Tuesday 11 March
Henning Hjorth, Anette and Erik, Gunver and Tom, Birgit and Grethe had all looked forward to this trip for months and now the day had come. It was a long journey: From Fredericia to Copenhagen (by train) - 2 hours, from Copenhagen to Bangkok (by plain of course) – 10 hours and 30 minutes and from Bangkok to Phnom Penh in Cambodia (again by plain) – 1 hour and 15 minutes. Everything went well and we had a nice flight and on arrival we were met by our new friend Ratha that Henning knows from previous visits. After we were installed in the hotel, she and a young man from her family took us on a fascinating tour of the capital. First we visited the famous and horrible Tocul Sleng prison, then a big market - the Russian market, and a well known pagoda. After that we were tired, had to have some lunch and then we all got massages at a clinic where all physiotherapists are blind. A very good massage, it was! In the late afternoon we walked around the corner from our hotel to visit the elegant and stately royal palace - beautiful buildings and beautiful parks met us and we had a good look at everything. After that Ratha had ordered dinner at a restaurant, and it fell out to everyone's satisfaction, although it was different to what we usually eat at home. Ratha’s brother Sambath was there. I met him on my first visit in 2008 and it was very nice to meet him again. After the meal it was a bunch of tired Danes who went to sleep in our hotel rooms with the air conditioning on full speed as it is very hot here.
Ratha
Tocul Sleng prison
Tocul Sleng prison
Tocul Sleng prison
Famous artist
Royal Palace
The whole group and Ratha and daughter
Wat Nom
Ratha and daughter
Wednesday 12 March
A good night's sleep after the long journey and all the experiences from yesterday did well and after a nice breakfast we were ready to go on a trip out of Phnom Penh. Ratha and her nephew were with us as guides and we drove out of town in a minibus. There is a lot of traffic in Phnom Penh - mostly motorcycles and scooters but also quite a lot of cars - often large, fairly new cars, and it is amazing how they merge, and they do not have many traffic lights. In fact there are only queues at the traffic lights! Today's first visit was at a school for poor and homeless children. Henning had provided Ratha with a sum of money for which she had bought school bags for all the children. We were entertained with various exotic treats and water, and we were invited into the classrooms where we looked a little at their books and noticed how nice they could write. They also knew a little English - My name is .... I am ..... years old, but the oldest were only 10-12 years old. After that we drove out of Phnom Penh and visited several pagodas. The first was very beautiful and rich with the most incredible objects in wood, so it was a pure exhibition, and Ratha told us that it had the reputation of being the most beautiful pagoda throughout Cambodia. Next to the other pagoda there was an immense amount of covered dining places that were mostly used over the weekend, but also on a Wednesday you could have something to eat there. Ratha ordered chicken and the intention was that we should sit and eat on the floor which most of us did not like but we found a solution and enjoyed the meal. In the evening Ratha had arranged a meal at a very nice restaurant by the river and again she, Sambath and the nephew took part in the meal. We had an enjoyable evening and then back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.
Grethe and student at school
Beautiful pagoda outside Phnom Penh
Beautiful pagoda outside Phnom Penh
Thursday 13 March
Thursday 13 March From Phnom Penh to Siem Riep. Up early and off in”Tuk tukker” to a bus station some distance from our hotel. Birgit and I were in the last Tuk tuk and when we arrived at the bus station the driver wanted money , but Henning had paid in advance, so we did not want to give him anything but in the end we gave him what we had in Cambodian money, but he was still not satisfied. In the end we got hold of Henning but obviously the other drivers had cheated our driver and left with the money, and it meant we had to pay a few more dollars to the driver. It was a very long trip on the bus, even if it was "only" 400 km. The road is being expanded, so there were road works a very large part of the way. There was just one stop on the way, and it was hot in the bus in spite of the air conditioning. However, we could still enjoy the journey that led us through a landscape that was flat, but with several major cities along the way, and along the road there were houses and stalls almost all the way. Cows that were very skinny were searching for grass along the road. It is very obvious that we are in the dry season, but nevertheless flowering shrubs and beautiful lotus could be seen along the roadside. When we arrived at the hotel we were tired and due to some problems we were divided into two hotels close to each other. We did not have much time before we left the hotel again because it was time to go and experience the sunset at Ankor Wat. Many, many people every evening gather there to watch the sun go down. We were lucky to see a big beautiful sun go down towards the horizon, but a while before it reached the horizon, it disappeared in the mist, and everybody began the walk back from the mountain and on the way back to the city in the tuk tukker, the fresh air was welcomed by a bunch of sweaty Danes. Some historical facts: In Angkor over 1 million people lived here 1000 years ago, for comparison only 20,000 lived in Paris; it has the same size as the Imperial Palace Beijing. As many stones as were used to build the Cheops pyramid were used to build Ankor Wat. And the area is 25% larger than New York.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat
