We arrived here on Sunday 23rd and its Christmas Day today. We've now travelled with our group down to Mawlamine 180 miles south of Yangon.
So for my own benefit here's what we've seen
Phones don't work. There is only 1 cellphone network which is owned by the government so 'foreign' mobiles don't work. So we can't make any calls without buying a new phone.
The Internet works but slowly and only some sites. No western news sites work or it seems anything with any news content. Some travel sites work, wiki sites work but I haven't yet worked out what does or doesn't. Update as you can see by the late posting of this the blogger site isn't easy to upload too. We've had limited Internet access
Men almost all wear sarongs - very few wear trousers.
They drive in the right in Myanmar - opposite to UK . However most cars are right hand drive so its a really strange way to drive. That's because most cars are second hand imports from Japan and Korea . The lorries and buses tend to be Chinese so steering wheel on the left. Very strange. It's beginning to change as the Chinese influence grows and cars begin to import from there.
Arriving at the airport in Yangon was a scene of clean , modern calm - with blokes in dresses . The taxi to the centre and our hotel was a scene of cleanliness and calm. Two and three lane roads, manicured parks and gardens, no litter and NO TUK TUKS AND MOTORBIKES. Which was strange. Our guide George has explained to us that motorbikes aren't allowed in Yangon, neither are cycles. So cars only- and as I've said cars are second hand only. The price of these has dropped from $50,000 to $25,000 as the government drops restrictions on imports - actually they license people to import cars ( the suspicion within Myanmar is that the people who get licensed are the government members who get rich from this)!! Out in the country scooters and bikes are more widespread - these cost $400 to buy. It shows the power of a socialist government when they can suppress the people to such an extent to limit there ability to travel, trade and prosper
The consequence of this is lots of pick up tuck buses driving around completely overcrowded - people hanging off the back and on the roof!
We've stayed in 2 hotels so far and their good quality hotels are pretty average, as you would expect. The tourist infrastructure will take time to build up , hotels , guesthouses, reasonable restaurants don't exist so eating out is a challenge with limited choice.
Another noticeable difference is the lack of trading. In most other countries in Asia people are trading everywhere on the streets. Markets are everywhere , people set up little shops in their house fronts and sell sell sell. It's not the case here. I guess due to regulation. So the streets are quieter (still dark as limited street lighting) . But the ability to pop out and get some water, a beer , get your washing done isn't yet in place.
Myanmar is richer than Cambodia and Laos. The road infrastructure is much much better than those countries. In Yangon and the surrounding areas the roads are pretty good. Out in the country the houses look the same as other places with high dependence on farming and plenty of bamboo houses but it looks more organised and less cramped
Friday, 28 December 2012
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Friday, 21 December 2012
Onwards - Myanmar
Ang asked me to point out that the last sentence on the last post should read ' But my advice is do NOT come to Sihanoukville .....'
So that's nearly 6 weeks done and the self-organised bit of the holiday nearly over.
Tomorrow (Saturday 22nd) we leave Sihanoukville on the 8am bus for Phnom Penh. It's a 3-5 hour journey dependant on traffic. We're then off to the hotel we stayed in to pick up our Buddha- we've bought an 8kg wooden Buddha. So repack the bags at the hotel and off to the airport. We are flying with Air Asia which is RyanAir for Asia so we've had to purchase extra baggage allowance.
Then off to the airport for the flight to Don Muang airport Bangkok. Taxi around Bangkok to our hotel. Then up at 6am for the 5 minute taxi to Suvarnabhumi airport and of to Yangon (Rangoon) where we meet our group at 1pm Sunday.
Internet is a bit iffy in Myanmar so blog postings may be a bit random so apologies.
And of course , from me and Ang, a Happy Christmas to everyone. Hope it's what you all want.
So that's nearly 6 weeks done and the self-organised bit of the holiday nearly over.
Tomorrow (Saturday 22nd) we leave Sihanoukville on the 8am bus for Phnom Penh. It's a 3-5 hour journey dependant on traffic. We're then off to the hotel we stayed in to pick up our Buddha- we've bought an 8kg wooden Buddha. So repack the bags at the hotel and off to the airport. We are flying with Air Asia which is RyanAir for Asia so we've had to purchase extra baggage allowance.
