that is super exciting. Anyway now it is time for bed so I shall say goodnight.

Home Again!

Well I am back in Melbourne again, after a wonderful 2 weeks in Cambodia, and already thinking of my next adventure, although I'm not sure where it will be yet, must concentrate on school for a while anyway...
So I arrived in Melbourne yesterday, and this morning I got up to see that my Dad had gone and got a trailer load of sand, before I knew it I was diging through my pack to pull out my building clothes, shovel in had I was shoveling sand to level the water tanks my parents had had delivered the day before. Next thing I knew I was diging holes and building a retaining wall, woohoo, this building stuff is fun. Starting to think it might be time for a career change when I am having so much fun shoveling dirt from one side of the back yard to the other, oh well it's back to work 6:30am Monday anyway.

Temples of Angkor Wat - Day 3

Well I had a 3 day pass so I thought I'd better use it... ;)
Today I set off on my own as all the others from the tour had left this hotel and moved on.
I found myself a Tuk tuk driver that was willing to take me out to the temples and off we went. First stop Preah Khan, and I think I was there for about 1 1/2 hours, it was sensational, there were so few people and it was just brilliant, although I am having a little trouble right now remembering exactly what it was like as I went to 6 temples today on my tour. Apart from Preah Khan and Ta Prom which I revisited from day 1, the others were comparitively small, but still equally beautiful, and I took many, many photos. Two of the temples I visited today were much older than the others, built in the 10th Century, and strangely out of fired bricks rather than the basalt rock of the other temples.
I am a bit distracted at the moment, so I can not think of all the things I wanted to say about today, there is a very loud prcession wandering up and down the street and it is quite distracting, so sorry.
Anyway after my 3rd day of temples, I can probably say that I am templed out, so I wandered down to the old Siem Reap Market to do a spot of shopping. YES you did read that correctly, I voluntarily went shopping in a market by myself, and it wasn't to bad either. See miracles do happen!
I have to finish up now as I have to get back to my hotel and then back downtown for my last dinner in Cambodia :( I am definately in love with their food, although I think I am going to have a hamburger tomorrow, it's been 2 weeks and i am having a bit of withdrawal!

Back in Time....

Just thought I should fill in the blanks a little seeing as I am actually using this blog as a journal, being really lazy. But at 50 cents an hour for internet, I can write forever... ;)
So back to Saturday... I think I can remember back that far.
Friday night we had a bit of a party, it being our last build day and all, although it was a bit sad at the same time, it was a great night, and I think we all fell into bed around 1am, well those that lasted the distance anyway...
So hoping to have a lovely sleep in on Saturday, I was very upset to find myself wide awake at 7:30. So down to breakfast I went, as Julie was feeling very poorly and I thought I would let her recover in peace. Anyway I met Karen and Carl at brekkie so I tagged along with them for the morning. We first headed off to the Royal Palace, winding through the streets of Phnom Penh, I am so glad that Karen knew where we were going, coz I was totally lost. We got to the palace and it was amazing, it was an entire city within the city, although there was so much more gold inside the palace walls. It is amazing that it survived during the Cambodian civil war, or maybe it has been rebuilt since, I haven't done that much research on it yet so I'm not sure. Anyway, after the visit to the Palace, we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed south to the Russian Market. WOW!! It was a market. Full of those special market smells and craziness. Certainly not designed for westerners though, especially when you are carying a big back pack, I barely fit down the isles. The shopping was pretty decent though, 3 DVD's for $5, not to shabby, not sure of the quality though....
We had was was going to be a quick bite, but tuned into an hour, as the restaurant was indeed running on Cambodian time, and then we headed back to the hotel as we were off on a bit of a tour for the afternoon.
I was not really looking forward to the afternoon, and my fears were justified after the first 15 minutes of our visit to Toul Sleng, the former S21 prison of the Khmer Rouge regime. The records at the prison included photos taken by the Vietnamise army when they arrived in Phnom Penh, by that stage there were only a few prisoners left in the prison, and they had all been butchered by the retreating Khmer Rouge before they left, so as you could imagine the photos were quite greusome... The tour was amazing though, and it still amazes me that the people of Cambodia are so lovely, considering what they have had to live through, and to some extend still do. Anyway, from Toul Sleng we were off to the Killing Fields where something like 12,000 (not sure if that number is correct) sculls were uncovered, and as many again still remain in their mass graves as it is too difficult for the Cambodian people to face the reality of the numbers of people lost. Over all during the 5 years of occupation of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, over 3 million people were killed! It is really incomprehensible, especially when you hear that ex-Khmer Rouge generals are still walking the streets of Phnom Penh as free men, and others are getting paid lots of money from the likes of CNN to lie about thier stories!?!?
Anyway enough of the sad stuff. My next entry will be on happy times in Siem Reap!

