and we were off,
bags packed and ready to go, we are going to visit Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, it is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia,
now here is something that would have fooled me, I would have spent so much time looking for the fuel tank at the side or back of the mini bus, even then I would not have guessed it was at the front,
are we sitting comfortably? then I will begin, firstly I have split this adventure into several post as I took literally hundreds of pictures, the more pictures that a post has the longer it takes to edit and move things around,
other than restroom stops the first main stop is the border town of Aranyapathet-Poipet,
I guess you would call it a market town, with goods going both ways across the border, but with most going into Cambodia,
the ATM has arrived,
the gate way to Cambodia,
Jeff and Da strike the pose,
we do as well,
having past out of Thailand we are not yet in Cambodia, we are in a sort of 'no mans land' as we have not yet passed through Cambodian immigration, so whilst our paperwork is being prepared we have our midday meal here marvelling at the way goods are loaded onto hand carts,
and lorries,
when is a hand cart overloaded? when you can not get any thing else on it!
a little help needed from the rear,
used plastic paint drums seem to be in high demand,
again at the rear a few helping hands are needed,
lunch of Thai food, I should mention that we bought a package deal, 3 meals a day at our hotel or outside venue depending where we were, plus pick from home and back, guides, entrance to the Angkor Archaeological Park and some one to smooth things along at the border crossings, we used Massic Travel Co., Ltd. who are at 370/7-8 Pattaya 2nd Road, to book the tour through we chose the 4 day 3 night package at 12,000 baht per person staying at a 2* hotel,
even the motorbikes here are sometimes overloaded!
after another couple of hours we made it to the hotel, the Angkor Star, very nice it was too,
the pool looked so inviting,
crystal clear,
I think Diana was tempted to have a swim,
nice sized room with UBC satellite television and a mini bar,
the shrine in the hotel,
then our tour began, first stop to a arts and crafts centre for people who are deaf/dumb or both,
here the artisans are silk screen painting,
the painting is so fine, in colour,
or black and white,
we all wanted a closer look,
the good news was that in all of the workshops we went to there was no pressure to buy anything, unlike the trips around the temples,
the workshop next door specialised in gold leaf, gilding statues and wall mountings,
our guide was most informative and had a good command of English,
each piece of art was made to a set of drawings so that each would be the same, important if you are buying a pair of statues!
the examples here are first the wooden sculpture, then covered with primer, painted, then primed again for where the gold leaf is to be added,
the lacquer room,
the finished product, it looked beautiful, far nicer than it does in the picture,
now days a stencil is used for the basic outline,
a piece of paper has holes in it , chalk dust is wiped over the paper leaving a outline for the worker to start with,
one of the artisans at work,
the finished product, coloured and lacquered,
metal work is also carried on here, or perhaps I should say silversmithing,
attention to detail is the order of the day,
the work is so fine,
the craftsmen work from these master drawings,
over to the other side of the compound is the stone and wood working areas,
each type of stone has different characteristics, some easy to work with, others better to polish or some that last longer when exposed to the elements,
the courtyard between the buildings,
the stone is first roughly drilled top remove large areas of unwanted material,
our guide explaining the process as we make our way along the workshop,
a nearly finished piece of work,
I think Diana wanted to have a go,
I mentioned before the attention to detail, callipers are being used all of the time to make sure measurements are spot on,
the master model is kept close by for reference,
a pencil line is drawn where some more material is to be removed,
the wood work shop,
these will I guess be stained/painted then gilded,
a touch removed here and there, to form a perfect wooden sculpture,
a master craftsman at work,
just outside the building this frieze was on display,
the workmanship was exquisite,
the detail so fine, with that we made our way back to our mini bus and on to a poignant reminder of a terrible time in Cambodia's history,
the temple at the Killing Fields shrine, Pol Pot was responsible for one to three million (or between a quarter and a third of the country's population), to be brutally murdered,
this area as others in the country is dedicated to their memory,
the signage makes grim reading,
for Westerners I guess it was an abstract thing when we heard of the killings just 30 or so years ago, it is only when you visit some where like this the real horror of what happen makes an impact,
this has been pictured so many times before,
it is like the Unknown Soldiers grave, our guide hopes his loved ones are here at rest, in truth he is the only survivor of his family from those terrible times,
on a happier note two new novices to Buddhism chat with friends after school.
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