Then off to the airport for the flight to Don Muang airport Bangkok. Taxi around Bangkok to our hotel. Then up at 6am for the 5 minute taxi to Suvarnabhumi airport and of to Yangon (Rangoon) where we meet our group at 1pm Sunday.
Internet is a bit iffy in Myanmar so blog postings may be a bit random so apologies.
And of course , from me and Ang, a Happy Christmas to everyone. Hope it's what you all want.
Sihanoukville - 18 to 22 December
Sihanoukville or Kompong Som as the locals call it is a comparatively new beach town. It is home to Cambodias only deep water port - hence the reason for its creation in 1950. It had reasoable investment up to the early 70s and then the civil war and Khmer Rouge put paid to it. its suppoably on the way back now as a destination beach resort.
In the guidebook it says '. With its stunning white sand beaches and azure waters' the local guidebook describes our local Victory beach as ' a fantastic small clean beach with just half a dozen bars offering beach snacks- various developments in the area make definitely a place to visit' . Really? REALLY?
If you are the kind of person who likes Benidorm ' go to Benidorm as its miles better than this'. If you are the kind of person whose skin crawls at the thought of Benidorm , this place would make you ill. Sadly it's bit of a dump without any quaint areas, or litter free areas and sprawls over 3 or 4 miles of murky , smelly litter strewn coastline. Do you get the impression I don't like it?
In the guidebook it says '. With its stunning white sand beaches and azure waters' the local guidebook describes our local Victory beach as ' a fantastic small clean beach with just half a dozen bars offering beach snacks- various developments in the area make definitely a place to visit' . Really? REALLY?
If you are the kind of person who likes Benidorm ' go to Benidorm as its miles better than this'. If you are the kind of person whose skin crawls at the thought of Benidorm , this place would make you ill. Sadly it's bit of a dump without any quaint areas, or litter free areas and sprawls over 3 or 4 miles of murky , smelly litter strewn coastline. Do you get the impression I don't like it?
Independent monument. I'm sure it looked nice once. But it's now tired, unkempt and dirty.
A view from 'our hill' down towards 2 of the 'beaches' and downtown. It shows how sprawling the town is.
However, we came here for a 3 day rest prior to 3 weeks on the go in Myanmar. After a long 11 hour bus journey on Tuesday arriving at 11pm we arrived at Pagoda Rocks resort which sits on the hill overlooking town. It's out of the way and really lovely. Given what I've said about SK we are glad to be out of the way. We've got a bungalow - 1 of 15 - with plenty of space and our own balcony.
The hotel also has a lovely pool, nice restaurants and nice staff. A lovely place to unwind and relax for 3 days. And as you can see by my postings I've had plenty of time to get things up to date.
So if you do find yourselves in Sihanoukville it's worth staying here. But my advice is - do come to Sihanoukville . If you want tropical beaches on the Gulf of Thailand go to Thailand!
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Ta Phrom - Preah Khan and others.
On Monday 17 we went back to do the long circuit of inner temples. The long circuit was the name given by French archaeologists to a 17 km circuit taking in the next inner ring of temples.
So we visited Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdai, Srah Sang, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Preah Neak Pean, Preah Khan and back to Angkor Wat. I've only listed them all so I can refer back later and add the names to the photos!
II can't jot all my thoughts down - each temple was brilliant to see. Pre Rup was impressive for its size and the majestic lions ( we've both a photo if this) . Srah Sang was a huge reservoir ornately finished in stone.
But I though I'd make some notes on Ta Phrom ( visited last week) and Preah Khan. Ta Phrom is the more famous - mainly because of the trees growing from the roofs making for good photos. It also featured in the Angelina Jolie tombraider films sexing it up a bit. And it's undergone some restoration ( currently with money from France and India).
