The other excursion we took with Dave from Peace of Angkor Villa was further afield. The whole trip took about 12 hours. Distance-wise, it probably wasn't all that far. But road conditions were, shall we say, not conducive to making good time. We visited the temples of Banteay Srei & Beng Mealea, as well as the carved riverbed at Kbal Spean (I'll publish the galleries for these shortly).
This gallery is from all the stuff in between the sights -- what it looked like out the van window. We happened upon a wedding too.
As you look at the Kulen Hills rising from the farmland, you think "Gee, I'd like to hike that." But Cambodia is not for such adventures. Especially in the hills, the landmines are not just going away. In the tourist areas of Kbal Spean & Beng Mealea have been cleared of mines, but you wouldn't want to do any off-path discovering.
We drove in darkness on our return to the hotel. And Cambodia, as you might guess, is very dark at night. But as we found in the villages around the Tonle Sap, the 12 volts from car batteries are common. So as we journeyed back through the blackness, we saw a variety of small lights. The bright blue glow of a flourescent light, along with dimmer blue of televisions. The yellow glow of lanterns and the orange glow of the palm sugar fires. Perhaps the most unusual was the green glow which came from the underwater lights of fishermen in roadside ponds. These images, of course, didn't make it to my camera, but were among the most beautiful of the trip.
