Whatever It Takes to Get There ...

Travel can take a variety of forms, especially transportation.

On this Southeast Asia trip we arrived in Phnom Penh Cambodia on Saturday via an early morning flight from Rangoon Myanmar/Burma.  We stopped on the way in Bangkok and changed planes.  We were flying with Air Asia, which has a bit of a mixed record lately.  You may recall some missing flights and such over Malaysia.  Fortunately, we made it safe and sound.

We have been to Cambodia before, early this year in fact on our Round the World trip.  But this was our first trip to Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city.  We didn't know what to expect, and we were pleasantly surprised. 

My image of Phnom Penh was a war torn, poverty stricken, bombed out city struggling to rebuild after years of civil war that nearly destroyed Cambodia.  This may have been true a few years ago, but not now.  Phnom Penh was impressive and really on the move with a lot of construction and forward momentum.  Our hotel was modern clean and possibly the best place we stayed on this whole trip.

Being intrepid explorers (!), we set out to make the best of our short time there and went for a boat excursion.  We sailed across the mighty Mekong River, which runs all throughout Southeast Asia.  




We landed at an island with the destination of a silk production facility where they produce the finest silk, even better than Thailand.  The picture below shows the silkworms eating mulberry leaves, which they spin into cocoons, where silk thread comes from. 

From there we went on a horse drawn cart ride through the village area, which was pretty eye-opening, with every imaginable range of housing from "comfortable" to "poor".  This region is very wet, and a lot of the land is what we would probably call wetlands (almost swampy), with standing water everywhere, especially after the heavy rain. 

We ended up at a very colorful temple, where I was able to capture this picture of two young monks in the doorway as the sun was going down.  

Phnom Penh has a lively river front along the Mekong with every kind of restaurant and a lively night life, which again was not expected.  I would foresee this city taking its place among the major cities of the region.  

 

We left early the next morning for a long bus trip to Siem Riep, Cambodia, where we would return to the Angkor Wat ruins, this time with our son Lewis and his wife Ruby.  This journey was much better than the ill fated grueling train ride in Myanmar, although - at seven hours long - it was not a quick trip around the corner.  

We arrived in Siem Riep, late in the afternoon yesterday, and found our way to our AirBNB accommodations.  This is our last stop on this trip.  Angkor Wat awaits.