Amazing Temples of Angkor Wat

I arrived in Siem Reap on Sunday after an awesome 6 hour boat ride from Phnom Penh. The Tonel River and lake were beautiful, although sitting on the roof of a boat for 6 hours after just taking doxycycline is probably not the smartest thing I have ever done, I know this now as I sit looking like a beetroot! So Sunday afternoon was a very lazy time, we wandered the markets of Siem Reap and watch a guy trying to sell some kind of energy booster drink by the river, that was fun. After a quick dip in the hotel pool we headed off to a very cool bar called Angkor What? Very relaxed, although like this entire town, very Westernised. It is such a huge change from Phom Penh, and I think Ilike Phnom Penh better, but we are here for the Temples, so the temples we shall visit. Yesterday was the best day EVER! We didn't have to be out until 8, so we were able to have a sleep in for the first time!!!!! However I was still awake at around 4 yay! All up we visited 3 temple complexes yesterday, Ta Prohm first (home of the Tomb Raider Tree), which was sensational, although there were so many pushy people, I think I will actually be going back there tomorrow on my own. From there we headed to the ancient city of Angkor Tom, this was the old capital back in the 12th century before the Khamir abandoned it for Phnom Penh. It was home to over 1 million citizens and it is a very cool place, especially the Banyon. After that we came back to Siem Reap for lunch and a siesta before heading out again to the awesome Angkor Wat, the main monestary complex that unlike the other sites was not abandoned, but instead cared for by the monks for several hundred years. We remained at Angkor Wat for sunset, which behind the smog was pretty spectacular. Today I was alone :( the tour ended last night with a final group dinner and a few quiet drinks at the Laundry before heading back to the hotel. There was one other couple and myself staying for a couple of extra days so we arranged to meet up this morning at 8 to head off to the outer temple complex of Banteay Srei. This is one of the older, and far more intricate temples in the complex, and although by tuk tuk it took 1 1/2 hours to travel the 37km to the temple, I have to say that it was worth it. From there we visited another temple whose name escapes me at the moment, I'll have to go and check the photos, but then we had yet another awesome lunch at a Khmir restaurant, before heading to Banteay Kdei, which I have to say is one of my favorites so far, there were a lot less people and it was just spectacular, it was in a bit more of a ruinous state than some of the other buildings, but that just added to its character. We arrived back at the hotel around 4:30pm and now I am in need of a nice cool shower and a nap before dinner and a good nights sleep so I can do it all again tomorrow!

The Pain of Bricklaying

So I have now done 3 1/2 days of Bricklaying and I am in so much pain across my shoulders you wouldn't believe it. I t may also have a little to do with the fact that we didn't get home tll 1am this morning, but I'm sure it is just the bricklaying... Today I was working on the front wall of the house by myself, it is the hardest and most time consuming wall coz it is double brick in a cross-over pattern, very technical. We put the door and window in last night so today I had to brick them in to place, we also put the back door in today and I did the last bit around the top of the door and an extra 4 courses of that wall before stumps today.
It was another sensational dinner tonight, Eric has chosen the best restaurants and dishes for us all week and it has been fantastic. Cambodia, well Phnom Penh anyway is a wonderful place although driving along the streets in a Tuk tuk is still incredibly terrifying.
Tomorrow is our last build day and then we have the farewell party and another amazing meal, I'll fill you in more when I am in a bit less pain.....

