Published on April 5, 2015 18:01

A glimpse of Cambodia

Six day tour to Phnom Penh, Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia

It should be appropriate to describe this trip with a glance. It is not enough to know a country in 5-6 days. Cambodia is both familiar and strange in my mind. When it comes to familiarity, it is because the country has a long history with China in the 1970s. At that time, Norodom Sihanouk, the king of Cambodia, was exiled to China because of the coup. He has lived in China for decades. The Chinese government supports Sihanouk, which is reflected in politics and every national event or festival, Sihanouk always stands beside the top leaders of China, and his position is obviously higher than that of other countries. He also claims to be an old friend of China. One of his sons studying in China is an alumnus of my No.25 middle school; Speaking of strangeness, I don't know anything about Cambodia, its history, its culture, its customs, its economy and its social status. In January 2015, several friends made an appointment to visit Cambodia for a week, which made me interested in Cambodia. Before I left, I bought two books, read them well, supplemented some knowledge, and went to Cambodia to learn more about Cambodia, so as to enrich my tourism. After reading through the two books, with a little understanding of Cambodian history and culture and more curiosity, I embarked on the journey of Cambodia.

January 17 Beijing - Hong Kong - Siem Reap, Cambodia

The flight is 8 a.m. Dragonair k905, connecting from Beijing via Hong Kong to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We get up in the dark, and we have arrived at Beijing Capital Airport while others are still enjoying weekend laziness.

We signed up for Beijing Youth Travel Agency this time, but it was a "Spring Tour". It is said that our group is made up of three travel agencies. There are 29 members in the group, and my friends account for 6. Two couples and one child grow up.

The tour route is Siem Reap in Cambodia and Phnom Penh for five nights and six days. When I met director Zhang at the airport, it is said that he has brought a delegation to Cambodia 30-40 times, so he must be very experienced. Brief introduction to check-in and immigration matters needing attention, we all easily get the boarding pass, the plane took off on time.

Hong Kong transit, we have no interest in shopping at the airport, but with the mobile phone this boring more than two hours become something to do, no one waste this free life.

In the afternoon, I arrived at Cambodia Siem Reap International Airport. It seems that there is only one runway. When the plane approached the airport, I saw a large area of forest below. It is tropical with luxuriant vegetation and hot and humid temperature. There is a one hour time difference between Beijing and Cambodia. When the airport goes through customs, the first act of going to Cambodia is to leave money to buy the way: before you go, look at the introduction. Cambodia is a tipping country, and the country passes us dollars. If you take the initiative to hand in US $1 to the customs officer, you can easily enter the customs. The book says that if you don't give money, it may make it difficult for you not to seal it, and make you queue up for many times, But in the end, it's still possible to let you pass. One dollar is nothing for us. Just give it. Who has free time to play with him! I don't know that if everyone does this, it will encourage their illegal behavior. That is to say, she asked the financial manager of the bank for help to exchange the change before leaving. She has great ability, and even helped to exchange 100 pieces of $1, which is really a great help! At the airport, I gave you one dollar change to make sure everyone had enough change to tip. When I got to the customs, I was waiting in line, thinking, would you like to put $1 in the middle of the passport or put it out directly? How to let the officials see it immediately without causing him any trouble (I'm worried about how to collect money at the moment). Looking at at at the front, there are at least 2-3 foreigners who have passed the customs, but they really haven't given their seals, they go straight to the back to line up (some even think they are in the wrong line). They think in their heart that the information about the US $1 customs clearance is accurate. It's time, After passing the passport with $1 in it, I saw the official quickly put the $1 with a small corner under a cushion covered with the seal. With the other hand, he took up the stamp and "slapped" it on the visa office. It's done! Looking back, all Chinese people have passed the test very smoothly without exception. Everyone knows it by heart and laughs in his heart. It seems that it is very important to master the information!

The local guide was waiting for us outside. He took us on a bus. According to our experience and habits, six of us occupied the last three rows of seats directly. There was no one to disturb us and it was convenient for us to chat. We could also lie down and have a rest in case of long distance. The guide began to introduce Huang, the fourth generation of Chinese Americans, who started to lead the group in 2007, His introduction began with Siem Reap International Airport and the bus we took. Siem Reap is a province of Cambodia. The Cambodian language of Siem Reap means to defeat Thailand. Thailand is Cambodia's neighboring country, known as Siam in ancient times. In 1431, it conquered Angkor and forced the king to move the capital to Phnom Penh, which led to the decline of the once glorious Angkor Dynasty. From 1794 to 1907, Thailand occupied this place again. After Cambodia regained the city, it was renamed Siem Reap - defeated Thailand, which solved the hatred from the name of the city. Cambodia is a small country with an area of 181000 square kilometers and a population of 14 million (think about the population of Beijing announced this year, which is 24 million, 10 million more than this country. Cambodia is really small enough). Cambodia experienced the civil war from the 1970s to the 1990s. Now it is a period of recovery. The economy here is backward, In Siem Reap, all buses and minibuses are imported second-hand cars, and the air conditioner on the car has a unified name "dusk card". Because of the hot climate here, the air conditioner basically doesn't work during the day. When the sun sets, the air conditioner begins to cool. Cambodia is a tropical monsoon climate zone, with only rainy season and dry season every year. Rainy season is from May to October, and dry season is at other times. The dry season can be divided into cold season and hot season. The cold season is from November to February of the next year. It is hot in the daytime, with an average temperature of 33-35 degrees. It is cool in the morning and evening, with a temperature of 24-25 degrees. The hot season is from March to may, with a temperature of 40 degrees, Cold season is the best tourist season of the year, and it is also the peak tourist season in Cambodia. Now it is the middle of January, which is of course the most suitable time for tourism! The guide said that according to his decades of experience, when the temperature in Cambodia is not lower than 14 degrees, if it is lower than 14 degrees, people may freeze to death! What a suspense, huh?

