The temple was built in the late 12th century and was later to serve as the tomb for the mother of one of the ancient king's (she actually died at 89 years of age which I think was remarkable. It differs from the other temples we saw in that it is a) mostly flat - really only one level, b) the central tower is quite plain because originally it was covered in silver and gold (of course that was all stolen in the past) and c) it is over run by these gigantic trees. In fact, these trees have become interwoven with the stones and bricks of the temple so have become part of it. It sits about 1 km off of the road, and as you walk down the jungle path to the temple its incredible that they ever found it again here. They are still in the process of restoring it - its been nearly 10 years so far and they've been granted another 10.
The temple itself is very serene and peaceful. Quite unlike the entry outside the temple which has swarms of souvenir sellers. I think the look on my Dad's face says it all!
Next up was a little journey to the river village in Siem Reap where people live a very simple and yet happy life. The road through the village is alongside a small river so the houses on one side of the river are built up on stilts to accomodate the annual flooding. Once again the conditions in which these people live makes me very grateful for what we have. Many of them combine their work and their home so their front room will be full of containers of dried fish, or machine parts or whatever their trade is. Some homes were just that - a small, probably 2 - 3 metres square little hut constructed from wood and palm tree fronds. Most often a couple of hammocks strung up in a small little shack. There were a handful of very large and expensive homes built in the area too, but the majority were certainly not like that. Apparantly the government is trying to move some of them away by offering them $8k US. At first that sounds a lot, but considering that most of the land here is about $1k a square metre it doenst go a long way. Some people choose to move if they have somewhere cheap to move to. Looking at most of these houses Id think you could pack up the contents and put them in the boot of a car.
We drove for about a half hour to a little marina where we boarded a small river boat to go for a ride up to the Tonle Sap river. This is a living fishing village - everything here is on the water, including schools and a volleyball court. None of us was overly excited about getting on what looked to be a very dodgy boat, but it was well worth the time. Lots of kids here, some rowing to school, some swimming in the brown muddy water and some helping their parents with the fishing nets. Most of the people here fish for a living - the dad fishes at night and sleeps during the day, the mum processes and sells the fish during the day. Theres no running water or electricity here - they get free bottles of drinking water delivered from the govt, and their tv's are run off of a car battery.
We finished up around lunchtime and that was the end of our time touring Siem Reap. One thing I can say about tourism here is that its pretty clear that most of the tourist attractions are pretty expensive (ie the boat ride was $20usd each, entry to Angkor Wat was $40 each)) They do however make it pretty clear that the money you spend is getting put back into developing the local communities so that takes the sting off of the prices a little.
