loveliness.

Live, travel, adventure, bless and don't be sorry.
loveliness.
  • Home
  • about
  • travel
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • Canada
    • Indonesia
    • Singapore
    • Mexico
    • Philippines
    • Thailand
    • USA
      • Arizona
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
      • Hawaii
      • Montana
      • New York
      • Oregon
      • Washington
  • loveliness
  • books
  • favourites
  • Tag: Cambodia

    • angkor bayon

      Posted at 7:00 am by jasminedesirees, on July 29, 2014

      The second temple we visited at Angkor was Bayon. It’s a few minutes away from Angkor Wat by tuk-tuk, or a bit longer for those brave souls among us who chose to ride a bike all the way from Siem Reap, and then in between all the temples in the blazing hot sun (you are better men than I).

      DSC_1238
      DSC_1239
      DSC_1240
      DSC_1241

      Bayon is quite stunning, when you pull up and see it, it kind of takes your breath away. It’s made out of dark grey stone with the hundreds of jagged faces cut into it, and against the blue sky it looks very ominous.

      DSC_1242
      DSC_1243
      DSC_1244
      DSC_1245
      DSC_1246

      There are tons of faces carved into Bayon, it reminded me of Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple (90’s Nickelodeon kids? Anyone? No?), and they are all different. Bayon is a lot smaller than Angkor Wat, but there are lots of random pathways and sets of stairs, so there is lots to explore.
      DSC_1248
      DSC_1249
      DSC_1252
      DSC_1253
      DSC_1256
      DSC_1257

      We only had one day at Angkor, so we had to see as much as we could. I ended up getting physically dragged out of Bayon so we could move along to the next temple, but I probably would have spent the whole day in there if I could’ve.

      DSC_1263
      DSC_1267
      DSC_1270

      Posted in Cambodia, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged angkor thom, angkor wat, Cambodia, history, temples, travel
    • land mines

      Posted at 5:52 am by jasminedesirees, on July 28, 2014

      While we were in Siem Reap, we made a trip out to visit the Cambodian Landmine Museum. It was about an hour away by tuk-tuk, but the ride itself was worth the cost (about $10USD).

      We drove through small towns and villages, and by farms and roadside stands, and I really felt like we got to see a part of the real country of Cambodia, outside of the bustle of Phnom Penh and the tourists in Siem Reap.

      DSC_1486
      DSC_1469

      The museum itself isn’t huge, it will only take you 35-40 minutes to go through the whole thing, depending on how closely you read all of the information there, but it’s really interesting.

      It all started with a man named Aki Ra, who was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge. As a child, he planed thousands of landmines around Cambodia. He eventually switched sides, and fought for the Vietnamese allies that were fighting against the Khmer Rouge.

      DSC_1467
      DSC_1453
      DSC_1452

      Once the war was over, he saw the destruction that landmines had caused during the war, and were continuing to cause, and began finding and dismantling land mines, by himself, using just a stick and his knowledge gained from years working with all different kinds of landmines.

      He kept all of the land mines he dismantled. People began to come see his work to learn more about landmines, and the museum was born. It’s been in a few locations, it used to be pretty close to Angkor Wat, but has since moved.

      DSC_1451
      DSC_1446
      DSC_1445
      DSC_1442

      In addition to his work with landmines, Aki Ra and his wife also opened a school for children. They began taking in and educating children who were affected by landmines. All of the proceeds from the museum go towards the school.

      As a visitor you aren’t able to visit the school, since it is disruptive to the children, but you can donate goods such as toothpaste, shampoo, shoes, etc to the school for the children when you visit, just check the wish list on the museum website so you can see what they are most in need of.

      DSC_1444
      DSC_1443

      It was pretty crazy to find out that there are still an estimated 3 million landmines in Cambodia today.  I would definitely recommend visiting if you have time while you’re in Siem Reap, you will get a much greater understanding of the war and the genocide in Cambodia.

      You can learn more about Aki Ra and the landline museum here.

      DSC_1487

      Posted in Cambodia, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged Aki Ra, Cambodia, khmer rouge, land mines, siem reap, travel, vietnam war
    • angkor wat

      Posted at 7:00 am by jasminedesirees, on July 23, 2014

      A lot of the places we’ve seen on our trip so far have been amazing, but one of the ones I was was looking forward to the most was Angkor Wat, mostly because it’s somewhere I never thought I’d be able to go.

      The first time I ever heard of Angkor Wat, I was sixteen, in my social studies class. I don’t even remember what the context was, or why we were talking about it, but I was instantly interested.

      I remember hoping that one day I would make it there, but at the same time, I figured it was very unlikely, since I was just a kid from a small town in Saskatchewan. The world seemed infinite to me then, and I didn’t even know anybody that knew anyone who had ever been to Cambodia.