Before going to dinner, the guide told us that in order to save time tomorrow, we should go to the gate of the park to buy tickets and take a picture first, so as not to line up tomorrow. The park will be off at 5:30, and we should be able to catch up when we arrive at the gate of the park at more than 5:00. We can see that there are three or three staff chatting there. In fact, they are no longer working. Let's buy tickets and come back tomorrow.

(the tickets here include 3-day tour, 4-day tour and 5-Day Tour. The ticket prices are different. The book says that if you buy the ticket in the afternoon of that day, you can enter the garden to watch the sunset at that time, which means half a day is more suitable.)

Before we came here, we learned from all kinds of information that we don't need to exchange the currency of Cambodia - Riel in China. We just need to bring us dollars and RMB. The tour guide will exchange them for you. How much? Should 500 RMB be used these days? No, the guide tells you that you can exchange 50 yuan for each person first, which is equivalent to 25000 yuan (the exchange rate is equivalent to 1:500). Here, you can't use less than 1000 yuan. A bottle of water is 2000 yuan, a coconut is 3000-4000 yuan, and the room tip is 1000 yuan or 1 dollar per person every day. According to the current exchange rate, 1000 yuan is 2 yuan, and 1 dollar is 6.2 yuan, Of course, it's the most appropriate time to use RMB! With her husband, she exchanged RMB 100 for 50000 Riel. With 50000 Riel in her arms, she immediately felt that she had willful capital,

The bus takes us directly to the pub street bar street and the old market in Siem Reap, which is regarded as the first day's attractions. Take care of your own dinner today. Walk along the street. There are many French buildings on both sides of the road, which is also the mark left by Cambodia as a French colony.

There are lively restaurants and bars on both sides of the bar street. Most of the open-air seats are either grilled or rinsed. We came from Beijing in the severe winter. Although we took into account the temperature here and put on less clothes, we still felt very hot. When we saw the grilling, we tried to avoid it. We passed the red piano bar. It was the bar that Angelina Jolie used to patronize when she shot Tomb Raider, In fact, there is a gold lettered caf é in Siem Reap, just at the intersection, which is very conspicuous. It is famous for Julie's patronage and attracts tourists from all over the world,

What do you eat when you see all kinds of food shops on the roadside? It's really hard to choose the food that suits you and has exotic flavor in a foreign country where you are not familiar with. The bar street is coming to an end. We all choose a right-hand restaurant. No matter what you eat, it will be assembly time if you don't eat for a while! On the second floor, the entire open platform, a large wooden table, six people sit down, a little girl came with a menu, ah! It's so sweet. Besides English and Cambodian, all the dishes are also provided with pictures, which can be understood even if you don't know any words. According to the English and pictures, we chose one for everyone, but it's said that we should mix it up and eat all kinds of dishes. The meals we ordered include a bowl of beef noodles, a bowl of wonton noodles, two bowls of rice noodles and a seafood fried rice, A shrimp fried rice, salad, fried vegetables, ice cream and so on,

Oh, there's a lot of beef noodles, wonton noodles, plenty of ingredients, big wonton whole meat stuffing, rice noodles taste delicious, seafood fried rice and shrimp fried rice. There are as many shrimps as you can see in the photo, fried vegetables and rice, which is beyond our capacity,

Seeing that the ice cream is about to melt, we can't bear to let go of all these delicacies. We force ourselves to put them in our mouths. After dinner, we calculate the bill: 26 dollars, six people ate 26 dollars, with an average of 20 yuan per person. It seems that the food here is really cheap! You can buy some souvenirs in the old market for 2-3 US dollars. It's time to go back to the hotel. I heard that if the Group paid 4980 yuan to stay in a four-star hotel and 3980 yuan to stay in a three-star hotel, we signed up for a four-star hotel. The guide said that we would send you to three-star, four-star and five-star hotels respectively today. Do you have five stars? The bus didn't take long, and the 3-star hotel arrived. From the front door, the 3-star hotel was also good. A couple of friends on the bus chatted with us and knew that they actually paid as much as our tour fee, but they signed up from the Internet. I didn't know that there were still 4 stars. They could only stay in 3-star hotel. I thought we would be there soon. In fact, the car went a long way and finally arrived at a prosperous area. There are hotels everywhere, many of which are new and elegant in appearance. It can be seen that this is the result of the development of tourism. The name of the four-star hotel is Princess Hotel. The guide quickly checked in for us and told us to go to the room first to see if there was any problem, If there is any problem, he will come down to him immediately, and then he will take the guests of the five-star hotel to go. He goes up and has a look. Sure enough, there are some problems. The water is very small, there is no hot water, and there is basically no network. When he goes downstairs, the guide has already left. He talks with the people in the hotel, and his attitude is very good. He sends a person up. The water is warm and cool for a while, but the network is not working, It's the password problem. Because the hotel didn't copy the password clearly, e was printed as C, and it couldn't pass any more. There was no hot water. I just had a cold bath. That's the level of 4 stars.

January 18 Angkor ancient city, Bayon temple, square, douxiangtai, Shengjian temple, Longpan pool, Angkor Wat

Today, we don't have to get up very early. Angkor is only ten kilometers away from siem reap where we stayed. The bus first picks up the guests who lived in three stars yesterday, and then picks them up in the order of four stars and five stars. After getting on the bus, I am very curious about the conditions of three stars hotel yesterday. I heard that they have plenty of hot water and good network. I immediately have doubts about their four stars. The guide agrees to help find the hotel today. The first thing for the guests to pick up is to buy tickets. Fortunately, there are not many people, because it's a three-day ticket. Everyone's head should be on the ticket. The scenic spot will check in at any time. The flow shop will line up here to take photos and issue tickets there. Hang a rope and don't lose it. Today's tour begins!

