Sister Tamara and I hired a car for the day. We negotiated the steep price of $70 but once I realized the wear and tear that road caused on his Camry, I think we got a good deal. Gas is the same cost as in Canada, about $1.25 per litre and our trip was 70 km each way with several stops. We went to Phnom Kulen. Phnom means mountain and this mountain is made of sandstone. It is one of the places the ancients collected stone for the Angkor temples. There are huge and beautiful natural stone creations, some looked like they might topple over as we were driving under them. The top of the mountain is a temple with at least one tattooed monk and a gigantic carved, sleeping Budha. Our driver dropped us seemingly in the middle of nowhere and told us the temple is across the bridge and to the right. We were lost by the time we crossed the bridge so followed a very dirty little tike to school asking along the way 'temple?' 'pagoda?' and he would say yes and point so we kept going. Eventually a motorbike stopped and offered to take us the next 3km return for $3 so we both climbed on. We were not prepared to walk another 3 km when we weren't even sure what we were looking for. It was a good deal because we came upon an ancient temple with monks and little children singing and sellers of contraband goods like tiger fangs, rhino horns, elephant tusks etc. of course we did not buy but I was shocked to see those things just sitting out for sale. Prices were not cheap though. We paid off the tiny but filthy singers with all the riel we had on us. We then climbed the stairs to the temple and discovered a giant sleeping Budha carved out of the mountain top and the temple was built around him.
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| Our ride up the last 3 km of the mountain |
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Tamara was told she could not sit by the monk but she could lie beside him because you have to remain lower than the monk out of respect. I told her later, they were probablyexpecting something submissive and did not mean a seductive pose like this
Giant sleeping Budha carved from the stone mountain top
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| Our temple singers |
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Lingas carved from horns in front, rhino horns in back
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| Sandalwood, beads, tiger fangs all from the jungle |
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| Tamara pouring water over the linga at the temple for good luck |
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| First rest stop of the day. You have to flush with the pot scooper in the rain water trough. |
Also at the top but in a separate location is a beautiful waterfall where locals swim and picnic. They sell swimsuits there so probably it is holy water and that is why everyone goes in but I am not certain of that.
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| Just another tree I loved. Looks like an animal is hugging it |
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| Place by the waterfall where locals come to picnic. There are many covered platforms to keep bugs and sand off your lunch blanket |
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Bridge we had to cross to get to the waterfall. This would not be allowed in Canada
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| Walking the bridge to the waterfall- hardly safe, but fun |
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Higher level of the water fall where people can bathe in shallow water. The log stops folks from falling down the large waterfall, Also not allowed in Canada
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| High section of the waterfall |
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| These 5 years olds ran up asking if we needed a mountain guide and when we said yes, they started showing us things of interest like........ |
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| When you touch this type of fern, it folds up completely |
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| The boys showed us this pure spring bubbling up from the ground. Hard to tell from photo, but this is quite deep and so clear with white sand on the bottom. We had not heard of it and would not have found it or known what is was if not for those little boys |
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| One Thousand lingas. We were looking for these but had no idea they were in the water so again needed the kids to show us where these were. They are sandstone carvings, from ancient temples that were possibly flooded or fell into the river. |
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| We bought red bananas from the locals. $1 for a huge bunch. They are very delicious. |
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Good example of the red dirt roads. My shoes and clothes were always covered with red dust. Typical farmer with his working cows.
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| Large puddle on the road we had to drive through. These folks were washing the motorbike and the kids. |
Once we finally maneuvered down the mountain with our Camry and driver, we headed for Benteay Srey, another of the many Angkor Period temples. This one was built in the 1400's and the carvings are very well preserved considering the temples were overgrown by jungle for 400 years |
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| Front Gate of Bateay Srey |
After our great adventure, we picked up the rest of the gang at the hotel and went for dinner and this was Tyler's pick from the menu. 'Meat Degustation' meaning you can chose from a selection of different meats and they BBQ it.
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| Tyler's Dinner. He chose a selection of Python, Crocodile, kangaroo and ostrich. It was BBQ'd for him right at the table. Meal $6.50 |
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