Today is the first free weekday I've had in a while. I took the day to bike around Pursat and have lunch at a "nicer" restaurant-- to celebrate a day off! Pursat is famous for their marble carving. So after lunch I stopped by a small marble carving shop to see what they sell. I found some nice, reasonably priced marble Buddha statues that I may buy before I leave. Outside of the shop the owner is working a huge marble elephant. It is massive! I've seen him working on it since I've been here, usually on the weekends.
A few weeks ago (during the Water Festival) I visited the Southern coast of Cambodia and spent the majority of my time in a town called Kampot. Kampot is a beautiful, sleepy town not overcrowded with tourists (unlike it's neighboring Shianoukville). On my first day there I visited a place called Tek Chhou Rapids. It was a breathtaking path just getting to the rapids! We had to walk across a man made bridge to the middle of a mountain and then we hiked down the mountain to the rapids. There were many Khmer people enjoying their Saturday. My guide said it was unusally crowded, probably because of the Water festival. The Water Festival is usually celebrated in Phnom Penh or Siam Reap with many boat races and water sports. Anyways, after the rapids I took a stroll along the riverside in "downtown Kampot", which was one street. I had dinner at an ex-pat/backpacker restaurant called "Rusty Keyhole" where I was forced to sit with a Canadian couple because the place was packed. It was okay though because they gave me great advice about travelling in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Laos. The next day I visited 15 km outside of Kampot, called White Elephant cave. It was a nice excursion into the countryside. The cave was pretty cool but was closed off towards the back because of flooding from the rainy season. The cave is named the White Elephant cave because there is a rock formation that looks like a white elephant. I took a picture of it but I had to really squint my eyes and use my imagination to see the elephant resemblance!
Two weeks after I went to Kampot, I decided to take my last trip to Phnom Penh and visit all of its sights with Adi and Laura, two SC co-volunteers. I managed to squeeze everything I wanted to do in one 4 day visit! It was great. We found central lodging by the Independence Monument. We were close enough to walk to many of the "attractions" in Phnom Penh. The first sight I saw was the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda; they are in one compound. The royal palace is huge and well... nice? I wasn't very impressed by the Palace because every building had the same basic architecture. Definitely not worth the $6.25 admission. The adjoining Silver Pagoda however, was worth the money. Every tile in the Pagoda was made from 1 kg of silver. The Pagoda also houses 2 buddhas-- one made from pure Jade and the the other made from gold and embellished with over 2,000 diamonds.
The next day I visited Tuol Sleng was a high school that Pol Pot turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge in 1975-1979. Most of the occupants in this prison were intellectuals who were deemed traitors to the Revolution. Its ironic because Pol Pot and those govenring the Khmer Rouge all studied in France at good universities. I saw the prison cells where the victims had to stay. There was this really intimidating gallow with two huge pots with water under the gallow. They would hang the prisoner upside down and when he passes out because all of the blood rushed to his head, they would dip his head into water to wake him up and make him re-live the torture. It was a really haunting experience to visit Tuol Sleng but I'm glad I could see the remains of an important part of Cambodian culture.
After Tuol Sleng, Laura and I visited Russian Market & O'Russei Market where we bought massive amounts of fabric to have clothes made for us here in Pursat. I'm excited to play fashion designer for a day! Unfortunately, authentic Cambodian silk was too expensive for me to buy. It's okay, I don't really think I would like an article of clothing made from silk...too fancy.
I know I've written this in other posts, but I really can't believe how slowly time moves here. And despite that, I don't feel bored or drab! If you know me, you know that is a miracle!!
I started to plan my travel plans for after I leave Sustainable Cambodia and Cambodia. My first stop is Ho Chi Minh City on December 12. I am planning to travel north to Hanoi in a span of 7 days and then cross into Luang Prabhang, Laos (flying). After traveling to central Laos to Vietianne, I will travel to Chiang Mai and then finally to Bangkok for NYE and to fly home. I hope the protests at Suvarnabhumi will be over by then! I can't imagine they would last too long since Bangkok is the most popular SE Asian travel hub. It is the start of the high travel season so hopefully a resolution is in store.
No comments:
Post a Comment