Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat must rate along with Michu Pachu and the Pyramids as one of the wonders of the world. It’s not possible to describe the scale and magnificence of the place and so despite the difficulty in reaching Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) it was well worth the effort.

Built between the 8th and 14th centuries this vast area consists of literally hundreds of cities, palaces and temples in various stages of repair. One can spend weeks stumbling around discovering new wonders and unlike most sites of this importance it’s still relatively ungoverned and you are able to really go just about anywhere unguided giving you that feeling of being an old time archeologist discovering things for the first time.

Mr Sam, our tuk tuk arrives in the morning and we are all bleary eyed but looking forward to the adventure. The road leads through thick indigenous forests, it’s like a movie stage set - incredible with a huge energy. We arrive at the most famous one first and get absolutely bombarded by touts selling books, trinkets, guides, videos and anything a tourist will buy.

One of the girls takes a complete fancy to Bill much to his disgust and says to me
“Hey mother in law you give me your son I take him home and show him some loving!”

Yeah right sista!!!!!! More like I’ll Karate chop and kick box you if you lay a hand on him. We laughed our way out of that one and Bill was horrified – “her teeth were disgusting”

We walk around feeling overwhelmed by the size and complexity of it all, thank god we have a 3 day pass as there is so much to explore. Somewhere in the ruins we come across a Monk who performs a ritual on Nicky, it’s priceless, he tells Nicky that whatever he sets his mind to he will get, Nicky responds later “I want puberty”.

We travel a few kilometers further and reach Bayon the temple with the huge faces and now we are really blown away. Huge, powerful and moving. Most of the sites have been adopted by countries who undertake the restoration and maintenance of a single temple. A project of massive scale and expense, with all the modern technology and machinery available they still struggle to attempt the most simple restoration making one wonder how on earth these edifices were built in the first place.

The highlight of the first day for Nicky was the monkeys, we stopped and he fed and loved them, Craig got his hair de-nitted in the process.

The second morning Craig and I arrived at sunrise and visited the more remote temples. What a powerful and moving experience. Ta Prom was the set for Tomb Raiders Angelina Jolie has a tree named after her. The temple has been left and the jungle has grown back, ancient trees are growing in, through and around it. The energy is incredible, you don’t need to even know what the temples are about, no need to do anything but wonder around, let go and absorb the atmosphere.

On the last night Louise and I climbed up to a temple set on top of a “mini lions head” We started climbing with the first signs of an imminent tropical storm. From the top we watched the storm approach over this incredible landscape of ancient civilization. As the storm broke 3 monks appeared on the horizon silouetted against the landscape. What a sight to burn into the mind as a final vision before running through the rain and our descent back to Sam our trusty tuk tuk driver.

Luang Prabang

Woke up to find this amazing town, it was previously a French colony so the buildings are soooooo Kapstadt International, French-Indochinese architecture, some of Laos best cuisine and most sacred Buddha image. It’s full of monks from tiny little boy monks to ancient wise old men all draped in my favorite colour orange.

First things first - a little walk to orient ourselves and then ……. A massage of course to smooth out the aches and pains - excruciating but hey afterwards you feel like a million dollars. Bill and Nick are now connoisseurs at massage.

While walking through this town each building is more charming than the next, lots of architectural ideas for Elands, this is a stunning town and I think we will be back.

First time I’ve ever seen Alms? (Where the monks walk around and people give them offerings, awesome sight all the monks) It starts at sunrise you hear the gongs from the Wats then they walk through the streets with these pots that people put there offerings into.

We also took ourselves off to the local theatre, being a Unesco world heritage town they preserve all heritage including theatre, it was well , mm fabulous costumes, lots of Wats,(wots a wat you may ask, a Budhist temple) the Kings Palace, also popped into the art academy and saw all the students art, impressive.

The thing is that I am such a foodie that if there is a food market I’m there, little prepared was I for the reality of Laos, The morning of the monk Alms, Craig and I stumbled upon the one in the old city, it was horrendous, how do you describe beautiful ½ meter lizards tied up I mean their front legs tied behind their backs, dead birds, small birds in cages dried rats/squirrels, all kinds of bugs, dead and alive (saw a lady working on a big bowl of bugs emitting rustling sounds, removing the big legs so the bugs cant crawl out the bowl straight out of raiders of the lost ark), made me feel queasy and tearful, Craig wanted to buy all the lizards and set them free.

Tamarind – is the name of a good restaurant and cookery school, owned by a Laos man and his Australian wife. They do a whole fish packed with lemongrass and herbs wrapped in banana leaves and baked on a barbecue, it was a three course meal , wonderful, and so I arranged to come back for a cooking class – perfect last day in Louang.

Phabang.

On my cooking course with the first signs of a dodgy stomach we headed early for the very un-touristy local market and all was well until the guy said anyone vegetarian or squeamish should wait by the car, ohhh do I wish I had listened to my tummy, how do you describe this meat market , well an abundance of flies, no refrigeration, congealed blood thickened with rice flour (people eat this) pigs heads – a delicacy, eggs with numbers on mean embryos inside and people buy these for more money and eat it (a combo of egg and chicken taste I guess) YUUUUK, also buffalo skin with the hair and fat in strips they liken it to biltong cook it on the Barbie and yes well eat it too, I think the worst for me was the womb of a water buffalo with a baby inside, ok it was just the end for me I ran for the car.

The cooking course was superb and would have been exceptional barring the fact I had the first dodgy tummy since our journey began, I learned the essence of Laos cooking which I can’t wait to share with all of you so no info.

So with another 6 hours on a bus trip the next day we have opted for a VIP air-conditioned bus with a toilet. (We are learning!)