The Plan B Adventure

We are back from the beach and the lovely beachside community of Sihanoukville. What a private oasis for any one looking for a change from the beaches of Thailand but still residing on the Gulf of Thailand. Sorry to report that we don’t have any pictures to show as Jeff made a conscious effort to detox from camera work. But let us tell you it was great….except for the sunburn. Becca used her SPF 30 the first day and still got burnt to a crisp. Needless to say we had to stay an extra day by the pool under the umbrella in order to make up for the 2nd day that Becca had to spend indoors. She is fine now except she feels like she wants to rip her skin off. Otherwise, Sihanoukville and specifically Serendipity Beach is a great find for a beach getaway if you plan on visiting Cambodia. Four hours from Phnom Penh on an easy, aircon bus and $30 for a real 3-4 star hotel (Golden Sand) including breakfast buffet and private pool. The walk to the beach is about 50 meters and really easy. The city and its beaches are popular with locals but still haven’t regained their luster of the 70’s when it was “the” place to be on the beach in Cambodia. Building and construction are starting to pick up but still a few years away. This makes Sihanoukville and enjoyable place to avoid the mass tour buses and unsavory characters of some of the well-known Thai beach hotspots.
Finally, two recommendations…..We would highly recommend Sokha beach as well. If you aren’t on a “fixed income” or budget the $100 Sohka Beach Resort with private, security-guarded beach is the way to go. If you can’t swing that just tell the moto driver to take you to the north end of the beach and find the bungalow just north of the resort where the beach is public. Very Nice……Last recommendation is Holy Cow Restaurant. We had a great meal with salad, bread, Pesto Chicken Pasta, Gourmet Baked Potato, and (count ’em) four cocktails and chocolate dessert…..all for $14 dollars. Give ’em a shot and don’t skimp on ordering, the quality is fantastic.

Ok….not much else to report except that we are reading up a storm. We have both finished and loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time as well as others. Curious is unbelievably written and a fascinatingly easy book to read. Pick it up!
Talk to you all when we get to Vietnam. Headed for Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) tomorrow morning and really looking forward to our two – three weeks there. Thanks again for all the comments and emails.

As promised we dragged our weary bones up at 5:30am to make our way toward the awe-inspiring Angkor Wat, the centerpiece of Angkorian civilization. Well, all the build up and it didn’t disappoint. Being there first thing in the morning is fantastic. Of course, you aren’t alone but the quiet and calm is quite noticeable as you walk toward the monsterous, gorgeous monument that the most successful Angkorian king built to honor Buddha.

The colors and architectural shadows make you think that it must have been built so everyone could see it at sunrise. Surrounded by 300 of our closest Japanese friends we made our way up the long dragon-lined walkway to the entrance of this famous temple. We would like to share our impressions of its grandeur, pain-staking detail, and overall superior craftsmanship (sorry Fred, these guys are really good), but we want each of you to experience it without our impressions crafting too much of an expectation. So we will leave it at that and help with a few logistical comments. First, go in the morning….it’s the only time you are going to get up THE STAIRS to the top (yes, you have to go!!…..well, maybe not our mothers) without an extreme wait. The monks are still praying and cleaning and the sun hitting the stone makes for some striking photos. Second, enjoy the first floor bas-reliefs, by a guide book for explanations of the scenes, but be selective or you will be there all day and never appreciate the bas-reliefs of the many other temples. Lastly, if you want a photo in front of the entire building plan on coming back after noon.

By 8:00am (before we ususally even wake up) we were at The Bayon but this time we didn’t beat the tour buses. This is a good one to do mid afternoon if you can deal with the heat. We still had a blast seeing the center of Angkor Thom, the ancient Royal city, and waiting ten minutes for this picture…..It is quite amazing to see the level of respect and admiration this civilization had (and has) for Buddha yet only years before and just a few years after their beliefs (or their King’s beliefs) would revert to Hinduism. We followed the well chosen path that Becca had set out due to her research on her own and Jeff got to see just enough of the old city (Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of Leper King, Baphuon, etc) to keep him interested as they hit the rest of the big temples later in the day.

Sticking with our efficient yet extremely ambitious plan Mr Chantha (our driver) took us through many of the outerlying highlights we hadn’t seen the day before. Becca was waiting to unleash her surprise of Ta Prohm on Jeff and they were both looking forward as they made their way into the back jungle of the untouched Ta Prohm. It is a completely different temple from the others and a must-see on any trip to Angkor. As previously explained when Bec toured it the temple has largely been purposely ignored from restoration and allowed to exist within the towering silk and fig trees, which are now overtaking it. Conveniently, we beat the tour bus rush through the opening gates and made our way almost halfway through this gorgeous relic. Oopss….they caught up…let’s go this way. We wound our way through the labyrinth of Ta Prohm and enjoyed getting lost amidst the praying Buddhists and surprisingly overreaching trees. As we sped up to get away from the next wave of Prada-wearing tourists and finish our tour of Ta Prohm it happened…..SNAP! The under-hydrated and over-heated Jeff stopped dead in his tracks. This is more how it happened:

Jeff: “No, really Becca I think my Achilles just snapped….I really can’t walk”

Becca: “What…your Achilles!! Try and walk it off.”

Jeff: “Oh no….we can’t continue the trip”

Becca: “Are you sure you can’t walk on it?”

Jeff: “Well, a little but it hurts to walk”

Becca: “Come on…let’s be solution-oriented.”

Jeff: “Okay….we are leaving”

Well, needless to say after making our way back to the tuk-tuk, drinking a few gallons of water, your fearless travellers found the issue to be nothing more than a over-cramped muscle which was cured a few days later with much water and a few good meals (that didn’t consist of Jeff’s previous All-Carb diet). Who calls Jeff, Mr. Drama!!??
Ok….have your laughs!!! We had a great time and are so happy to be sharing these experiences with you and not on the next plane home. We loved Siem Reap, loved the Angkor temples and can’t wait to hear all your stories once you have a chance to visit. We are headed to Phnom Penh for a brief big city interlude, a cooking class, and some more Cambodian history lessons before gallavanting west to Sihanoukville and the (what we’ve heard) lovely Cambodian beaches……Stay Tuned!!!!

By the way….we just uploaded a boat load of pictures so please access our Flickr site and view because linking them to specific words in this text gets to be a little much after 2 hours at the Internet Cafe, but we love you all….so we continue to do it!

Welcome to Cambodia everyone.....land of enchanting temples, beautiful sunshine, and one of the poorest populations outside of Africa. We flew into Siem Reap via the reputable Lao Airlines in comfort looking forward to spending a great week in Siem Reap ... [Continue reading this entry]