Temple ruins, snakeskin, bamboo bridges and offroad motorbiking

It felt soooooooooooo good to get back on a motorbike! Yesterday Sally, Gareth, Ben (a Chinese giuy staying at our hostel) and I went on a motorbike adventure into rural Cambodia with Khmer Ways, a motorbike tour company that's around 6 months old.
I was very impressed with how well-run the tour was; our guide John was originally from Switzerland but had been living here for around 3 years and knew every single back road, path and bridge around Siem Reap. The day's route went from Siem Reap to Phnom Bok hill where we had a good lookout over the Angkor area, then to a reservoir (I forget the name) before heading to Chau Srey Vibol temple ruins via some very intrepid roads.

Of all 4 of us, I was the only one who'd actually been on a motorbike before. Not to worry, John gave the others a quick 30-second demonstration then set them loose on the main road for a test drive. Thrown in the deep end, you might think? (yes) But they learned pretty quick, and before long we were underway, cruising past the High School - actually the way we go to Green Gecko - and onto the first dirt roads of the day. One bamboo bridge and lots of bumps later, we were well and truly in the countryside: lush green ricefields, water buffalo, palm trees and lots of waving kids. Best of all, no tourists! We made a quick roadside stop to check out some farmers planting rice.

A woman with bundles of lemongrass on the back of her bicycle

We continued on to Phnom Bok, where we were delighted to discover we had to climb 630 steps straight up to get to the top. An incredibly sweaty hike, but the view was totally worth it. You can see Siem Reap town in the distance.There's a temple up there (of course, they're everywhere) but unfortunately it's been very badly looted and there are almost no carvings or bas-reliefs left. John had packed us a delicious morning tea complete with ice-cold refresher towels which we enjoyed while taking in the view.

After Phnom Bok we headed out to a reservoir which will be the site of their eco-lodge in the near future. At the moment it's just a big hole filled with water and not super exciting. We continued on to Chau Srey Vibol over some really dodgy sandy roads, it was great!




Its another temple that has been badly looted but it was still very beautiful. It has a lot of interesting unique architectural features, like octagonal keystones. Nobody really knows what the story is behind this temple, which adds to the mystery and makes it that much cooler. We had fun climbing all over it.

At one point, our Khmer guide (another guy from Khmer Ways) said he saw a snake hiding in a crack in the temple ruins. We all had to have a look, and it looked more like a snakeskin than an actual animal to me so he poked it with a stick (Bad idea anyone?!?!???). Turns out it was just a skin; a totally complete and in very good condition that the guide reckoned was only about 1 day old. I was so excited, I've never seen anything like this before, so I decided to take it home as a souvenir. I hope Dutch customs doesn't mind! John said I should soak it in water when I get home and lay it out flat to dry, then it'll be soft and pliable. It was very strange seeing a 1.8m long snake skin stretched out on my hostel room floor! It gave me a fright because I'd left it in the sink to soak while I went out for dinner and I forgot it was there...




the road back to town was even more sandy & difficult to ride on, but it was so much fun! We all had stiff arms and backs when we got home, so Sally & I treated ourselves to Khmer massages that night after dinner :)

Overall a fantastic trip!! Anyone coming to Siem Reap HAS to do this! www.khmerways.com

Look them up now!



Love
ML

Today I got locked in the computer room by a 4-year-old

This afternoon the big kids were watching a movie and having painting lessons with their art teacher. This left us at a loose end, so we used the computer room to gather resources for next week's lessons. A few of the Tigers (the little ones too young to go to school) were roaming around needing attention, and they're just so darn cute I played with one of the girls for a while. When I went back to working on the computers, she decided it would be fun to lock us in by sliding the metal rod back into the pins on the doors. I had to lean out the window and ask one of the older boys to let us out, which they thought was hilarious of course :P

After being rescued, I took the metal rod away and kept it with me. But she was too smart for that - she broke a twig off a tree and used that to lock us in again!







Here are 2 more of the Tigers

Only 1 week left at Green Gecko :(
This Sunday we're doing a motorbike day trip to some outlying temples and countryside, I can't wait to get back on a bike!

ML x

Treasure Hunt!

Hi all,

This week's photography lessons with the morning geckos (the younger ones) has been a lot of fun. Challenging at times, especially with the kindy kids, but very rewarding. Gareth and I took them through 5 basic types of shots (landscape, closeup, portrait, medium and full length) and reinforced this through the week's lessons. On Wednesday morning they were given a list of things to find and take photos of, using the shot types they learned. Of course they were so excited about being given cameras to play with (and being given relatively free reign to do what they want), so as well as the treasure hunt items we ended up with a lot of other interesting photos. Here are the results:

See the whole collection by clicking this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197651&id=669967675&l=3cf7f93767

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who donated cameras and bits & pieces, the kids had an absolute ball!

