We visited the fisherman’s villages on Tonlé Sap lake yesterday. Tonlé Sap is:

Tonlé Sap (Khmer: ទន្លេសាប IPA: [tunleː saːp], literally large river (tonle); fresh, not salty (sap), commonly translated to ‘great lake’) refers to a seasonally inundated freshwater lake, the Tonlé Sap Lake and an attached river, the 120 km (75 mi) long Tonlé Sap River, that connects the lake to the Mekong River.[1

Due to it being the dry season, we weren’t able to see the houseboat villages but we were able to see the stilt systems that are erected under the houses along the banks each to raise them up enough to remain above the high water line. These houses are permanent whereas the houseboats come and go during the fishing season.

We took tour boats to see the villages and then arrived at a floating barge where we switched to smaller canoe type boats to take a tour through the mangrove forest.

Most of the large tour boats were operated by men whilst all of the smaller, single paddle canoe type boats had female paddlers.

The mangrove tour took us past many women selling snacks and drinks out of their canoes and ended at a floating restaurant where we climbed back aboard our tour boat to go watch the sunset. It amazes me how the villagers have established an entire tourist trap operation out on the water in tiny boats!

The lake is very muddy from the silty bottom, apparently it is this sediment that makes it great for fish. But, clean water is a problem for the villagers and many of them get sick from using it for drinking and washing dishes. Access to clean water is problem out there.

This first series of photos is of the mangrove forest tour.

Women brought their children along to work with themThis is the “dock” where we switched from the tour boat to the mangrove canoePanos and I on our canoeThis little girl was waving at us as we passed by her canoe. Her mother was selling drinks and snacks alongside the path we took through the mangrovesThis was the floating restaurant where we swapped back into out tour boat. These are some

Of the tour boat operators, taking a snackThese are the mangrove tour boats. We sat on the reed mats behind the women. Most of whom sat and paddled, which looked terrifically inefficient. A few of them kneeled, they paddled much better from that position. But, everyone managed to get their boats through the forest and there wasn’t any great rush for the whole thing so I guess efficiency didn’t really matter much.

Below are photos of the tour boats and the stilt houses. People wash clothes, dishes and themselves in this water, in addition, they toilet and fish in it. I am thankful for hot and cold running water in my life.

The boat engine is interesting. The steering mechanism consists of ropes on pulleys that connect to the propeller.Us on our tour boat. The bunch of bananas threw me off a bit as bananas on boats are superstitious bad luck in the US. Apparently they have something to do with the Chinese New Year holiday that is fast approaching.

These final photos are of the sun setting over the lake.

We spent yesterday at the Angkor temple complex in Siam Reap, Cambodia.

The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskritnagara (नगर), meaning “city”.[3] The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the KhmerHindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a “universal monarch” and “god-king”, and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under Ayutthayan suzerainty in 1351. A Khmer rebellion against Siamese authority resulted in the 1431 sacking of Angkor by Ayutthaya, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.

The ruins of Angkor are located amid forests and farmland north of the Great Lake (Tonlé Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern-day Siem Reap city (13°24′N, 103°51′E), in Siem Reap Province. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the Angkor Wat, said to be the world’s largest single religious monument. Many of the temples at Angkor have been restored, and together, they comprise the most significant site of Khmer architecture. Visitors approach two million annually, and the entire expanse, including Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom is collectively protected as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The popularity of the site among tourists presents multiple challenges to the preservation of the ruins.

In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world, with an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi) to the well-known temples at its core.[4] Angkor is considered to be a “hydraulic city” because it had a complicated water management network, which was used for systematically stabilizing, storing, and dispersing water throughout the area.[5] This network is believed to have been used for irrigation in order to offset the unpredictable monsoon season and to also support the increasing population.[4] Although the size of its population remains a topic of research and debate, newly identified agricultural systems in the Angkor area may have supported up to one million people.[6]

We began the day very early to catch the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple. This temple is the largest religious monument in the world.

Angkor Wat (Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត or “Capital Temple”) is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world,[1] on a site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres).[2] It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century.[3] It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II[4] in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (Khmer: យសោធរបុរៈ, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia,[5] appearing on its national flag, and it is the country’s prime attraction for visitors.[6]

The size of Angkor Wat (the name means temple city) is incredible. There are stairs up to the top that are really steep, they have built wooden stairs, with a hand rail, over the old stone steps and even those are quite a climb. I can’t imagine going up and down the original steps, with no railing!

you can see the blocky steps to the left side, these were for the ladies of the time. Then the handrail was added and eventually, they have put wooden stairs over one of the flights of stone steps to aid access. a close up view of the stairs gives you an idea of how steep they are. This isn’t an odd angled photo, they truly go very close to vertical, it’s dauntingthese are one of the flights of stairs that I mentioned!People pray and light incense at the feet of these statutesThis is designed to look like the head of a cobraThis is the bridge over the most that was dug all the way around Angkor Wat.