(I don't know why this photo is always reversed. Make do with it.)

Before visiting Cambodia, it is necessary to make a brief review of its history. In the first century A.D., Funan kingdom became the first unified kingdom of Cambodia, worshipping Hinduism as the national religion. After several centuries, Zhenla Kingdom defeated Funan Kingdom, and was later invaded by Java and other countries and became a subsidiary state of Java, A Khmer prince in exile in Java (ayabama II) returned home and led the people to get rid of the rule of Java. He unified the whole country, established the capital of Angkor, and founded Angkor Dynasty. After 500 years, Angkor Dynasty developed economy and culture. With the support of strong national strength, Angkor City was built, which took more than 400 years and was completed in 1200. In 1432, seven months after Siamese (today's Thailand) besieged Angkor, Angkor fell. Angkor Kingdom moved its capital to Phnom Penh. So far, Angkor Dynasty experienced 28 kings. Later, Cambodia was invaded by its neighbor Vietnam. In 1863, France listed Cambodia as its colony. During World War II, Japan occupied Cambodia again, forming a situation of Japanese French rule. On November 9, 1953, the kingdom of Cambodia declared independence. After independence, Cambodia's political situation was constantly turbulent. From the 1970s, Cambodia experienced the Khmer Rouge rule, After the abolition of the constitutional monarchy to establish a coalition government in 1975 and the restoration of constitutional monarchy to establish the kingdom of Cambodia in 1993, Cambodia entered the period of peace building in November 1993 with the formal establishment of the royal government of Cambodia. In 2004, the third royal government was established. Sihanouk abdicated and his son Sihamoni inherited the throne.

Angkor we are going to visit includes the ancient city of Angkor and many temple buildings around Angkor. These buildings were built between 800 and 1200 A.D. the prosperity of Angkor was in the late Tang Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. When it comes to temples, the temples built here are quite different from those in Chinese sense. They are not places where monks chant scriptures, but places similar to mausoleums built for kings. In the early Angkor Dynasty, Hinduism was believed in, and the temples built were all related to Hinduism. Hinduism believed in God. The three main gods were Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, Hinduism believes that man's life is a link in an endless series of life, rather than from birth to death. To put it simply, Vishnu, the God of protection, lies asleep on the serpent. When the universe goes through a cycle (i.e., a catastrophe), a lotus grows on his navel. The lotus gives birth to Brahma, the God of creation, and begins to create the world, Then Shiva, the God of destruction, began to destroy until the end of this cycle, and Vishnu, the God of protection, came to life again and again. Hindu kings will choose a God who can become one with them after death, and build temples to worship them before they die. The king is the incarnation of the God.

The first place we visited was the Bayon temple of Angkor (Angkor refers to the ancient city of Angkor, Angkor refers to a temple or Angkor Wat). Angkor city was built in 889 when the fourth king suliyebamo established his capital in Angkor. It covers an area of 9 square kilometers and has five gates, namely east, West, north, South and northeast. The Northeast gate is also known as Shengli gate. Angkor Dynasty reached its peak when the 22nd king kuaiyebamo VII succeeded to the throne (1181), and Angkor city was also expanded, The surrounding area of the city is 12 kilometers long. The buildings in the city include the bayong temple, the central square, the douxiangtai, the Imperial Palace, the air palace and so on. Our bus needs to transfer two minibuses in a parking lot to enter the ancient city. This is because all the city gates entering the city are narrow and low. The minibus is very reluctant to walk through the city gates. It has to walk slowly. After passing through a section of forest, there are dark walls and city gates in front of it. This is the south gate. When it enters the city, it is a section of forest path,

In front of us is a black stone like ruins. This is bayou temple in the center of Angkor city,

The Bayon temple was built by the 22nd Angkor king, ayabama VII. He was a king who brought Angkor Dynasty into its heyday. He was also the last builder of Angkor city (our visit has nothing to do with the historical time line, so it's convenient to go first). He gave up Hinduism and introduced Hinayana Buddhism, In the temple he built, the shadow of the three Hindu gods can hardly be seen. Instead, there are 216 Buddha statues on 54 pagodas. Around the central tower at the highest level of the temple, there are three meters high smiling King's head sculptures. This mysterious smile is called "Khmer's smile". We pass through the bayong temple from the South and go out from the north. According to the guide's requirements, we must not turn around, because the four doors of the temple are the same building. If we make a mistake, we can't find you! These buildings are all made of stone without mortar. They are well polished. All the statues are carved after they are built. There are three floors in the temple. The first floor is the carved corridor. Because we didn't go outside, we didn't see relief paintings. The second floor is the inner corridor. The third floor is the terrace. From the entrance, we can see all kinds of exquisite statues on the surrounding walls, On the walls, there are carved fairies on the pillars, with smooth patterns and vivid expressions

The door and window frames are like frames of different sizes. Although there are collapsed boulders everywhere, you can still find beautiful viewing angles in the cracks and corners of the boulders,

On the third terrace, around the central tower, a group of Angkor dressed men and women are doing the action, taking photos with tourists, one dollar, one dollar! While collecting money, one shouts, and at the same time takes photos with the tourists' cameras. It's very busy and business is good. Of course, we won't miss this opportunity. Several people line up to take a group photo.