Ta Phrom was another Budhist temple built by Jayavarman VII - he of Angkor Thom fame. The French explorers who found this place nicknamed it 'jungle Wat' and have deliberately tried to maintain it as close to the state they found it. So the temples have been preserved and reinforced with the trees remaining on top
Another Japanese tourist poses for the photo. You can see below that although the temple is open to visit there are still plenty of building blocks to put back together.
Preah Khan is not so famous but IMO is at least as impressive. Again built by Jayavarman VII it served as a temporary capital city and housed 1,000 religious teachers. It was originally a Buddhist temple and later was vandalised by Hindu rulers. Many temples were. The Hindu vandals went around chipping the heads off the carved Buddhas !
Preah Khan is spread over 2 sq miles with a 2 mile long wall surrounding it. It is currently undergoing restoration by the world monument fund (WMF) with many personal donations by wealthy Americans .
As an idea of how much work has to be done. The 2 mile wall has 72 garudas ( carving of a large mythical bird) holding Nagas (serpents). You can sponsor the restoration of one of these for $25,000 . And that's just the wall!!
The WMF is restoring the temple and as such is removing the trees that are in the way. The photo below shows a severed tree rot which will be removed. And you can see the HUGE numbers of bricks which require a jigsaw reassembly.
And on this photo you can see more bricks requiring putting back together. And zoom on the photo to see the intricate carvings which are everywhere. I took lots of wide shots. My travelling colleague and slave takes the close ups!!
Siem Reap. We've now been twice and will come again. It's absolutely fantastic. As the years pass Angkor is gradually being developed and improved. So even 5 years later Ang and I enjoyed the temples as much as last time. And the hospitality industry is improving so you don't have to worry about staying in a hovel and eating rice all day ( if you ever did) . A huge range of all kinds of hotels await from $10 guest houses to $500 suites. And western cuisine abounds including the ubiquitous coffee shops. If you are of a far flung travelling bent you must visit here!
So we visited Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdai, Srah Sang, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Preah Neak Pean, Preah Khan and back to Angkor Wat. I've only listed them all so I can refer back later and add the names to the photos!
II can't jot all my thoughts down - each temple was brilliant to see. Pre Rup was impressive for its size and the majestic lions ( we've both a photo if this) . Srah Sang was a huge reservoir ornately finished in stone.
But I though I'd make some notes on Ta Phrom ( visited last week) and Preah Khan. Ta Phrom is the more famous - mainly because of the trees growing from the roofs making for good photos. It also featured in the Angelina Jolie tombraider films sexing it up a bit. And it's undergone some restoration ( currently with money from France and India).
Ta Phrom was another Budhist temple built by Jayavarman VII - he of Angkor Thom fame. The French explorers who found this place nicknamed it 'jungle Wat' and have deliberately tried to maintain it as close to the state they found it. So the temples have been preserved and reinforced with the trees remaining on top
One of the famous shots of the crocodile tree. You can see the roped off areas as behind the camera it was closed off with a big crane re-assembling and preserving another structure
Preah Khan is spread over 2 sq miles with a 2 mile long wall surrounding it. It is currently undergoing restoration by the world monument fund (WMF) with many personal donations by wealthy Americans .
As an idea of how much work has to be done. The 2 mile wall has 72 garudas ( carving of a large mythical bird) holding Nagas (serpents). You can sponsor the restoration of one of these for $25,000 . And that's just the wall!!
One reason it is so important is the detail of the carvings in and around the temples. Above is a section of bas reliefs of the Hall of the Dancers (Apsaras) . Above this you can see some small domed areas that used to have Buddhas which were chipped away by Hindu vandals
Siem Reap. We've now been twice and will come again. It's absolutely fantastic. As the years pass Angkor is gradually being developed and improved. So even 5 years later Ang and I enjoyed the temples as much as last time. And the hospitality industry is improving so you don't have to worry about staying in a hovel and eating rice all day ( if you ever did) . A huge range of all kinds of hotels await from $10 guest houses to $500 suites. And western cuisine abounds including the ubiquitous coffee shops. If you are of a far flung travelling bent you must visit here!
