Cambodia: Sunday, March 07, 2004

FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE

FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE
End of Day 2.

OLD FRENCH WATCH TOWER

THE BANKS OF THE MEKONG RIVER

NEW MONUMENT

LIVING QUARTERS

ALVINA WITH SOME KIDS

FEATURE

MORE ARTWORK

ART WORK

INSIDE WAT HANCHEY

WAT HANCHEY

A hilltop Pagoda that was an important center of worship during the Chenla period, and today offers some of the best Mekong views in Cambodia. As well as a contemporary wat, there is a brick sanctuary dating from the 8^th century and the foundations of several others.

DEATH AT WAT NOKOR

DEATH AT WAT NOKOR
These skulls are a grissly reminder of the violent history this country endured.

STUPAS, WAT NOKOR

MONUMENTS OF WAT NOKOR

CYCLING THROUGH WAT NOKOR

WEDDING

WEDDING
While we were in Cambodia there were weddings everywhere. Driving along the roads every 20 km's or so we passed a marguee with music blaring and merryment making. It's harder to organise in the wet season due to most of the place being flooded. This couple, very young couple, were getting blessings at Wat Nokor.

CARVINGS AT WAT NOKOR

JACK OF ALL TRADES

COLOUR

GUARDIAN AT WAT NOKOR

WAT NOKOR, A MEETING OF CULTURES

Just outside Kampong Cham is this 11^th century Mahayana Buddhist shrine of sandstone and laterite, which today houses an active Theravada wat. It’s really a temple within a temple and many of the older buildings archways have been incorporated into the new building as shrines for worship.

PENCILS FOR THE CHILDREN

PENCILS FOR THE CHILDREN
Ute and Judy brought pencils and erasers everywhere and dished them out to the kids that hung around every tourist attraction.

GOING TO MARKET

KAMPONG CHAM

The province is Cambodia’s most populous, with over 1.6 million inhabitants, and the people make their living from fishing, rice farming and producing a rich array of fruits in fertile orchards, including durian, rambutans and lychees.

Most people in Kampong Cham are of course ethnic Khmer, but there is a sizeable Cham minority in the province's towns, including a disproportionately high number of Muslims and Christians.

Day 2

The next morning, Sunday, we departed Phnom Penh on an Intrepid bus for Kampong Cham.

We stopped at the little town of Skuon for a taste of fried spiders.

Our hotel in Kampong Cham was the Mekong hotel with rooms overlooking the Mekong River. Kampong Cham is the third largest city in Cambodia, but has yet to be heavily touristed like Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. It carries with it plenty of colonial French charm, and has a genuine "wild west" feel to it.

We dumped our stuff and after picking up a guide we went to Wat Nokor.

Wat Hanchey on hilltop with great view.

When we got back, close to sunset, we went for a walk across the 'Friendship Bridge' for a look at the ruined French tower across the river.

Sunday, March 07, 2004