Stay tuned for the results of Friday's "Storyboards" lesson!!

Love
ML

Rollin', rollin', rollin to Roluos!

First of all, you may (or may not) have noticed that the picture banner above has changed a little - I added my own collection of photos to the montage of shots I'd collected off Google. The top row is completely made up of photos of my own adventures :)

~

Sally and I decided we needed a bit of exercise this weekend and did a day trip to Roluos, a collection of Angkorian temples about 10km from Siem Reap, and the actual town of Roluos a further 3km along. We took the NH6 highway, which goes from Siem Reap all the way to Phnom Penh.

Siem Reap is a strange microcosm of a town; it's sole reason for being as far as the West is concerned is the access point to Angkor Wat and the historical park. There is a concentrated downtown area covering about 3 blocks (2-3 main streets) where all the tourists hang out - the main artery is actually called Pub Street - which includes the Old Market (read: a collection of a million tiny stalls selling Angkorian statues, silk scarves and beer brand t-shirts). If you dare to venture 2 or 3 blocks in any direction you'll find yourself in a completely different world - not a souvenir shop or beer t-shirt to be seen, only mobile phone shops, motorbike mechanics and carts selling baguettes stuffed with pork floss and the ubiquitous "La vache qui rit" cheese (note to other travellers - it's nuclear holocaust-withstanding, indestructible and actually quite nice-tasting cream cheese that doesn't need to be kept cold. Make sure you have it in your pack at all times.)

Yesterday's ride was no different. Even the route to Green Gecko only takes 5 minutes before you're in veritable countryside; water buffaloes, rice paddies and little naked children everywhere. Within minutes of leaving the hostel we were in a different world and people were starting to stare. The highway itself was busy for about 15 minutes before it too succumbed to the pressure of being countryside, and tour buses and SUVs were replaced with motorbikes packed with pigs and trucks chock-full of chickens.

This little piggy went to market

It's a nice, easy flat road all the way to Roluos so we simply kept rolling until we got there. The Roluos group consists of 3 main temples, 2 of which are still active Buddhist monasteries. We didn't have Angkor park tickets so we couldn't go in, but we could see plenty from the entranceways. At Preah Ko, the first temple you hit after the turnoff from NH6, there is a large collection of local artisans. You can wander around their open-air workshops and check out what they're making; some are making apsara carvings out of cement, some are making shadow puppets by punching patterns into leather and some are weaving silk scarves (of course). Many of them are kids; it's an orphanage programme that teaches the kids craft skills as well as providing a home, food and schooling. And of course it means they can make a bit of cash from tourists - I have to admit it's nice to meet the person who made your particular souvenir, it gives it more meaning, but apart from that the quality of what they're producing is just superb.

This is the little guy who made my garuda shadow puppet :)

I also bought the smaller lotus-bud tealight candle holder

This is what shadow puppets look like when used in a show:


After Preah Ko we continued on to Bakong, where we stopped for lunch. We've become addicted to iced coffee - basically just hot coffee with condensed milk, poured over a cupful of ice. DELICIOUS (and only 50c at our usual dinner joint in town). Bakong looked like quite a cool temple but neither of use dared to bribe the guard into letting us in, plus we didn't have any packs of cigarettes to sweeten the deal (I'm sure that's how it works in this part of the world...) so we were content to look from the outside, and snoop around some of the random ruins in the surrounding jungle. We were the only tourists there.

The actual town of Roluos is a hole. The Lonely Planet says "it may be worth venturing into the genuine Cambodian town of Roluos for a refreshing drink." Here's what Roluos looks like:

Take a good look at the billboard.

But despite the disappointing and rather scummy town, the ride between the Roluos temples and Roluos town was just spectacular, exactly what we came out here to see. Gorgeous lush green jungle, earthy red dirt roads, haystacks, cows and lots of curious villagers. All the kids screamed out "hello" as we rode past, while the parents looked on in quiet bemusement. We made a lot of stops, at first just to photograph all the cute kids, but then we started venturing a bit further into people's yards where they happily invited us in and showed us what they were doing. We met a family weaving palm leaves together for roofing and walls, and later on there was a family pounding rice into rice flour using a see-saw and all the neighbourhood kids as weights. They showed us their rice field and where they grind the raw husks - they even let me have a go at grinding the rice! Tough work.






We headed back to Siem Reap and as is normal for this time of year, got absolutely drenched in a tropical downpour at about 4pm. Luckily we had our plastic ponchos with us (thanks Laura, the purple one was awesome) and only got moderately drenched. Back at the hostel we ordered burgers & chips which we inhaled in 3 seconds flat, and promptly went upstairs for a nap. A hugely satisfying day!

Until next time!

ML x