Sunrise
At Angkor Wat
More about Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Very steep stairs
The whole group
Tuk Tuk
Friday the 14 March Our alarm clocks rang at 4.45 a.m., and at. 5:15 we were all ready to take our seats in 4 tuk tukker and set us against Ankor Wat in pitch -darkness, along with many other tourists to experience the sunrise over the famous temple. We found a good place on a wall overlooking the temple while it was still dark, and when it began to lighten, we sat waiting for the sun's rays, but unfortunately we had to wait quite a long time, because the sun was well over the top of Angkor Wat before we saw it as it was a little misty. Then we went to get breakfast, and after that the fantastic walk around in the large area could begin. We visited 4 of the known sites - Angkor Thom was the first one, then we went in the tuk tukker to the Bayonet temple which is known as the temple with the many faces, the Ta Prom temple is the temple with the big trees, and after having seen these temples it was time for lunch. The temples cover an enormous area, and our drivers were always ready to take us further and also with ice-cold water as soon as we sat down in the tuk tukker. We enjoyed the wind in our faces as we drove along - it was a very, very hot day. After lunch we ended up visiting the most famous of all the temples, namely Angkor Wat. To get up to the temple, you have to walk quite a long stretch where you cannot avoid the sun beaming down on you, so we walked as determined and quickly as possible to the entrance and to the coolness of the building and then we could enjoy this beautiful temple with its amazing friezes on the walls, which you also see at the other temples. The temples have been populated by alternating Hindus and Buddhists, and they have been busy erasing the traces of the other religion every time they have taken over from each other. After the visit Anette and Erik went to a textile mill, which they found very interesting, while Birgit and Grethe visited a diamond centre, which disappointed us. In the evening we gathered at “Henning’s hotel”, with Cambodian guests - a young girl Sopal, and her husband, and our guide Chhiev with wife and children. We had great food, and at 10 pm. the party ended after a long, good and very hot day.
Ta Prom
Henning, Gunver and Tom
A port of entry to the royal city of Angkor Thom
Sopal
Sopal and man
Chhiev and his wife
Saturday 15 March
We woke up in Cambodia and go to bed in Vietnam, where we stay for one night at a hotel in Saigon. We were allowed a slightly late start to the day and met at 9.30 for today's outing. We first visited the Killing Fields temple, built to commemorate the victims from the Pol Pot regime. Chhiev, yesterday’s guide told us how he was saved from being a part of the Red Khmeer. As a young boy he and the other boys loved to play soldiers and shoot, but his parents did not like that and sent him to a pagoda where he lived and went go to school, and he ended up spending eight years there, the last period as a monk until he was about 20 years. Sopal that we met last night and had as our guide today, told us how her parents had been forced to marry together with a group of 200 people by the Red Khmeer. We were also told that not long they have been divorced. After the temple we visited Chhiev’s home and saw his crocodiles, and afterwards we had a slightly longer stay at Sopal’s house, where she lives with her mother and several sisters and their family. We were offered drinks and very delicious mango! After that we went on a trip far outside the city to a kind of place, from where we sailed on the river until we came to the big lake, where a large community of fishermen lives in a floating village. We visited one of the boats that was a shop where we among other things could buy the most beautiful crocodile bags. All day we were transported around the Siem Riep area in tuk tukker, and the last trip to the airport was also in our tuk tukker. We got on board early and were ready for departure half an hour before time and had a fine - but short - flight to Saigon where we were just before 7 pm. The luggage arrived very quickly, we changed dollars to Vietnam dongs and outside stood two of Henning's good friends - a pair of sisters - and received us. I was also warmly received by one of the sisters, Thu, that I know from previous visits. We drove to the hotel, and after a short time, we went to a restaurant and had something to eat. Now we're tired and we have to get up very early tomorrow morning to go on the trip out of town.
Chhievs home and his pet crocodiles
Business with kokodille skins
Boat trip on the river
Ton le Sap river