Turn around and see another line of tourists. It turns out that this is the statue of Buddha or the statue of the king famous for "Khmer smile"! It is said that this is the most mysterious and representative smile among all the statues, and it is also the smiling face chosen by Cambodia's external propaganda. This statue is three meters high, with eyes open and head up, thick lips, slightly upward corners of the mouth, showing a mysterious and peaceful smile. The right ear of the Buddha is incomplete, but it will not affect the overall beauty,

Looking around, smiling faces can be seen everywhere, some with long faces and protruding eyes, some with short forehead and thick mouth. Basically, their eyes are low and the corners of their mouths are up,

They are all black stones, with patches of gray moss attached to them. It turns out that these are all traces of fire. Since the Siamese invaded Cambodia in 1431 and destroyed Angkor City, Angkor Dynasty was forced to move its capital to Phnom Penh. Angkor was abandoned. The original bustling capital city became ruins, covered with vegetation and trees, and gradually forgotten in the jungle and wilderness. It was not until the 19th century when Cambodia was colonized by France that a French explorer, Henry muao, discovered Angkor. In fact, there is another basis for mu Ao to find Angkor. Zhou Daguan, a Chinese Yuan Dynasty emissary, returned home after living in Cambodia for one year and wrote a book called "the story of Zhenla" describing the prosperous civilization of Angkor Dynasty. This book was translated into French. Mu Ao also found Angkor site according to this book. The French began to excavate Angkor, Because these sites are covered with vegetation, excavation begins with cutting down trees, and then burning, burning the dense plants attached to the sites, many sites can not be restored, so we can see that there are collapsed buildings and stones piled on the ground everywhere, and black is also the mark of burning.

Sitting on the minibus, you can see black ruins in the woods from time to time and arrive at a square. This is the second landscape today, the elephant fighting platform. This is the square in the heyday of the Dynasty and the reading platform of the king. Cambodia is a jungle country. In ancient times, the king of war had to ride an elephant to command, and the selection of the elephant was determined by the result of the elephant fighting, A victorious elephant can be a king's mount. The square is spacious. Imagine that hundreds of elephants were fighting in the square and the king was watching from a high platform. The scene must be very spectacular. Now only the sculpture of elephants and a 300 meter relief wall are left on one side of the observatory.

On the opposite side of the square, there are 12 independent small buildings, which are called Zodiac statues and places where prisoners used to be imprisoned. A temple is built on a high platform, which is called the palace in the sky. Because it is the tallest building in Angkor City, a long stone road more than one meter higher than the two sides leads to the palace. Because of physical problems, the temple has a long stone road, We all don't want to go forward, just wait and take photos from a distance (this is one of the reasons why we should seize the time to play now! Physical strength is too important)

Walking in the square, a cloud of wind and dust rises. A group of motorcycles and mopeds pass by. In the wind and dust, there are only two tourists sitting in each moppet. The guide says that these are all Korean people. They like to visit Angkor in this way of transportation. The noise and sandstorm in the place where the motorcade goes make other tourists hide their noses. They are sure to become natives after a day's tour, It has also become a landscape.

Out of the north gate of Angkor City, Shengjian temple is the nearest big temple to Angkor city. It is built by the 22nd king to commemorate and store the sword given by the king's father. From the first king, every successor will get a sword from his successor as a symbol of kingship.

Through a section of dirt road, there are tall trees on both sides, some are actually huanghuali! It's very hot. There are popsicles on the road. You must try the local popsicles. There are all kinds of flavors. I chose the most special flavor of durian and bought one for each of us. It cost 12000 Rui. Money is willful!

Ha! In fact, it's only 24 yuan! Holding a 2000 yuan popsicle, I wander in Shengjian temple. Shengjian temple is also a collapsed ruins. There is no sign of Hinduism here. There are Buddhist statues everywhere. The window frames here are also like mirror frames, but there are more decorations on the windows, like a pair of buckled earthen pots, inlaid in the middle of the window frames. The temple is full of the same style, It's easy to get lost. There's a small altar in the center of the temple, which looks like a tower of Tibetan Buddhism. There's a high column on it. There's a broken hole on the roof opposite. Let the sun shine in, like a lighted candle. Although it's not a famous landscape, this angle still attracts many people to take photos. Here's the second act of Cambodia: tipping, When I was walking around alone, I didn't know where to take photos. A local people warmly beckoned me with his hand. Come here and I'll take photos for you. Well, the scenery he took must be excellent. Give him his mobile phone and pose according to his requirements,

Take a picture on the left and a picture on the right. Ah Tian came to him and told him that the scene was very good. You can let him take a picture too. Ah Tian hesitated. The local people had already arranged for him to take a picture. After taking a picture, I remembered that he must ask for a tip. He immediately took the initiative to say "one knife" and "two knives". By the way, it's two people. They have to give a tip right away! After that, I thought strangely, since we have company, why let him take photos? Just take a picture of yourself? At this time, I found that there are many local people looking for single tourists everywhere to take photos. This is a way for them to ask for tips. Anyway, it's not easy for them. At least, it's a way to help the poor.

Out of Shengjian temple, a group of little girls gathered around to sell their scarves and accessories. A tourist was more interesting and couldn't get away from it. He said, "I'll give you 2000 Ruis. Can you stop chasing me?" He was immediately drunk by his family. Why?

