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Cambodia Trip Summary
Mar. 5th, 2013 11:12 amAs part of our wonderful Ken Mc Farland Asian trip we spent 8 days in Cambodia. We flew from Bangkok to Phomn Penh and spent two nights there; then flew to Siem Reap and spent 5 nights before flying back to Bangkok.
Cambodia has been an independent constitutional monarchy since 1953 after having been a French colony since the mid-19th century. It was victimized by the Vietnamese war. For many centuries in the middle ages it was an Indianized kingdom. Most of the temples were built as Hindu temples and then later converted to Buddhist. Wikipedia says that ~95% of the people are Buddhist. Many of the temples were ravaged by invaders searching for gold or by weather and earthquakes. Some restoration is in progress.
We visited many temples, some in very bad condition, several markets and shopping areas, took several boat trips, and saw a wide variety of housing in the countryside. We had several different guides that gave lots of explanation (I'll confess that much of it went in one ear and out the other). Tuk Tuks are a major form of transportation - they are motorcyle-drawn rickshaws that can carry 2-4 people. Roadside gas stations were often a little stand with a few old water bottle filled with fuel. The people were quite friendly. The food was quite good; our hotels were very nice with colossal breakfast buffets.
There were 20 of us on this trip, 11 of which we'd been on other trips with; it was a very nice crowd. This wasn't a dancing trip as are some of Ken's but essentially all the people on the trip are Contra, English Country, and/or Scottish dancers and thus we had a lot in common.
Click here for slideshow of a selection from the whole trip:
Cambodia has been an independent constitutional monarchy since 1953 after having been a French colony since the mid-19th century. It was victimized by the Vietnamese war. For many centuries in the middle ages it was an Indianized kingdom. Most of the temples were built as Hindu temples and then later converted to Buddhist. Wikipedia says that ~95% of the people are Buddhist. Many of the temples were ravaged by invaders searching for gold or by weather and earthquakes. Some restoration is in progress.
We visited many temples, some in very bad condition, several markets and shopping areas, took several boat trips, and saw a wide variety of housing in the countryside. We had several different guides that gave lots of explanation (I'll confess that much of it went in one ear and out the other). Tuk Tuks are a major form of transportation - they are motorcyle-drawn rickshaws that can carry 2-4 people. Roadside gas stations were often a little stand with a few old water bottle filled with fuel. The people were quite friendly. The food was quite good; our hotels were very nice with colossal breakfast buffets.
There were 20 of us on this trip, 11 of which we'd been on other trips with; it was a very nice crowd. This wasn't a dancing trip as are some of Ken's but essentially all the people on the trip are Contra, English Country, and/or Scottish dancers and thus we had a lot in common.
Click here for slideshow of a selection from the whole trip:
