Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May 2014


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Background

On reading about opening of border crossing with Burma near Moreh to traffic - the thought has struck me about driving from Delhi to Danang and back. This would involve driving from India – Burma- Thailand- Laos- Vietnam (Danang and Ho chi Minh)- Cambodia -Thailand- Burma and back to India. Armed with google, wikipedia and Lonely planet started doing my research . By the time I reached my lucid interval, reality has struck me about feasibility of the project. The whole project was screaming of bureaucracy hurdles all the way – for example ATA Carnet would only be honoured by Thailand and there are many hurdles at border crossings when driving your own car. So I decided to visit each of these countries by air over next three to four years, do back ground work , develop my contacts and take the help of like minded individuals to plan the driving trip in near future.



Okay, but why Cambodia first ?
I had around 1 week time to travel during May 2014 . While most of my friends would just land at airport without bothering about visa due to privilege of having a British Passport, me on the other hand decided to stick to my Indian Passport even after eligibility to get a British Passport. This however means added burden of trying to sort out Visa. Among the countries mentioned above only Thailand and Cambodia offer hassle free visa to Indian passport holders. You can get visa on arrival in Thailand and can obtain E visa for Cambodia by filling a simple form online and paying 25 US dollars per person .

I decided to go to Cambodia first due to my fascination with history and visiting off the beaten track places. The following travelogue is my trip to Cambodia along with my wife from 27/5/2014 until 01/6/2014. The most difficult part of the trip was convincing my wife to visit Cambodia as, like any other sane person , she wanted to spend time in Singapore and Malaysia rather than the wilderness of Indochina.

[sleep] If you managed to stay awake till now then please carry on reading...

Mr Sowanna Yun – Our tour guide[/B]

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Sowanna is a passionate Khmer guide in his early fifties. He updates his face book page at least twice a day no matter where he is using a dongle. He seems to have many genuine face book followers and he boasted to me that he got ministry of tourism among his followers.

Mitsubishi Pajero

Belongs to Sowanna which we rented for the duration of our trip

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The Place – Cambodia

Country of Smiling People usually synonymous with Angkor Wat.

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Every one in Cambodia seems to be smiling no matter what the situation is or how hard their life is. We have seen a Hotel manager shouting at his employee with a smile and even airport security personnel were smiling when frisking.


The Temples

We may not realise now but roughly between 500 BC to 1000 AD India had huge influence on South East Asia extending up to Philippines. Most of these countries were initially Hindu and their architecture , names, arts and cuisine were influenced by India – especially South Indian style. Later some of these countries became Buddhist ( Cambodia, Thailand and South Vietnam etc) some adopted Christianity ( Phillipines ) and some Islam ( Malaysia and Indonesia). However some remained Hindu like Bali in Indonesia. Many years ago names of these places used to be in Sanskrit like Ayathuyya in Thailand( named after Ayodhya) , Champa/Cham in South Vietnam and Jayagiri in Cambodia etc.

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Cambodian people known as Khmer, at one time ruled most of modern day Cambodia, Thailand parts of Laos and Vietnam from their capital near Siem Reap. The kings of Khmer empire had Indian/Tamil names like Jayavarman, Udayadithya varman, Suryavarman etc. During this time they went on constructing temples as the king was expected to build temple for himself , his parents and grand parents (7 in total). They were also expected to build their temple bigger than their ancestors and so most of these kings went on constructing bigger and bigger the product of which is Angkor watt. Unfortunately with the decline of Khmer empire around 14th Century AD or so Thailand occupied most of Cambodia thus bringing end to the temple construction. Modern day Cambodia is full of these temples ranging from small to big , restored to ruined , accessible to yet unexplored etc.

Ancient Khmer Script

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The Cuisine

Khmer people seems to eat any thing that grows, ranging from snail to snake and fish to frog. . If you go to a traditional restaurant the menu often starts with some thing like Khmer frog. On the streets you see not only fried snails, grasshoppers and frogs but also whole fried snake ( Snake is an expensive dish according to my guide who informed a fried cobra would cost around 30 US dollars)

Amok is a cuisine exclusive to Cambodia and is cooked with lemon grass and either fish, meat or vegetables.

These three photos belong to Mr Sowanna Yun

Fried Grasshopper


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Different ways to eat a Frog

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If you still have an appetite then these are some sober dishes;

Vegetable Amok

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Dishes from our hotel

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Specially ordered vegetarian food - Road side hotel in rural Cambodia;

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The Village waitress looked perplexed when I said I am a vegetarian - thankfully Sowanna explained to her what it means and she shouted some instructions to the cook. He came up with the above dish. I have to say it was one of the best tasting food we had in Cambodia. We tipped her nicely and she walked away ,blushed, when we gave a positive feedback .
Continued....
 
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Re: Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May2014

Continued..

The Trip

Day 1

Vijayawada- Hyderabad- Singapore – Siem reap ( Cambodia)

Nothing much to write about this apart from saying its quicker but may be expensive to go through Bangkok rather than Singapore. There are no direct flights to Cambodia from India.

One can notice the change in pace of people from Singapore to Cambodia. Singaporeans tend to do everything too fast where as Cambodians tend to take it gentle way.



Day 2

Siem Reap

Reached Siem Reap in the morning of day 2. Immigration was quick thanks to e Visa and it was a short trip from airport to our boutique hotel. (Boutique is a term that seems to be used/abused a lot in Cambodia- you often see names ranging from Boutique shops to Boutique airlines).

Cambodia is usually hot and humid in May- like in coastal parts of South India.
This was a day for ourselves and after short rest we decided to explore Siem Reap town on tuk-tuk and foot.

While exploring we had our first shock after seeing a fried whole snake on display outside a local food joint- My wife felt sick and we had to rush in to a nearest sensible looking restaurant to settle down. She could not get snake out of her mind through out the tour and was always careful not to venture near local food joints, sticking to touristy restaurants only. Later in the tour she kept on asking our tour guide about why , how and when they eat snakes and prices etc.

Later that night found a nice Indian restaurant and ate heart fully.


Day 3

Angkor Thom- Bayon - Ta Phrom and Roulus temples

This was the start of our proper trip. Sowanna was there in the lobby of our hotel by the time we got up, We got ready quickly and was taken to purchase a 3 day pass for Angkor Park. This is valid for a week and would entitle user to visit any number of sites in Angkor park for any 3 days in a week. Passes are checked frequently even near remote sites. Angkor park is spread over a huge area and it is not possible to cover everything even in 3 days.


We first visited Angkor Thom which is a walled city built many years after Angkor watt. By this time most of Cambodia has became Buddhist and the temples portray Buddha as Avalokateswara. Currently outer wall and temples are the only remnants of this city

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Angkor Thom outer wall has 5 entrances and is surrounded by Moat. Currently only 2 are in good shape and most of the traffic reaches Angkor Thom through south entrance.

Visited the Baphuon temple and Bayon temple - famous for smiling Buddha faces.

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After quick visit to smaller temples around came out of Angkor Thom and visited Taphrom. This is commonly called Tomb Raider temple as the film Tomb Raider was shot here. This is popular with tourists and you may have to wait your turn to take pictures at some of the sites in Taphrom.

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While walking out of Taphrom found these boards - Looks like our folks have done a decent job in Cambodia [clap]

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In the afternoon visited Roluos group ( formerly called Hariharalaya)which were built before Angkor Wat. Some of these temples were built with brick as was the norm before Khmer moved to building temples with stone.

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Found this modern Buddhist Monastery in between ruins of 9th Century Hindu temples

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Re: Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May2014

Continued...

Day 4Angkor Wat

This was important day as I decided to do Angkor wat most of the day at a slow pace. Only after getting down from car near Angkor wat I was shocked after realising I have left my camera in the hotel room. Sadly that means I had to take photographs with my wife's mobile.

