My holiday in Cambodia proved to be worth more than my weight in gold... Priceless!

A few months ago I visited an old friend and she showed me some photo’s of her holiday in Cambodia. I have never been to the East – never wanted to go. Europe and Africa have always been my favourite travel destinations.

Well --- the moment I saw the picture of her in front of the magnificent Ta Prohm ruin at Angkor Wat, an ancient religious site at Angkor, I fell in love with the mysterious, unknown land of Cambodia.

Our holiday in Cambodia started like this: We (Louis and I) left in the month of November, which in my opinion is the best time to go for a holiday in Cambodia, as it is the coolest, driest season of the year. We had a short stopover in Singapore because we were flying with South African Airways. We arrived at the sleepy backwater village of Siem Reap late in the afternoon, although Siem Reap is one of the biggest towns in Cambodia, the main city being Phnom Pheng in the north. We took a taxi ride to our hotel, the beautiful Meridien Angkor Hotel, where we were staying for the 5 days of our visit. The hotel was a cool oasis, with the scent of lemongrass in the air and a beautiful water garden with huge palms and tall grass plants stirring in the warm breeze. I was excited to unpack and start exploring the culture of the people of Cambodia.

The next few days we were busy exploring all the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Each day we were travelling with our tuk-tuk from the hotel to the Angkor Wat temples. The history of Cambodia is so unknown to most people and me, that I was educating myself for the first time.

In the afternoons we would return to our hotel, tired and hot and would be greeted by the amazing smell of lemongrass in the air. Everywhere in the hotel, on the little coffee tables, there would be small lamps with a little ceramic bowl on top, filled with lemongrass incense heated by an electric light. It would smell so fresh and inviting …………

The massage and spa facilities in and around our hotel and Siem Reap are amazing. Every other shop offers some kind of a massage - foot massage, hand massage, neck, scalp, back, legs, head …. And all of them very reasonably priced. There are even blind people training in the art of massage in Siem Reap!!!

On the fourth day we were visiting the market of Siem Reap, where we could buy anything from silverware, silk, wood carvings, Buddhas, paintings, T-shirts, etc. Everything was so reasonable that I could not resist buying a few of the same items, to take home as gifts. Louis loved this experience and felt at home, bargaining with passion, which resulted in all our purchases being bought at half the asking price!

We were also taking a tuk-tuk drive to the Vietnamese floating village of Chong Kneas. It took us an hour with the tuk-tuk to get there. Louis and I were the only passengers on this very old, motorized boat that smelt so badly of petrol and gas, that I felt I was being poisoned on the boat. Amongst those floating homes I experienced the most poverty I have ever seen.

One of the beautiful temples we visited was the Banteay Srei. This ruin is about an hour’s taxi ride from Siem Reap and when we rented a proper taxi for the day, we experienced the incredible pot-holed roads of Cambodia. On the way to Banteay Srei, we were experiencing the true culture of Cambodia people. Coffee stalls next to the road, stalls selling everything from food to handcrafts etc. At this temple, which we were visiting in the early morning hours, we heard a group of men singing and playing there sad music. As I approached I realized that each one of them had been injured in the Cambodian war and have either lost a leg, an arm or even an eye. I bought one of their home made CD’s and sat there on the ground close by, listening for a long time to their sad music, although I could not understand anything.

On our last evening at the Hotel Meridien Angkor, we were watching the magnificent Apsara Dance (also the Cambodian classical dance). It is the most graceful dance I have every seen. The food was delicious, our hotel was beautiful and peaceful, and the waiters were always smiling and friendly. I have never seen a country’s people smile so often and being so courteous.

After the 10th day of our holiday in Cambodia, it was time to go back. I could not believe that our holiday in Cambodia had gone by so quickly!!

On my way back, I promised to come back to the East – Vietnam and Laos were being added to my list of sacred travel destinations!!!!

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