Location: Siem Reap, Cambodia
So, I signed up for a field trip to Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We had an afternoon flight the day the ship was leaving Vietnam, so I got to relax as I packed for the three-day / two-night trip.
As we boarded the bus, we were told there was a two hour delay due to aircraft equipment issues, so we traveled to the Rex Hotel and stayed on the roof-top bar for two hours. We had a great view of the City Hall, the Ho Chi Minh statue and all the subway construction.
From there we bused to the airport, and waited another two hours before the flight was finally cancelled. We had a tight schedule already, but our ship escort spent hero-hours on the phone changing things. Bottom line – we stayed the night in Vietnam (paid by the airlines), and then arrived in Cambodia the next day. We changed our schedule from returning to the ship in Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. So, we actually gained time in Cambodia.
The first thing I noticed were the motorcycle-driven trailers.
Actually, that’s not true. The first thing I noticed was the change in architecture. Only an hour away, and the Cambodian buildings look different from Vietnam’s.
We don’t go to the temples until tomorrow, so we started with the Angkor Wat National Museum. They don’t allow much photography, but here is a guardian lion.
In the hallway there is a “put your face here” board with a Hindi-inspired creation myth involving angels and devils spinning a mountain by using a snake in an ocean of milk…
Next, we visited a silk farm, and this was by far the best tour-before-visiting-the-shop experience I’ve had yet. I’ve never before seen the silkworm process.
Turns out they farm the mulberry bush just to feed the leaves to the caterpillars indoors. They turn yellow just before spinning the cocoons that silk is made from.
The farm walked us thru the whole process, from spinning to dying to weaving. Fortunately, there was nothing in the shop I really needed.
From there things got a little more somber. We visited one of the many shrines to the Killing Fields. Our guide lost seven uncles and aunts during that time.
This site also had family stupa from the local neighborhood.
Bonus Vietnam Video
I’m in a hotel, so I have some bandwidth. Here are some video of the Vietnam show. Each is only 10 seconds long and totally un-edited
More Bonus Video
Wow, this hotel internet is pretty good. Here is 15 seconds of a Hong Kong dance troupe that came onboard.
And here is three seconds of Japanese solar powered cat tail wagging. Because of course it is.