Angkor Wat is huge temple complex and is said to be the biggest Hindu temple in the world. Its built on a huge land of around 500 acres surrounded by moat on 4 sides. You have to reach the land through a cause way and you will reach outer wall enclosing an area of more than 200 acres. The outer wall has four entrances and have a hall way through out the length of the wall. After the outer wall its long walk through another cause way to reach main temple complex which was built in an area of 25 acres. This is a huge temple and you will only realise the sheer size if you see it with your own eyes. Between outer wall and main temple there are structures like libraries and during its prime this area hosted houses for public. This was built by king Suryavarman in 12 th centuary AD and is considered to be a temple for Vishnu.

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Inner court yard

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Sowanna informed us that the name of the temple was originally Nagaraj Wat named after the lengthy Naga statues outside. This later became Nagkor watt and when French invaded Cambodia, Nagkor became Angkor.

The walls of the main temple complex has huge galleries hosting bass reliefs depicting Ramayana, Mahabaratha, Churning of ocean of milk, Life of krishna, types of punishments in hell and procession of king Suryavarman on his way to defeat Champa( South Vietnam).

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The main temple complex is reached through very steep steps and is not for people afraid of heights.



Later that day visited Floating Village on huge Tonle sap lake where people live on boats and the whole village moves around.

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Visited Lotus farm on the way back

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Continued..
 
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Re: Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May2014

Continued...

Day 5

Pre Rup- Banteay Srei- Kbal Spean and drive to Preah Vihear Temple


Left hotel early in the morning to reach Bantey Srei and on the way stopped briefly at Pre Rup temple.

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Banteay Srei

This temple has very detailed carvings and the whole atmosphere was serene. My favourite temple in Angkor park

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False door

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Court Yard

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Kbal Spean

After Banteay srei went to Kbal Spean. This involves few kilometres by car and then trekking for a few more kilometres on a hill that can be exhausting. The track is not clear and often you have to climb or get down huge rocks.

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On the top you see images of Vishnu, Brahma and Multiple Siva Lingas carved on rocky river bed. The water flows over these carvings, getting blessed in the process. This is considered to be sacred water that later becomes river downhill. Ancient Khmers believed that because of this blessed water they were able to feed the people through agriculture, build huge temples and cities .

There was not much water when we visited as it was summer.

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Water from river flows through Vishnu...

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then through multiple Lingas before becoming sacred.

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Srah Em

Following tiresome trek up and down the hill we had a quick lunch at this road side hotel

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Later drove to small town of Srah Em around 200 kilometres from Siem Reap. This town is around 25 kilometres from remote Preah Vihear temple near Thai border. This is a remote part of Cambodia and as expected you do not get any tourist facilities. Srah Em seems to be the only decent size settlement near Preah Vihear . There is only one decent hotel- Preah Vihear Boutique Hotel - for a couple of hundred miles and we checked into this for a night stay and early morning trip to Preah Vihear. Most of the time the hotels runs on generator due to frequent power cuts in remote locations. The food here was good although expensive.

Preah Vihear Boutique Hotel

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Nice pool

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Continued...
 
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Re: Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May2014

Continued...

Day 6

Preah Vihear- koh Ker and Siem Reap


We started early in the morning for Preah Vihear temple. Preah Vihear temple is perched on a remote mountain on Thai Cambodian border. It is called mother of all temples as most of the temples built in Cambodia was modelled after this one. This temple was dedicated to Lord Siva and once you visit it you will realise why it is called Mother of all temples. During its prime time it was an important pilgrimage centre for people in Indochina on par with Varanasi in India. People would toil for days to reach this holy mountain, then climb steep and deadly steps to reach the temple

There is an ongoing dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over the territory of this temple. There has been a brief conflict between Thai and Cambodian armies few years ago near this temple. Parts of temple were damaged by shelling from Thai side and fortunately this did not cause huge damage. The mountain and temple are surrounded by Cambodian army who live with their families in make shift accommodation on the mountain. The border crossing between the Thailand and Cambodia near the temple is closed , fenced and allegedly land mined. The only way to reach this temple now is to show your passport ( you are not welcome if you are carrying a Thai passport) to the ticket centre and get a free ticket. You then have to rent one of the 4x4 Suv's to climb the ghat type mountain road guarded by Cambodian army. The ghat road ends few hundred meters from temple from where Thai border is only a few hundred meters away on the other side.