Before lunch, there is another scenic spot, the Longpan pool, which was also built by the 22nd king kuaiyebamo VII. It is said that this is the Kingdom's Hospital, because the water in the pool can cure diseases, and the sick can be removed after bathing here. The Longpan pool is built on an island, with a narrow dirt road leading straight through, surrounded by a pool of stagnant water, and the trees in the water have no leaves, There are also many dead trees out of the water. It's said that which movie used to view it as the end of the world,

In fact, there used to be a lot of vitality here. Later, it was flooded and the water couldn't go back. It became a dead pool here. The Longpan pool was also discovered by the French. It was originally covered by trees and restored by felling and burning wasteland. The Longpan pool is built by four small pools surrounded by a large pool. The center is a tower building. When the central pool is full, it will overflow into the surrounding small pools. On the east side of the central tower, there are two seven headed snakes facing the East, Snake tails mingle with each other in the west of the tower, and there is a horse running to the island opposite them. The guide said that the water level is high now, and there are people and animals holding the legs of the horse under the statue of the horse. It is said that when the world is flooded, God becomes a horse, and let people and all kinds of animals hold its legs and run to the safe island. This is not the god horse! This island is also equivalent to Noah's Ark.

In our original travel itinerary, Shengjian temple and Longpan pool should be visited after lunch, because tomorrow (January 19) is Cambodia's Buddhism day, and the top of little Angkor (Angkor Wat) to be visited tomorrow, which is called the rooftop, is not open, so today's itinerary is shortened, and we go to visit little Angkor in the afternoon, which makes the originally very relaxed tour a very stressful day, Now that you come, you can be content with it. Time is tight and the task is heavy. Tourism is originally a physical activity.

When I returned to Siem Reap for lunch, I took out the sunscreen before the meal and thought that I must apply it after the meal, because the sunshine outside was so bright that I forgot to take it when I left on the table. When I got on the bus, I suddenly remembered that I had run down to see that there was no sunscreen left. When I was depressed, I heard the guide ask whose sunscreen was it? Ah! my I feel that the mode of losing things will start again! I don't know which thing will leave me next time.

Little Angkor Angkor Wat is one of the key points of our tourism. Angkor Wat, together with the great wall of China, Taj Mahal of India and Borobudur of Indonesia, are known as the four great architectural wonders of the East. Angkor Wat is also the national symbol of Cambodia, and the design of Angkor Wat is on the national flag of Cambodia. Angkor Wat was built in 1113 by the 18th king of Angkor Dynasty, suliyebamo II, to worship Vishnu, the Hindu god of protection. The project took 12 million people and more than 40000 elephants, and took 89 years to complete. It was originally built as the king's mausoleum, but it was not completed until 50 years after the death of the king. Although Angkor Wat was deserted after the city of Angkor was abandoned, and it was only after 400 years of deep sleep that it came to light again, what we see now can still be regarded as one of the greatest buildings in the world. There is an artificial moat around Angkor Wat,

In front of Angkor Wat through a bridge, there is a long corridor outside as a wall. You can enter the temple through three tower doors. Inside is a huge empty space, and in the center is a stone bridge. On both sides of the stone bridge are giant snake shaped railings. At every intersection where you can get off the bridge, there are two seven headed snakes. This bridge leads directly to the main hall of Angkor Wat,

From the front of the main hall, there are three towers. Five spires can be seen slightly to the side. There are ponds on the left and right of the main hall. The reflection of the main hall is reflected in the ponds. The top of five towers can be seen here. The tall palm tree beside it seems to have been familiar. You can see it in the photos of Angkor Wat. The main hall is composed of three floors. The first floor is a rectangular corridor. The length of the corridor is more than 700 meters. It is full of reliefs. The second floor has four small towers at the four corners of the platform. The third floor is square. There are five lotus like towers on the top. The five spires seen from below are them.

The relief sculptures in the cloister are two major epic stories in India. The two books I bought before I set out introduced the contents in detail. Because today's itinerary has changed, I didn't have time to review the stories. I can only see what is what.

Among the Indian epic stories, the most impressive one is the story of mixing milk sea. Shura, the good God, and Ashura, the evil god, are two opposites. Brahma, the creator God, handed over the right to rule the world to Shura and Ashura, but God also had birth and death. In order to seek the elixir of immortality, they reached an agreement to jointly protect the god Vishnu, with seven snake kings as the rope, Come to Xumi mountain to make a stirring stick and stir the sea together to seek the elixir of immortality. Asura is led by the demon king. After being cut off by the monkey god, Asura stirs the sea for thousands of years. He stirs the sea water into milk and stirs the elixir of immortality. Asura grabs it first to protect Vishnu, the incarnation of the God, and the beauty swindles the elixir of immortality to the God. This story is completely carved in a place in the corridor, Because of physical problems, I really can't go around the venue to find it, but although it's only a one-day tour, I've seen the story in many places,

For example, at the entrance of Angkor ancient city, the bridge in front of several gates is full of this story. On the left side is Shura, and on the right side is Asura. The gods pull a seven headed snake as the railing of the bridge like a tug of war. Many gods' heads have been lost. Although we can't find the relief of this story, the other relief in the cloister is still unforgettable. The carving is delicate and exquisite, and it is still clear and intact after nearly a thousand years. The corner of the second floor platform is a small tower, which is a bit like the corner tower of the Forbidden City. The surrounding is the inner corridor, which is also full of relief murals. When we see a long line of people on the platform, it suddenly reminds us that this is the line up on the third floor of the rooftop. The reason why we changed the schedule of Angkor Wat to this afternoon is not to go to this rooftop? Hurry to line up, the line is very long, but fortunately it is relatively fast. When I came to the front, I found that there are two ladders, one is on the roof, the other is off the roof. They are all in line!

