Siem Reap II

Nearby Siem Reap was the huge lake of Tonle Sap which was home to a network of floating villages - Chong Kneas.

Incredible, these villages have everything that you would expect: Shops, a Police Station, a Church, even a school.

All simply bobbing about.

We visited the school, which also doubles as an orphanage. The children were lovely. I could have played with them for hours. I was amazed at how they entertained themselves in such a small area. No football pitches here!

As sunset approached, the lake became a quiet, beautiful place.

In SE Asia, one has to get used to the begging and to being sold to and to. The lake was no exception, this little boy was selling the right to photograph him and his snake. I just thought he looked cute!

A very difficult, yet very peaceful way a life.

Back in our pimped out Tuk Tuk to Siem Reap. This guy had decked it out in a 'Playboy' stye to stand out.

Siem Reap is a town that is very easy to feel comfortable in. It is situated along a tree lined river.

I felt very much at home here, hence our desicion to stay for a couple of weeks. (Our very nice hotel also helped!)

Typical street view. Tuk Tuks, Bars & power cables.

We decided to go on a days cycling tour of the surrounding area. Unfortunately it also happened to be one the hottest days we have had! First stop: a silk farm. I have never seen how silk worms make the silk. The worms start off tiny but very very soon grow to this size!

Soon after they spin out the silk cocoons, which are teased apart and spun, mainly by hand.

Finally the silk can be woven.

Lunch - a whole chicken (we have no idea who ordered this it just seemed to arrive?!!)
(I know exactly who paid for it, though! - K)

The cycle ride took us through some of the local villages. It was fine to cycle through and see them, but we were encouraged by our guide to stop and give money to them as they were "very poor". It was easy to see that these people had very little, but we did not expect to be asked to donate whilst on a fairly expensive tour. (We questioned why the tour did not pay the villages to allow us through the site???? Our guides English seemed to dry up at this point!)

The children were very well rehearsed and did not move until we had taken a photo. This is probably all one family. It is so big due to many reasons and some not purely due to lack of contraceptive. They are very quick to realise that the small children are better at begging and getting sympathy from the tourists. Father was just out of this shot, laid asleep in his hammock! It saddens me that these children cannot be supported by their family and yet if we had given them any money we would only be adding to a growing problem.
(Sarah even asked if there was anything that we could buy from them, rather than a straight handout. Nothing, apparently. There was no need for them to have anything to sell, as the market was too far away. My response was what good were donations of dollars, then?!! - K)

Final stop was a temple.

Beautifully painted inside.

There had been a lot of investment around Siem Reap by the West. It was a double edged sword. While jobs and stability was created, the majority of the income did not stay in Cambodia.

This factory made all sorts of scented products. From candles to soap to coffee to incense.

The soap store.

Back to the orphanage. We wanted to return to see the children once more and to talk to the staff here. As I mentioned in my last blog, this is a Cambodian run organisation, so has a better understanding of what needs to be delivered. They have 70 children here and are only expanding and surviving through donations. A much better choice for our money than directly to the families in the villages - I hope.

The children were lovely and were extremely happy & polite. They were all learning English so that they can hold jobs in the very important tourist industry round here. However they also had a farm outside the city and some of the boys were helping to construct the new building next door. I feel very positive for these kids and will be supporting them in the future. If you want to read more and make your own donations please have a look at their website http://www.acodo.org/

Turning 33 in Siem Reap was perfect. We were in a beautiful hotel.

Ate a wonderful breakfast.

Even had a Fish Foot Massage!

It is fine once you get used to it. It just tickles. (Kenny lasted 0.3 sec)
(Fish phobia + fish massage don't seem to mix well! - K)

Splashing out, we had champagne by the river, followed by a fabulous dinner at the hotel.

Romantic part complete we headed out to meet some of our friends here for the Party!!!!

All the bars give out free T-Shirts if you buy a certain amount of alcohol. I think we had earned 4 T-shirts by the end of the night!

This is where it started to go wrong.
(I thought you were trying to do your napkin-into-a-chicken trick? - K)

And this is where it went very wrong!

Buckets of cocktails! We met this super nice guy on the slow boat to Luang Prabang weeks ago and discoved that Aaron also shared the same birth date as me!!!! We promised to meet up for a joint celebration - so here we were - and, yes, by then he also had his free T-shirt!

(For the un-edited photos please see Facebook - they are not pretty and again remind me of why I am not on FB!!!) (P.S. Aaron - I have forgiven you!)

We danced all night! This is my 'Where's Wally' photo as (if you look really carefully) you can see me & Dave (another lovely chap). Aaron is more obvious in the white T, trying his best to dance closer to the girls! I had the best B'day thanks to everyone there!!!! Next year Aaron?

Cooking Class - a day late as we could not face it the day after the night before. (Kenny as strange French painter?)
(Sacre bleu, et orange! - K)

We reckoned that they ran the 'cooking classes' as free labour to fulfil orders for the restaurant below. With this in mind I decided to help behind the bar.

Khmer food is tasty but I had not realised how much oil they put in it.

Last night in Siem Reap. I loved it here and will treasure the memories. I reckon we will be back one day and I hope by then, the tiny children do not have to stand on the streets selling bracelets until gone 3am.