Next we visited Ta Prohm, which you may recognize from the movie “Tomb Raider.” Apparently Angelina Jolie started in it and was filmed here. The interesting thing about Ta Prohm is that you can see the forest trying to reclaim the land. The trees are pushing right up through, and destroying, the temples.

see the smiling face from the temple, the tree is growing right around it.This photo is interesting because there was a carving of a Buddha on the wall here and it was defaced because the country switched around from Buddhism’s to Hinduism and then back a few times. The defacement of cultural art and antiquities in the name of religion saddens me. It is ignorance and intolerance in its highest form. The ancient city of Palmyra, currently being destroyed by Isis, is a heartbreaking example of the ignorance of modern day humans. Buddhist monks wander around the temples. Apparently Buddhism has significantly relaxed its strictures for monks. They used to have to give up ownership of all but 7 items. Now they currently all seem to carry smart phones. You can see this monk has his in his hand. My first photo caught him using it. It would make quite a striking ad for Samsung!

Last stop of the day was Angkor Thom or Bayon. The name means great city. It has detailed carvings showing life at the time. We were told that the culture of the time didn’t yet have an alphabet, which we found surprising as it was only about 1000 years ago. This was not an ancient civilization.

My friends playing some of the local instruments. They need a bit more practice!

The consummate tourist photo, rubbing noses with one of the smiling faces of Bayon!

Today was primarily eating and lounging, with some scooter riding thrown in for excitement!

Lunch was huge amounts of dim sum and dinner consisted of a four hour culinary (local food) tour on the backs of Vietnamese college student’s motor scooters.

The scooters toured us all around the city, stopping at pre-arranged restaurants to eat different local foods. We had some delicious meals and were given the opportunity to eat a fertilized duck egg. I couldn’t do it. Some friends did.

The first course was a green papaya salad with liver, which was surprisingly good as I generally dislike liver. The liver here is marinated in honey, garlic and other spices and then dried. The consistency was that of beef jerky which I found much more palatable than the texture of liver prepared fresh.

Course number two was fried quail which was delicious! You could eat it like tiny chicken wings but I preferred it prepared as a sandwich with herbaceous greens on the Vietnamese baguette (bánh mi) which is much lighter than a French baguette. You can see the quail head in a photo below. I took a pass on that part.

We then moved on to a crab dish that had noodles and rice pops. The broth was coconut milk based and the dipping sauce was chili and lime.

Onward to pork pancakes that were cooked outside in a barbecue style. My friends gave the cooking a try. This is where we were given lessons in how to consume the such egg. When she said “you start by cracking a small hole in the top and sucking out the liquid,” it was game over for me.

Last course was my favorite, coconut ice cream with either mangoes or black rice and frozen yogurt with hibiscus flowers. Yum!

Duck egg delight

Day two saw us getting in a little bit of culture. We went to the Reunification Palace (Independence Palace) and the war remnants museum. In addition to checking out the city in the daytime and trying some local cuisine. I’m still boggled by the number of scooters here, intersections are hilarious.

As for the palace it “was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during theVietnam War. It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.” Wikipedia

I didn’t find the architecture or interior design of the palace appealing (it felt rather communist block style) but it was interesting to see the opulence of it and recognize that while the country was in the midst of a horrific war, one side was living in such luxury.

The next stop after the palace was the war remnants museum. I struggled there seeing the photo displays of birth defects from agent orange, war crimes and US service men in country. I’m saddened that wars continue to happen around the world despite the fact that they rarely seem to have any positive outcomes.

At one point in the afternoon I had the “opportunity” to try birds nest drink.

Edible bird’s nests are bird nests created by edible-nest swiftlets using solidified saliva, which are harvested for human consumption. They are particularly prized in Chinese culture due to their rarity, and supposedly high nutritional value and exquisite flavor. Edible bird’s nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans[citation needed], with nests being sold recently at prices up to about US$2,000 per kilogram, depending on grading.

The texture was slippery with chunks, I choked down a big mouthful of it and can add it to the list of things I have tried. It’s certainly not going on the favorites list.

Lunch was Vietnamese Pho (pronounced fu) which is a broth based soup with lots of greens, spices and chunks of meat. Dinner had us at a restaurant where the cooking is modeled after local home cooking. Prices here are unbelievable but the currency is loaded with zeros so doing the exchange math is a bit funny. Our dinner for six, consisting of huge amounts of food, a cocktail or glass of wine (or two) for each person plus a few bottles of local rice wine came to 3,500,000 dong…or about $23 USD per person!

Following dinner was a nightclub called Republic. We split into two taxis and my group ended up at the wrong club named Republic…we got it sorted and found out upon arriving at the correct one that we were initially at the largest gay club in the city. It was a good laugh. The club included just about everything, drinks, shisha, fresh fruit and whippets.

We even squeezed a bit of tourist shopping into the day!