The angle of the ladder is about 70 degrees. It's very steep and narrow, but it's much better than it used to be. In the past, there was no ladder here, but it just went up and down by a very narrow stone step. The width of the stone step was less than 15 cm. Once a western tourist and his wife visited Angkor. When they went down the stone step, his wife's skirt was trampled down and died, Later, the tourist paid for the construction of an escalator, and now the escalator is used. On the third floor, you can see the structure around the temple. The structure is regular and the floor area is not small. Because our assembly time is coming, we didn't enjoy the scenery of the third floor very well

Well, before leaving Angkor, the last activity today is to watch the sunset at Bakun mountain. Bakun mountain was built by the fourth king in 889 ad. this king was also the first person to build the Imperial City in Angkor. Bakun mountain is not in Angkor city. It is 400 meters away from Angkor City, but it is the commanding height of Angkor. Every sunset, a large number of tourists flock to the mountain to choose the right place to watch the sunset and get to the foot of the mountain, We women's soldiers really don't have the strength to go up the mountain and want to ride elephants, but the elephants are all reserved. We just wait at the foot of the mountain. By the way, we plan to eat all the fruits we haven't eaten here. Now is the opportunity. There are many fruit stalls on the roadside, selling all kinds of souvenirs, scarves, clothes and so on. Choose a stall to sit down and have a look at the fruits nearby, We haven't eaten any milk fruit, and we have some other pineapples and coconuts. In fact, the fruit is not cheap. Milk fruit costs 2000 Rui (4 yuan), and we cut it into four 6000 Rui, coconut 3000 Rui, pineapple 3000 Rui. Four people sit around a small table to eat,

Milk fruit looks like mangosteen. It's dark purple in color, and it's about the same size. It's named because the juice flowing out of the skin is like milk. It doesn't have any special flavor. I prefer pineapple. The pineapple here is not as delicious as the domestic pineapple. It doesn't have enough aroma. It doesn't seem to be too ripe. It's much smaller than coconut water, In addition to sitting around, there are vendors selling scarves. There are various scarves, such as Tulle hollowed out scarves and silk monochrome scarves. From $8 a.m. to $5.2 a.m., we bargain with each other. Finally, we have more and more experience to bargain to $10.7 a.m. if we don't sell them, we will go. In this way, we still buy a lot of scarves. Now Yanyan and Xiaos are starting a new round of buying, Yan Yan closed her eyes and pinched her fingers to figure out who else's gifts had not been considered. Xiao s took the trouble to choose from a large pile of scarves. Soon, the two men who went up to the mountain to watch the sunset came back, and they didn't see the sunset at all, because there were clouds in the West today. In fact, they couldn't enter the Bakun temple. There was a long line at the gate of the temple, Fortunately, the people waiting to see the sunset in Bakun temple were not on the mountain in vain.

The first day's tour is finally over! All the people were tired to death. When they went back to Siem Reap for dinner and returned to the hotel, it was not too late. Seeing a large number of guests checking in, they suddenly remembered our experience yesterday and rushed into the room to take a bath! Sure enough, the hot water is good and the water is hot. After washing, the Internet is as bad as it was yesterday. There is no signal in the room. Find the sofa in the elevator hall and send a wechat here. At this time, I heard that the new guests in the corridor were asking each other about the hot water problem. I laughed in my heart. Today, let's take the lead. It turns out that the hot water in the hotel is only enough for a group of guests, There are so many people that we have to take a cold bath.

January 19 Queen's palace, chousa temple, Chajiao temple, tapulen Temple

Because yesterday afternoon we visited Angkor Wat, which was originally planned to visit today, today's itinerary is relatively relaxed. We didn't gather very early in the morning. Today, we will visit the Queen's palace, tapulen temple, zhousa temple and other scenic spots, as well as latex shops, Cambodian buffet in the evening and Cambodian massage at our own expense. It is also a very full day.

The Queen's palace is less than 30 kilometers from Siem Reap. It takes about 40 minutes to get to know the life of Cambodians. Cambodia has the second largest virgin forest in the world after Amazon. 75% of its territory is covered by forests. Timber is their main export goods (mainly exported to Vietnam for processing). Cambodia is also a major producer of rubies, With the world's second largest freshwater lake, Tonle Sap Lake, there are abundant freshwater fish resources and oil along the coastline. With such abundant resources, the Cambodian people's life is not rich. It should be said that what we see is extreme poverty. This is because Cambodia has experienced a long period of colonization and civil strife for more than 20 years after independence. Civil strife has brought disaster and economic stagnation to Cambodia, A large number of city dwellers have been driven to the countryside. There is no electricity or running water. Hospitals and schools are in serious shortage. People's average life expectancy is only 65-70 years old. Agriculture is not mechanized, and all depend on manual labor. The cattle in the field just work and no one feeds them, because people don't have enough food. It's tropical here, no typhoon, no earthquake, no tsunami, The requirements for building conditions are not high. Because it is rainy and humid, most dwellings are stilted buildings. A few wooden piles (cement piles have been seen on the roadside) are used to build a frame. Some of the wallboards are made of wood, and many of them are made of palm leaves (a bit like old corn leaves) as wallboards. People live upstairs, while cattle, chickens, ducks and other livestock and poultry live downstairs,

If you pay close attention to it, the cattle in the roadside field are really bony, and the chickens are as thin as birds,

The costumes of people here are similar to those of us in the 1970s. We are walking on the national highway, and their national highway is not a good way to go, because Cambodians are unwilling to build roads. They are worried that the new highway will change the environment. On both sides of the road are dense woods and vast fields,

The guide said that many large pots on the side of the road were boiling sugar, which was the fruit of a kind of palm tree called sugar palm. After five hours of boiling, it was boiled into syrup and poured into the mold to make sugar lumps, which was called brown sugar. It was a kind of nutritious raw sugar, which had not been over refined to maintain the flavor and nutrition. The guide said that 80% of the trees on the side of the road were cashew trees, Does anyone know how cashew nuts grow? We quickly looked at the trees falling backward by the side of the road. There was no sign of cashew nuts. We really didn't know how cashew nuts grew. The guide wanted to sell it, but now we won't tell him. The Queen's palace is here.