Ghat Road
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Closed border with Thailand - Thailand starts from the closed Gate
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A Cambodian soldier near the border showed me these and alleged that they came from Thai side during recent conflict.

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View of Thai military outpost from the Main temple

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Preah Vihear

This temple runs longitudinally for nearly a kilometer. You start with steps starting from border with Thailand and reach first Gopura. Then you have lengthy cause way before reaching steps to climb another Gopura and so on Over all there are five Gopuras before reaching main temple complex which is currently in a dilapidated state. The temple was built as such you can only see the area between two Gopuras at any time. There are some statues of Buddha , Ganesh and a Siva Linga in the main complex attended to by a lone Buddhist monk. There were no tourists in the main complex when we were there and my wife decided to spend some time here praying.

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A well preserved Gopura

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Steps from cause way to climb Gopura

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Inside Gopura

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One of the Cause ways- the cause ways are wonderful sight that cannot be described but has to be seen

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Main Temple Complex in a dilapidated state

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It took half a day to finish Preah Vihear . Later we got down the mountain and had a quick bite at a local restaurant near Srah Em.

Local Village restaurant
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On return to Siem reap we took a detour to visit remote Koh Ker group of temples- There are many temples here most of them small and unexplored. This is completely off the beaten track and most tourists do not go beyond Step Temple . We went further deep to see some of the smaller remote temples and we were the only people around. It is advisable to stick to marked paths/roads in Preah Vihear and Koh Ker as most of this area still has land mines from Khmer Rouge regime and only the main sites were demined.


Step Temple

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Remote temple - koh ker region did not bother to go around as worried about landmines

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One of the better accessible temple

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Found this remote Shiva temple- My Wife decided to stop the car and performed a small Pooja.

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Reached Siem Reap at around 7:00 PM

Day 7

Siem Reap- Singapore - Hyderabad

This was our return day . Spent around 6 hours transit in Singapore . I have to say after being to 15 countries Changi Airport has the best facilities to spend time during transit like gardens, cinema and video games lounge etc.


That's All Folks – end of my first travelogue. Hoping to visit Vietnam and Laos next and be back with part 2 of Delhi to Danang series .
 
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Re: Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May2014

Excellent travelogue buddy! I am looking forward to more pictures especially your Pajero. How old is he and how did it fare on this trip? Keep us posted.
 
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Nice travelogue and excellent pics. I hope you enjoyed the trip. But actually before I started reading, I thought you drove Pajero from India to Combodia and I was looking for your road journey experiences.
 
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Nice travelogue and excellent pics. I hope you enjoyed the trip. But actually before I started reading, I thought you drove Pajero from India to Combodia and I was looking for your road journey experiences.

My Apologies if the title and introduction were misleading. I have now amended the introduction slightly to make it more clear. I do not know how to edit the title though.

Thanks for the comments
 
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Re: Delhi To Danang (Part 1) Cambodia Trip May2014

Continued...

We started early in the morning for Preah Vihear temple. Preah Vihear temple is perched on a remote mountain on Thai Cambodian border. It is called mother of all temples as most of the temples built in Cambodia was modelled after this one. This temple was dedicated to Lord Siva and once you visit it you will realise why it is called Mother of all temples. During its prime time it was an important pilgrimage centre for people in Indochina on par with Varanasi in India. People would toil for days to reach this holy mountain, then climb steep and deadly steps to reach the temple
Hi aysrinivas, wow nice travelogue. We have plans to visit this side, but derailed due to some other issues. Your travelogue is tempting us to consider these countries immediately.

Good effort. Awaiting the next part.
 

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