My last day in Cambodia started the same way as yesterday. I was down at breakfast by 7am and pickup was again at 7:30. Today we would go to a temple a bit further away called Banteay Srei. It was 25km away from the town and it took a while to get there. On the way to the temple I could see how the Cambodian people lived and worked.
At the temple I had the good fortune to have a bus load of Chinese tourists in front of me. Pictures therefore were difficult since the Chinese liked to pose with everything. Nonetheless the temple was beautiful, especially the carvings and reliefs, and it had a small section on the building architecture of the different temples at Angkor Wat. Very interesting and it highlighted the style evolution through the years. This would have been great to see on the first day actually, it would have made such a difference to the trip.
And here’s an aerial shot that I found in the instructions section.
Next up was the Cambodian Landmine Museum, a private initiative from a former child soldier. On the way there we stopped at a ‘gas station’.
In the museum all the shells and mines displayed have been deactivated by the Aki Ra, the founder of the museum and the relief facility next door. He started deactivating the mines with his bare hands but a couple of years ago he got the proper certificate to go on searching for mines and now he destroys them according to the international standards (which is blowing them up).
After the museum we did one last temple, the Bantay Samre. By then I was quite tired of all the temples and ready for a change of scenery.
We drove back to the hotel where I had the time to go for lunch before I needed to finish packing. This time I ordered a glass noodle salad and it was very good. Maybe the secret to good food in Cambodia is to order Thai instead? I know this sounds unfair and I will have to give Cambodia a second chance.
At the hotel I took one last look around and then it was already time to go to the airport.
Mara drove me with his tuk-tuk to the airport and a little while later I was already off to Laos. Yours, Pollybert
