#smputas

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Preah Khan Temple

Preah Khan temples are in better condition than Ta Phrom as there has been some sensitive conservation work done there. There were fewer tourists there when I visited this temple.  I try to avoid the capturing the scenes that are published in their millions. Eric encouraged me to use more of my camera’s functions. I was astonished at the results and resolved to read the manual again. 

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Angkor Wat

I was astonished at the quality of the bas-relief carvings on the walls of the cloisters around the main temple at Angkor Wat. The Tree of Life symbol was similar to the ones I saw in Laos recently. I clambered along a ledge for a long way just for one shot. Worth it. So many really outstanding photos. How many stairs? Too many. Would not, could not have done it alone. On the way back to the hotel, the driver took me to a fruit shop where I bought some bananas and rambutan for US$1.  I chatted with two pleasant American women in the restaurant who were trying to plan their two days here. Back in my room, downloading my photos and then the air con vent started dripping water on the floor. It made the tiles so slippery. Room change to one of the large corner rooms at the front. Very flash. So tiring having to pack up all the stuff including wet clothes.

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Rolous temples, Siem Reap, Cambodia

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Rolous temple, Siem Reap

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Last Day in Cambodia.

Went to breakfast later than usual and the room was full, mainly school kids. I shared a table with a pleasant English birdwatcher. Went to lunch at the famous Viroth restaurant just down the road. Nice food, wonderful coconut and mango ice creams. Very ordinary service. Walked there and did not get lost.

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I checked the boat landings. There is one main wharf where the ferry goes across to the other side. Other sets of stairs go down the steep banks of the river where people catch smaller boats. The steps are uneven and have no hand rails. Not sure how one gets on to a boat, probably via an unsecured ramp or plank.

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Pak Ou Caves

The main thing I wanted to see was the Pak Ou caves with thousands of Buddhas inside. I did not want to go by long boat as it takes about two hours of upstream travel. I thought I would find it too painful to sit on those boats for that long. These tours include a visit to a rice wine makers’ village and a weavers’ village. I read that they are tourist traps.  I decided that I must at least discuss how to get to the Pak Ou caves with a tour company instead of saying I can’t do it. After a long discussion, I settled on a private tour by car then a river crossing on a small boat; around 80km round trip.  Also visiting a weaving village about 8km away from Luang Prabang. K$400000 (AUD$65) with lunch and English speaking guide.

Friday, my best day so far. Young Mr Kham’s idea of picking me up from my hotel was to meet me there and carry my camera bag as we walked to the car outside his office. We drove north through the countryside on a sealed highway towards a Limestone karst mountainous area. Then we turned into a dirt road with no sign post. Kham (not his real name) said “there used to be a sign there” after a while we passed one of several elephant tourist parks and saw an elephant following a man along the road. As we passed I saw the elephant was carrying a long heavy chain doubled up across its neck. We passed through several villages including Ban Pak Xeuang, and saw some terraced rice paddies that had not been ploughed as the rains are late this year. Most of the land was covered in young teak trees, they have very large leaves.

  A farmer with a herd of about 12 water buffaloes and calves met us on the road. No, I did not get out to take a photo, they spook too easily. Later I saw a farmer with a two-wheel tractor ploughing a wet paddy. There were a few signs of logging the teak forests on the mountains. Up on the tops of some mountains there were some areas of slash and burn farming by an ethnic minority group. Kham said that they do to know how to do any other kind of farming and they live on the top of mountains. The marks of soil erosion were evident in those places.

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On the way back to the highway I took a few photos of the farms. A little way out of Luang Prabang there are silk weaving workshops for women’s employment. I went to the Boualay workshop. These places are usually very basic and this one was the same. A few women and two young children in the weaving shed. The photo at the top of this post shows the silk scarves from the workshop. These finished products were really beautiful, the best examples US$600 - 800. I did not buy anything there.   The bottom photograph shows two cotton scarves that were made locally. The patterns and colours were similar to what the women at the market were wearing. I bought three of those.