Christmas in Cambodia

Christmas. Oh WAT a wonderful time of the year!! Right… I’ve got that terrible temple pun out of my system so we can move on now.

25^th December-29^th December (Siem Reap & Angkor Wat)

Christmas in Cambodia. A tad different to usual…. Temperature = around 30 degrees. Christmas lunch = banana smoothies and iced coffee. Christmas walk = a stroll around Siem Reap and a visit to the APOPO centre. Although ‘Pub Street’ did have an overwhelming number of Christmas decorations and our afternoon drink stop blared out jazzy Christmas songs. I guess some things never change.

On Christmas Day we woke in a beautiful homestay and spent the morning swimming in the jungle themed pool. We then did one of our favourite activities of the trip thus far… a visit to the APOPO centre (Website: https://www.apopo.org/en). APOPO is a non-profit organisation which operates in eight countries around the world. The company uses rats to help with various tasks, and in Cambodia that’s clearing land mines. As a result of three decades of war, there are thousands of unexploded mines throughout the country, mostly in rural areas. The mines have caused many deaths and life changing injuries (~19,000 and 51,000 respectively) to civilians, 50% of whom are children and means that people are afraid to tend to their crops and/or to travel. Historically the mines have been cleared by humans with metal detectors, but this is slow and dangerous for the operator. Up step the HERO rats. The rats are trained in Tanzania for 6-12 months before being sent around the world. They can clear a size of land the area of a tennis court in 30 minutes (it would take a human ~4 days) and they don’t activate the mines as they weigh ~1.5 kg, which is below the trigger point of 3 kg. Currently there are 51 rats in Cambodia and they live a wild but pampered lifestyle, working on mine detection from the early hours until mid-morning, before being pampered with air conditioned rooms and tasty snacks. The rats are doing amazing work and in the last three years have cleared ~1000 mines in Cambodia. For $5 per person we were given a tour of the centre, including meeting one of the rats called Bosco. I was so impressed that I am going to change my monthly direct debit (which currently supports a UK based charity) to APOPO. Training the rats is expensive (~£6000) and they also need to be cared for in Cambodia. I cannot think of a more worthwhile cause.

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The afternoon was spent exploring Siem Reap before meeting Helen’s parents for more Christmas fun (woohoo the Fells have arrived). It was amazing to see them as we had been looking forward to the moment for many weeks. After some drinks and relaxing we headed back to the homestay for an evening swim and a recharge of the batteries ready for some prime temple exploring.

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Angkor Wat is amazing. On Boxing Day we had an incredible day exploring the temples at Siem Reap. First we visited Angkor Wat itself, which is the most famous of the temples, also giving the temple complex its name. The Angkor Wat temple was built during the early 12^th century in the reign of King Suryavarman II and was originally constructed as a Hindu temple (dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire) but it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. Whilst the three dominating spires and architecture were stunning, by far the greatest attraction for us were the amazing frescoes including a giant goose, various battle scenes (normally gods versus demons) and nymphs with crazy hair styles (>2000 with 37 different styles). We then moved onto the weird and wacky Angkor Thom and Bayon Temple, famous for its 54 gothic towers with 200 smiling faces. The Angkor Thom complex was huge and we also visited a variety of temples hidden in the forests, complete with hidden passages. One of which was pieced back together brick by brick after being destroyed in the war. A giant jigsaw puzzle. The only downside to the day was that I didn’t have my Indiana Jones hat which would have been so appropriate. Temples galore!

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On day two (and in line with all great childhood adventure books) the parents were ill, so the famous three (Helen, Joe and Rob) went out exploring. Let loose in the wild jungles of Cambodia, we rented bikes and explored the temples. We cruised past Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom before our first stop, the impressive Ta Keo (Temple Mountain in Angkor) which is thought to be the first temple built entirely with sandstone. Then onto Ta Prohm, famous for featuring in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider film with its stunning ruins intertwined with trees (although these have been manicured slightly to maintain this mysterious look). The downside to the temple was the amount of tourists and we all enjoyed our walk around the majestic Sras Srang (a 12^th century lake/complex) and visit to the Bantaey Kdei Temple much more (with the exception of some extremely disrespectful tourists who were climbing on the ruins and branded Rob a ‘judgemental *****’ when he pointed this out). We finished with a visit to Preah Neak Poan, a glorious temple in the middle of a lake, with intertwined nagas (seven headed snakes that play a role in the transition from the human to spiritual world). The day was fantastic and we finished with tired legs, sore bums and big smiles.

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On Saturday (28^th) we got to see a different side to Cambodia. As a special treat from Sarah and Patrick (a massive thank you!!) we went on a bird watching/lake exploring tour of Tonle Sap Lake. The tour was arranged through the Sam Veasna Centre (Website: https://samveasna.com/) and it was class. We were picked up at 5.30 am and travelled to the Tonle Sap Lake, and specifically the Prek Toal reserve. The area is home to a vast number of bird species. Most are water birds feeding on the fish and aquatic life in the flooded forest, but there are also forest birds that feed on insects giving the lake a unique wildlife diversity. However, for around 15 of these bird species the lake represents their last chance of survival in Southeast Asia. Sadly this is largely due to human activity, including extensive fishing, hunting and the destruction of their habitats with deforestation. The Same Veasna Centre aims to sustain Cambodia’s wildlife and communities using ecotourism. I never would have thought that bird watching would be my thing, but we had a great morning spotting birds including oriental darters, spot billed pelicans, the black headed ibis, great and intermediate egrets, Asian openbills, blue tailed bee-eaters, black bitterns and the rare milky stalk. Our guide, Hang Oeung, was brilliant, explaining about the birds and making us laugh with his wonderful sense of humour. We then visited the floating village of Saray and learnt about fishing and the water hyacinth handicraft industry (run by the local ladies), which helps to remove the pesky weed (brought in by Europeans) and also provides another income for the community. Another wonderful day and a nice contrast to the tourist heavy Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

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Today (29^th) another day of temple exploring awaits. Fair to say we love Cambodia so far and it’s been an amazing Christmas experience.