Bricklaying Day 2!

So today Julie and I graduated to the outside free standing wall of the house,and it was most exciting to see that the wall that we built yesterday was still standing today and looking good. Today it was very exciting as we began on the scafolding on the outer wall, although the downside to that was it was in full sun for the morning, and the freaky thing was that as I was getting a little dehydrated, the vertigo started to set in, luckily we were finished the entire wall and I was able to get down, but that was a little scary. In the afternoon we moved to the other side of the house into the shade and began working from a slightly more rickety scaffold on the other side. But again the best thing about the day were the site forman and the other skilled workers we had, they were a fantastic bunch of men and although we couldn't speak the same language it was amazing that we were able to communicate and understand what the other meant, and I think they liked me coz I'm so nice! :)
It is so interesting to see the different people adapt to the situation, the culture and the working conditions and styles of another country. It seems that some people think they know everything about building houses, even if they have never done it before, and even when they are in a completely different environment to what they are use to at home. As you could imagine, health and safety is a little different over here, out site foreman, although still supervising us has what looks like a broken leg from falling off the scaffolding, yet he is still there watching us like a hawke. Our scaffolding too is slightly different, there is lots of hanging of the edge reaching for the edge of the wall to lay the first brick, but it is this experience that I am absolutely loving.
Although it is interesting to see and hear some of the well travelled people talk. I just can't believe what I hear some times, it baffles me that some one who is so widely travelled can be so intollerant to other people and other cultures, hear comes all my cultural learnings, see my visit to the USA was useful afterall!!!!
Anyway best be off now, need my sleep for anotherearly start and busy day tomorrow. 6:10 wake-up every morning and I think we are pouring the ceiling supports tomorrow as well as finishing off our masterful bricklaying.
See ya later.

Marni the Bricklayer!

Day One on our build site... no rest for the wicked we arrived yesterday, there are eight Aussies in the group and a very dishy Canadian tour guide. We met the home owners today and were split into our groups to build our houses. Julie and I are with a group of Americans and Canadians. There are 6 of us on woring on the one house and today we were able to dig a hole for the latrine, fill in a hole that was accidently dug in the wrong spot. Level of the floor of the house and fill in the holes with loads of dirt. and then we covered the dirt with crushed rock. And the best part of the day, I became a brickie... Julie and I worked very well as a team and even laid enough bricks that we were on th scafolding by the afternoon. It is quite an accomplishment to see the progress that 6 unskilled people can do in a day, we still have so far to go and I'm not sure we will finish the house by friday, but it is a great chalenge anyway.
And the best thing about this evening is that I'm not even sore, although my back did ache a little in the morning after coming back to the hotel and having an awesome shower, I feel as good as new.
Habitat and their crew are really great, and the skilled worker fir our house was a lovely old man who supervised from his chair as he had fallen off the building and it looked as though he may have had a broken leg. But he was really nice and showed us what to do and then spent most of the afternoon laughing at us, ans I am sure that he understood a bit of english too :) It was quite funny actually, cos to a lot of the others he was quite angry in his tone, but he was really friendly to me, maybe he just knew that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I definately have a great respect for brickies now thats for sure!

Off Again

Well it is now 10:19pm and I am sitting here at Melbourne Airport waiting for my 00:45 flight to KL, conecting to Phnom Phen.
Yes that's right I'm off to Cambodia. I will be there for 2 weeks. 7 days in Phnom Phen, 5 of which will be with habitat for hummanity doing a house building project, and then the rest of the trip will be in and around Ankor Wat. I am very much looking forward to the trip, although I am a little nervous about building houses, but I'm sure it will be fun....
Anyway, I shall try and keep you posted if I find an internet cafe or computer access.