Tonle Sap - Sunday 16 December
Tonle Sap means Great Lake and is the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia. For most of the year it is a 2,700 sq km lake 1-2 m deep from which the Tonle River flows south to feed the Mekong river at Phnom Penh. In the rainy season June to October the Mekong river becomes swollen by all of the rain and melting ice from the Himalayas. This raises the height of the Mekong to such an extent that the Tonle river reverses and flows back into Tonle Sap swelling the lake to 15,000 sq km to a depth of 12m.
This raises several problems and opportunities for the villagers. We went on a trip to Kompong Phluk which is about 25 km south of Siem Reap. We had just entered the dry season so the waters had begun to recede 3-4 weeks ago.
The main problem they face is to build their houses high enough to avoid the flooded lake, but close enough to the shrunken lake to fish it. So the houses are built on sticks. The photo below shows a newer house ( with corrugated metal ) next to an old bamboo house. The villagers have to build any new houses from metal as fire protection , even though they are much hotter. A couple of years ago a fire burned down 50 or so houses hence the change in materials.
In the photo below you can see the lake is still lapping at the edges of these houses. The greenery is morning glory which is being grown as a vegetable for the villagers to share. And in the foreground if you zoom in on the wooden cage you will see some pigs who are being fed the fish paste
We really enjoyed the trip. Fascinating to see the village life which hasn't changed since the 8th century. This village is close to Rolous , where wevisited the local market. Rolous has been continuously occupied since the 8th century. Mind you it's only the temples which date it - these temples were built before the King moved the capital city to Angkor- as the houses are wooden shacks!
This raises several problems and opportunities for the villagers. We went on a trip to Kompong Phluk which is about 25 km south of Siem Reap. We had just entered the dry season so the waters had begun to recede 3-4 weeks ago.
The main problem they face is to build their houses high enough to avoid the flooded lake, but close enough to the shrunken lake to fish it. So the houses are built on sticks. The photo below shows a newer house ( with corrugated metal ) next to an old bamboo house. The villagers have to build any new houses from metal as fire protection , even though they are much hotter. A couple of years ago a fire burned down 50 or so houses hence the change in materials.
The main opportunity is food. The swollen lake brings with it lots of fish to eat. And as it recedes the exposed lake bank is very fertile and the villagers get to grow several crops of rice and vegetables whilst the land is exposed.
Below is the Main Street in Kompong Phluck. It's now above water and has been for 2 weeks . The town is1 big street with these houses side by side.
This is a picture taken in the wet season a couple of months ago ( not by me of course)
It's fascinating wandering around the village looking at how it works. As you can imagine its almost a 'bee like community' with people working together for the community. Under 1 house was a noisy smokey generator charging 50 or 60 car batteries - which they use to power their tvs. Not to good if your house has the generator under it.
When we went it was Sunday so the children were not at school . Kids go to school 6 days a week either 8am to 12 or 1 to 5 pm. So the kids in the picture below we're chopping the heads and tails off the small fish. The fish bodies were eaten by the villagers. The heads and tails were mashed into a pulp and fed to the pigs. The villagers don't get to eat the pigs as they are too valuable. They get sold or traded for commodities the village wants. Pork is only eaten on special occasions .
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Angkor Golf Resort
Cambodia isn't known for golf. There are only 6 or 7 courses in the country either near to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. They are all aimed at the travelling tourist as they are all resort courses.
The Angkor course opened in 2007 and I played it on Friday 14 December. A short tuk tuk ride to the course just out of Siem Reap. You get delivered to a buggy area just inside gates where buggies take you to the clubhouse. It's a fantastically luxurious clubhouse with its own Blue Pumpkin cafe ( we went in several Blue Pumpkins which are excellent ).
As you can see from the map above each hole on the course has water running along it. Sometimes not really in the eyeline, other times right in vision . The course is immaculately kept . Loads of green staff tidying , cutting, even sweeping up leaves on the grass! Fairways were incredibly well manicured and not the fluffy grass of Thailand. Fairway grass was quite short. No rough to speak of. Missing the fairways was never too bad except for being out of position and usually having to contend with some trees and huge bunkers.
