#488 Ta Prohm and Bayon

While we are in the neighborhood of Angkor Wat, we visit two other temples: Ta Prohm and Bayon.

Ta Prohm is a popular tourist destination because the temple has not been restored.  A jungle surrounds the temple and trees are growing out of the ruins.  Did you see Lara Croft: Tomb Raider?  It was filmed here at Ta Prohm. 

 
We are amazed at the struggle between temple and jungle.  To see more photos, click on the link to 'See all our photos' and select our Cambodia photo set.

Yours in struggling to control the camera,
Mary
 
 
 

#487 Angkor Wat

We began planning our trip to Angkor Wat in 2006!

On our first SAS voyage, we docked in Ho Chi Minh City and spent all of our time in Vietnam.  Next time, we said, we’ll go next door to Cambodia and visit those Hindu temples we've heard so much about!

So, a short flight on Cambodia Angkor Air takes us from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap airport, just a few miles from Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The temple is the world's largest religious building, first Hindu, then Buddhist, built early in the 12th century.

King Suryavarman II knew what he was doing when he included SIX libraries in his temple.  Naturally, Nedra and I like the libraries best.  This one is inside the innermost enclosure. 

We enjoyed Angkor Wat so much, we got up early the next morning to arrive at the temple at 6 am to watch the sun rise.  It was a cloudy day, but still spectacular.

Yours in gratitude for second chances,
Mary

#485 Phnom Penh

We take a LOT of photos when we’re sailing with Semester at Sea.

At the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields of Cambodia, we took no photos. Yet we will remember our visit.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum had previously been the Security Office 21 (S21) for Pol Pot’s “Democratic Kampuchea” from 1975 to 1979. S21 was surrounded by 2 rows of corrugated iron fence covered with dense barbed wire. Inside S21 was used for detention, interrogation, and torture of those deemed to be a threat to the Khmer Rouge and its leader Pol Pot. After victims confessed, their photograph was taken and then they were blindfolded and driven 15 km outside of Phnom Penh where they were killed.

For a more recent update on the beleagured Cambodians, read this from The New York Review of Books:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jan/13/beleaguered-cambodians/

Yours in needing no photos,
Mary