We have bought a two day ticket ($40 US each – doesn’t come cheap to see the wonders of the world) but our second day is mixed. Hordes of Japanese and Chinese tour groups mean we ccan hardly squeeze into the Bantay Srei, temple, all carved pink sandstone on one level with a moat with a traditional orchestra, amputees playing the instruments, thrown in (Brian can never resist music of any kind and buys a CD). Then back to the tuktuk to get to the next sight – a waterfall with carvings from the same 12thC period under the water. We are sustained on the long hot dusty trudge up to the fall by the thought of a swim but it is a sacred place of course and “no enter the water” signs are everywhere. Pringles will have to do.
The highlight of the day is the landmine museum and orphanage on the way back. It is privately run by a man who in his youth as a child soldier for the Kmer Rouge laid landmines and then as an older adult became an expert in defusing them. On display is a copy of National Geographic, Jan 2011, which has a large feature article on him and this enterprise. All proceeds go to the orphanage attached to the museum (no tourists can visit, no photos of children allowed – as elsewhere in Cambodia this is strict) and we buy up bits and pieces including a new bracelet for me to replace the one Brian bought for me back in the mid 80s in Nepal which broke in 2008 in Pompeii. This one is brass and made out of a recycled ordinance (bombs? guns? Surely there is something symbolic here for a marriage?) – the $30US they charge is really a donation. Very nice!
- Annie
