We started out at 9 to visit the temples on the Grand Tour Circuit: Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup. These are some of the smaller temples and therefore less crowded. However, they are no less spectacular than Angkor Wat, Banyon and Ta Prom which we toured with a guide.
Of particular interest on today's tour was East Mabon, a large, three-story temple-mountain crowned by five towers. Although many of its structures are in poor shape the temple appears to be guarded by massive elephant statues on all corners and on each level.
The other thing on our to visit list today was to visit New Hope Cambodia. New Hope, an NGO, is located in one of the poorest slums in Siem Reap. The village is home to some 500 families made up of army personnel, karaoke/sex workers and displaced women, men and children. The focus of New Hope is free education and health care. It also provides food, mosquito nets, bicycles and counseling for victims of domestic violence.
The education component consists of regular schooling plus vocational training. There is a training restaurant on site where we stopped for a cold drink. The coconut shake was excellent as was the information about New Hope provided by a young man who has come through the New Hope program.
After our visit to New Hope we asked our Tuk Tuk driver, John to recommend a restaurant for us. He dropped us at what he said was a good one and we had some Cambodian food for dinner. John was right, it was a good one.
Walking home from the restaurant was quite an adventure as the power went out in Siem Reap. There was chaos at the one stop light in the city...an extremely busy intersection, which we had to cross. Since I am writing this, you can assume that we made it, but I have to say that it wasn't easy.
Tomorrow we will take care of laundry and spend some time by the river watching boat races.
1 comment:
Magnificent...
BB
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