First hole. Green up by the biggest tree. Bit daunting if you hit right to left on the first tee. And 400 yds so you don't get an easy start.
These 2 ladies were sweeping up the leaves of the course and putting into those bags!
A typical approach shot. Greens were generally protected on all sides. If the water was close by then Faldo used water on 1 side and a bunker on the other. If not then bunkers both side.
My caddy crossing the bridge to 15. Long hole and having avoided water left side you had to hit over it and avoid the cavernous bunkers. As you can see by my caddy carrying the rake I hit it in the green side bunker.
Once agin I hide King Cobra hire clubs - regular shaft - and played ok. I hit a lot of fairways. The fairways were sandy and damp so not much carry on the ball. Iron shots let me down a bit but the course was 6,666 yds so a lot of 2nd shots were 170-200 yds having to negotiate green side water and bunkers. But I managed to hit 84 which was the top side of my target.
Cost $115 green fee, $33 caddy and buggy.
On my score the golf course gets an 8.0. I'll come and play again if we come back to Siem Reap.
Not sure about the economics though. Only 25 golfers played the day I did , 50 the day before. Faldo is designing a new course near to Phnom Penh as part of a $150m development which is not going to be in the reach of your average Cambodian for a while. Obviously someone thinks it works.
Angkor Thom
A new museum has opened in Siem Reap since we were there. We went in 2007 and its well worth the visit. It is very modern and has some excellent displays to put the temples and building of the various temples into context. And it's pretty deserted too- sadly. Not many tourists go even though its on the way to the temples and a new shopping mall next to it has now shut
Angkor Thomas is another well known temple and the biggest collection of temples. It is surrounded by a 7.5 mile wall and moat and inside has a range of temples including Baphoun, Phimeanakas ( the royal temple that the King comes to pray at) the terrace of the elephants - another 300m long structure engraved with huge elephants on which the king stood to inspect his armies and address the people
It was all built by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century and as with kings all over the world it was an attempt to build bigger and better than his predecessors. Which he did. And also used most of the nations resources doing it so it also signalled the start of the decline of the Khmer empire.
In his defence he was considered one of the greater kings as he spent money on buildings for his people - he built 100 or so shelters around the country for travellers to rest in . He also built 120 hospitals scattered around and staffed them to ensure his people got access to healthcare. But ultimately this version of the welfare state was too much spending...
All of the kings are called 'something.... varman '. so you only have to remember the first bit.
The most famous temple is the Bayon which has 54 large towers with 4 faces on each side. It is said that the faces are either Jayavarman or Buddha. The 54 represent the states in Cambodia at the time. As well as the faces there are galleries of bas reliefs depicting many scenes from everyday life and the battles again the bitter rival the Cham (Vietnamese)
Angkor Thomas is another well known temple and the biggest collection of temples. It is surrounded by a 7.5 mile wall and moat and inside has a range of temples including Baphoun, Phimeanakas ( the royal temple that the King comes to pray at) the terrace of the elephants - another 300m long structure engraved with huge elephants on which the king stood to inspect his armies and address the people
It was all built by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century and as with kings all over the world it was an attempt to build bigger and better than his predecessors. Which he did. And also used most of the nations resources doing it so it also signalled the start of the decline of the Khmer empire.
In his defence he was considered one of the greater kings as he spent money on buildings for his people - he built 100 or so shelters around the country for travellers to rest in . He also built 120 hospitals scattered around and staffed them to ensure his people got access to healthcare. But ultimately this version of the welfare state was too much spending...
All of the kings are called 'something.... varman '. so you only have to remember the first bit.
The most famous temple is the Bayon which has 54 large towers with 4 faces on each side. It is said that the faces are either Jayavarman or Buddha. The 54 represent the states in Cambodia at the time. As well as the faces there are galleries of bas reliefs depicting many scenes from everyday life and the battles again the bitter rival the Cham (Vietnamese)
One of the 200 or so faces
An inside view of some of the towers
Mr and Mrs in front of the temples. Both baked to a medium to low heat. And Ang is showing her legs!
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