Image above: The surreal sight of the flooded forest of Kompung Phhluk. [Tuesday 29 September] | [View all photos]
Day 25 of my RTW trip and after all the Angkor temples, Ada and I took an extended day trip out from Siem Reap to see what else Cambodia had to offer.
Our first port of call was the Kompong Phhluk but on the way we stopped off at this authentic local market that was hardly frequented by tourists. So Ada and I could wander around and mingle amongst the locals as they did their morning shopping. Sophea did a grand job taking us around and showing what we could buy and we even met this adorable granny too.
Then after driving a bit further we transferred from to a skiff to make the rest of the journey to the village of Kompong Phhluk village that’s built on stilts to stay above the monsoon rains that elevate Tonle Sap lake by six metres each year. It was a great experience just drifting through seeing how life continued except that everyone was on boats instead of on foot or in cars.
However, the highlight was transferring (again) to a narrow wooden dugout canoe to silently coast through the flooded forest surrounding the village. Aside from the canoe being a bit too unstable for my liking it was a surreal experience seeing all the trees with all that water.
After lunch, we headed to the temple of Beng Mealea which was more overgrown and ruined that the atmospheric Ta Prohm. Given how much nature had reasserted herself, it was also extremely fun exploring the place by making our way by clambering over and through the fallen masonry to get as high as we could. There were a few local kids who just used the place like their personal obstacle course and they would just run through completely fearless of the steep drops below in various sections.
The day whizzed by and before long we were back in Siem for a delightful dinner at the rather plush Foreign Correspondent’s Club. However, more excitement was to come as Ada managed to roll a six when we got the bill which meant that we got a colossal 60% off!
And then we had so much fun trying to get back to the hotel which was only 10 mins walk away. 10 mins if the roads were normal but because it was torrentially raining we ended wading through knee high flooded road wearing black bin liners, kindly provided by the FCC staff, in a futile attempt to stay dry. Needless to say we we ended walking into our hotel completely soaked, leaving a trail of water behind us, and laughing so much at the whole situation. An imperfect perfect way to end the day!
Coming up … our last day in Siem Reap before heading to Phnom Penh for the final part of our Cambodia trip.
Travel Stats:
25 days travelled of 29
10 places visited in 7 countries in 3 continents
46.0 hours spent in 13 planes
34,490 km travelled
16 time zones crossed
- RTW – Los Angeles – Part 1
- RTW – Los Angeles – Part 2
- RTW – Cook Islands – Part 1
- RTW – Cook Islands – Part 2
- RTW – Cook Islands – Part 3
- RTW – Wellington – Part 1
- RTW – Wellington – Part 2
- RTW – Wellington – Part 3
- RTW – Wellington – Part 4
- RTW – Wellington to Melbourne
- RTW – Melbourne – Part 1
- RTW – Melbourne – Part 2
- RTW – Melbourne – Part 3
- RTW – Melbourne to Perth
- RTW – Perth – Part 1
- RTW – Perth – Part 2
- RTW – Singapore
- RTW – Hong Kong
- RTW – Macau
- RTW – Siem Reap – Part 1
- RTW – Siem Reap – Part 2
- RTW – Siem Reap – Part 3
- RTW – Siem Reap – Part 4
- RTW – Siem Reap – Part 5
- RTW – Phnom Penh – Part 1
- RTW – Phnom Penh – Part 2
- RTW – Hong Kong
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