The Queen's palace was built at the end of the 10th century by the ninth king, rajen torabama, to worship Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, in order to protect the Royal concubines. The Queen's palace is one of the most famous temples with exquisite carvings in Angkor. It was only discovered in 1914 and is relatively well preserved. It was listed as a world cultural heritage together with the ancient city of Angkor in 1992. After passing the wall, I walked through a corridor. There were some broken walls beside the corridor, and there were two rows of low piles at the same interval. According to the guide, these places were covered with roofs and were resplendent. The corridor in the middle was for the king,

Approaching the Queen's palace, I initially felt that the palace was not tall, but its pink walls and lintels with fine patterns set off against the blue sky in the background, which brought a kind of illusory feeling. This is a palace full of sculptures. There are reliefs, deep sculptures and statues, and there is no blank space. The reliefs tell the story of Indian epic, including the world and the heaven, For example, the God of thunderstorm cheered the people in a village when it rained, the trees were luxuriant and the drought lasted for a long time,

The God of destruction appeared in various incarnations. The lotus petals on the lintel were rolled up, and the snake god's teeth were clearly recognizable.

Through the three low palace doors, there is the main hall. There are fairies carved on the walls around the main hall. At the guide's prompt, I noticed that these fairies have different expressions. For example, the left side has a thick mouth, expressionless face, slightly fat, and the right side has a smile, which is called the beautiful oriental Mona Lisa, Including yesterday's Khmer smile, also known as the male Mona Lisa, speechless),

There are several statues of monkey and lion squatting beside the main hall. It is said that the real one has been put in the museum. Here is a replica. Monkey is also a very powerful role in Indian epic. The monkey has helped Vishnu recapture his wife SIDO, who was taken away by the demon king. It also has the magic of the monkey king. You can see monkey everywhere in Angkor.

No matter what, tourism will continue. We can't let this kind of emergency affect our mood. The afternoon itinerary is zhousa temple, Chajiao temple and tapulun temple. We first came to the zhousa temple, a temple that China helped to repair.

Zhousa temple was built by the king who built Angkor Wat. The style is the same as Angkor Wat, but it is not so multi-storey. All the buildings just fall on the ground and exist independently. There is a tower in the center, with doors and windows on all sides. Generally, there is a stone bridge on the front, with a space for spirit bones. One side is a real door, and the other is a false door, All the temples look very complicated and similar in shape and structure, so it is difficult to describe them completely and clearly,

Chajiao temple is another temple that China has helped to restore. A Chinese banner "the restoration project of Chajiao Temple aided by the Chinese government" is hanging outside the temple,

It's time to get off work, so you can only watch it outside. Chajiao temple was built by the 10th king, kuaiyebamo V, from the end of the 10th century to the beginning of the 11th century. It's an unfinished temple. It's said that during the construction process, the big stone on the right side of the top was cut by thunder, and the king's Queen also died, so it stopped, so it just built the temple without carving, This is also the only temple in Angkor that has not been carved. You can understand the appearance of all temples before carving. The next one we are going to visit is another key point that we are most interested in - tapulen temple, which is a must see place for every visitor to Angkor. Tapulen temple was built in 1186 by the 22nd king, ayabama VII, who gave up Indian religious reform and believed in Buddhism, Tapulen temple is a temple dedicated to the king's mother. The temple is famous because it used to be the location of the Tomb Raider Movie in 2002. The feature is that it is a temple surrounded by big trees. Before leaving, I specially watched Tomb Raider once. I can't remember the details. However, Julie stands at the gate of a temple surrounded by tree roots. The camera gives a deep impression, Despite some preparation, I was shocked to see the temple. Against the afterglow of the sun, the bark was shining. The guide said that this kind of tree was called the golden and silver tree because its bark was shining silver in the daytime and golden in the evening,

This temple can see scenes of being eroded by gold and silver trees everywhere. In fact, this kind of tree is called Jibei tree, also known as Java kapok. Jibei tree can grow 13 feet a year, up to 200 feet. It is the "king of the jungle" of Amazon. The temple held by Jibei tree gives people a sense of terror. It feels that it is not a tree, but a kind of terrifying animal in some magic movie, Its thick roots flow down the walls of the temple to the ground and then extend out,

I found the head of a tree root. It's thick and round. It's like a python spreading horizontally. I climb along the edge of the courtyard wall. I'm afraid it will move,

See clearly, this tree in addition to growing up, the following will also derive a lot of thick roots, climbing in all directions. In addition to Kibera, there is another kind of tree, banyan. The survival ability of banyan is better than that of Kibera. Besides growing faster, it also has the ability to strangle. It can live on other trees, grow, twine and gain vitality,

The guide said that the banyan tree was not there when the film was made. Ten years later, the banyan tree had already strangled the Jibei tree. The banyan tree has grown very tall. Compared with the Jibei tree, the banyan tree is not very beautiful in appearance. Its roots are thin, but it grows everywhere. It's like weaving a net around the hospital wall. I didn't carefully observe what the temple looks like, but I really know the power of the tree, This is the result of hundreds of years of deep sleep. It is said that the tapulen temple has been restored. These trees may have to survive with the temple, because the temple will collapse if the trees are removed.

Around the temple, we searched for these strange trees to take photos. In front of the root of a big tree, we found a good angle. We took turns to take photos. In order not to hinder (holding two mobile phones and carrying a bag), we took off the straw hat and put it on a table. After a look, we began to take photos. After a batch of photos were taken, we walked out of the temple and suddenly found that the straw hat had forgotten, Just looking at it, it turned out that it was saying goodbye! I'm too lazy to go back. Just throw it! Maybe if you lose the straw hat, you won't lose anything again! Looking back, I lost my sunscreen yesterday and got it back. Today, I lost my cell phone at noon and got it back. Now that I lost my straw hat, I don't want to look for it. Otherwise, if I get my straw hat back, what else will I lose tomorrow? Do you want to take it? Take it! Time is not enough. We were finally driven out by the staff. I don't know why the tour guide arranged this. We lost the chance to enjoy ourselves in tapulen Temple by taking a lunch break.

In the evening, there is a Cambodian buffet. The car pulls you to a very spacious place. It looks like it can accommodate nearly a thousand people, dozens of large tables, and tableware is set up for each tourist group to come to dinner. Cambodian dance is on the stage, and the hall is bustling,

I'm not in the mood for dinner. I haven't found my mobile phone yet. I found the tour guide. He told me that I might see the group at dinner. Can I? The tour guide was reminded by me and contacted immediately. After a while, the information came. Their group was dining in another place, not far from here. Let's go right away. The tour guide gave up the meal and led me and a Tian to have a motorcycle fight (motorcycle in front, tug in the back) along the street. Soon we arrived. When we came in, ah, It's as like as two peas in the same place. It is also a buffet restaurant that can accommodate thousands of people at the same time. Cambodian dance is also on the stage. You can see how many Chinese people come to Cambodia to visit! Soon I found another tour guide. The tour guide introduced me to find his members, a gentleman older than me. They were from Ningbo (no wonder the tour guide couldn't hear what he was saying). His wife picked up the mobile phone from the bathroom. His wife was not in the seat at this time, but he still took out my mobile phone from his bag. Ah! How kind, my 5S! As I said thank you, I picked up my mobile phone. He said, "how can you prove that this is your mobile phone?"? It's too simple. I have a password! Only I can open it! Press the password, mobile phone into the working state, he said take it! I feel very sorry. In addition to thank you, it seems that we should give him some reward, right? How much? He kept saying no, no, all right! Thank you again! After getting out of the door, I got on the bus and went back the same way. I gave the tour guide some tips as a reward for helping to get in touch. I had a quick meal and had activities in the evening.

The evening activities are at their own expense, Cambodian massage. There are not many people who take part in this activity. There are nine people in total. Massage is also a kind of stylized activity. Ah Tian, Zhen Zhen, I and two other young men are arranged in a room. First, they put a hot salt bag on their stomach and massage from their feet. One of the two young men is very ticklish. As soon as the massage person touches him, he starts to laugh and keeps laughing, We all think it's funny to laugh. It turns out that the massager knows that he loves to laugh and is still scratching him intentionally. Soon, the massage goes on to the legs, and everyone starts to chat. The massagers chat with each other, and the massaged chat with each other. With the chat, the feet, legs, arms, back and head are pressed repeatedly, which is very comfortable and relaxed. The last cup of tea is given to each of them a dollar tip. It's over. Back to the hotel more than 10 o'clock, there is hot water! It seems that the hotel has really improved. Today, I'm so happy with the return of my mobile phone! I must watch it in the next few days!

On January 20, Donglisa Lake collapsed and dense

Donglisa lake is about 30 kilometers away from Siem Reap. Drive to it in the morning. Open the map of Cambodia, Cambodia's terrain is like a little fat bear. It is 580 km long from east to west and 460 km short from north to south. Its neighboring countries are Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. A blue river runs from north to south. This is the Mekong River (the river originates in Zaduo County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China). It flows through Yunnan Province, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is called Lancang River in China, with a total length of 4900 km and 500 km in Cambodia,

Cambodia is surrounded by mountains on three sides. The highest mountain is no more than 1800 meters above sea level, and the middle is low-lying. Siem Reap is at the lowest place. There is a lake near Siem Reap, Tonle Sap Lake, which is connected with the Mekong River through Tonle Sap river. Tonle Sap Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in the world after Lake Baikal, but its area varies with seasons: the deepest water level in rainy season is 12 meters, The area of the lake is also extremely expanded, reaching nearly 10000 square kilometers. At this time, the Tonle Sap river flows from the Tonle Sap Lake to the Mekong River. When the dry season comes, the water level of the lake is sometimes only 1 meter deep, and the lake area is extremely reduced, possibly to more than 2000 square kilometers. At this time, the water of the Tonle Sap river flows from the Mekong River to the Tonle Sap Lake, and the water of the Mekong River is blue, But when it flows into Tonle Sap Lake, it becomes yellow with a lot of sediment. From October to November, after a period of stillness, the water of Tonle Sap Lake can also turn blue, and then the water begins to flow along the Tonle Sap River to the Mekong River. Until the next May, the water level can only reach knee height. There are people living on the lake. They have to move at least once a year according to the water level. Except for some extremely poor local people, most of them are refugees from Vietnam 20-30 years ago. There is a refugee village. These refugees have no legal status in Cambodia, can't speak English, and can't work. They can only live in the water house on the lake all their lives, Their average life expectancy is only over 40 years old, but their children are Cambodians. Now schools, churches, shops and police stations have been set up on the lake. Their children can receive education in the schools here. The guide introduced that in the past, these students went to school to swim and then changed into school uniforms. Now the conditions are good, With a boat like a school bus to pick up students, the guide told us that people here live in poverty. We often see children asking for things from tourists. If there is candy, we can give them some. Later, we will take a boat to visit Tonle Sap Lake.