      DSC_1142
      DSC_1151

      The next summer, I found a book called First Born by Doris Mortmain at my grandma’s house. It was completely ridiculous, but it is still one of my favourite books ever. In one scene, the author describes the two characters having a picnic at a beautiful ruined temple in the middle of the jungle in Cambodia. The book takes places in the 1960’s and 1970’s and she never names the place outright, but I knew it was Angkor Wat, and it made me want to visit even more.

      I always thought Angkor Wat was beautiful, but I was also fascinated with the history, it was built a thousand years ago, and was all but forgotten about (by the outside world, locals knew about it, obviously) until Cambodia was colonized by the French in the 1800’s. I always wondered what the first people who stumbled upon it were thinking, one minute they are chopping through jungle trees, the next minute they are faced with this enormous, amazing structure that nobody knew was there.

      DSC_1154
      DSC_1165
      DSC_1163
      DSC_1160

      It’s certainly not undiscovered anymore, millions of people visit Angkor each year. It’s only been reopened to tourists since the early 90’s, and the number of visitors has been increasing ever since, but even though it no longer feels like a forgotten place, it’s still pretty amazing.

      DSC_1156
      DSC_1168
      DSC_1170

      We got up early to visit Angkor Wat at sunrise, I’d read somewhere that if you get there super early, it’s quiet and you can even get some of the temples to yourself sometimes. That was not my experience at all, there were at least a few thousand people there when we got there at 5:30 in the morning.

      I’ve seen amazing pictures of Angkor Wat at sunrise, so if you have the opportunity to go, definitely do it, unfortunately for us, it was really grey the day we went, and we couldn’t see the sky at all behind the clouds.
      DSC_1172
      DSC_1173
      DSC_1176
      DSC_1192

      Even though it was pretty busy when we got there, Angkor Wat is pretty massive and there are lots of different areas to explore, so by the time we made it to the courtyard at the very back, there were hardly any other people around. It was really peaceful there, and we just saw on a ledge and hung out for a bit, while I tried to convince myself that I was actually really there.
      DSC_1191
      DSC_1190
      DSC_1187
      DSC_1186

      Angkor Wat wasn’t even my favourite out of all the Angkor temples (I would move into Ta Prohm if I could) but being there just reminded me that if you really want something, even if it takes a very long time, you can eventually make it happen.

      DSC_1177
      DSC_1181
      DSC_1184
      DSC_1288

      One tip if you are visiting Angkor, especially if you are only going to be there for one day, go to the ticket office around 5pm, right before it closes, the night before the day you are going and buy your ticket.

      The ticket will get you into the temples for the rest of that day, so you can check out sunrise, there are a few good spots to watch it, and it is good for all day the next day, so you can get up early and get started without having to wait in line for a ticket in the morning.

      DSC_1207
      DSC_1204

      Posted in Cambodia, travel | 7 Comments | Tagged angkor, angkor wat, Cambodia, history, siem reap, travel
    • preparation

      Posted at 11:26 am by jasminedesirees, on May 28, 2014

      On our way to Australia, we’ll be spending some time in Thailand, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore.

      Yesterday I spent 3 hours at the DMV, and then had to go to the doctor to get 5 shots. I hate shots. My dad once hired an off-duty nurse to come over to our house early in the morning to give us all flu shots, and I hid in my closet. And I was 18.

      And the only reason I came out at all was because my 8 year old little brother said “don’t worry jazzy, it’s not so bad, I’ll show you” and went first.

      But I know it’s all going to be worth it to see these amazing places in person.

      ea2fdd5f4517184dda62600053e70e3c
      3257abe60be9c6db7819c1418d0b44a1
      3c8815402a3268e3b6b8cfee503347aa
      35dd894306136249e628ff4cb1faac8f
      c3dca1a522f75a0fdbb2c90a3ac281f7
      da3953d1f7c945a721fe5e74a90a25a1
      fed95a803f59e5611b3f3f1861e0c9fd

      Posted in exploring, life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged adventure, Bali, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, travel
    • twelve days

      Posted at 10:26 pm by jasminedesirees, on May 27, 2014

      image

      Today was running all sorts of errands to try to get a few more things knocked off my list.

      It was also the first day that I would have been working if I was still working, but I’m not, so I wasn’t.

      So I guess this is really happening then. Twelve days. Yikes.

      Posted in life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged adventure, Australia, Bali, Cambodia, Pacific, Singapore, Thailand, travel
    Newer posts →
    •        
    • Follow loveliness. on WordPress.com
    • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    • Popular Posts

      • loveliness
      • deliciousness
    • Recent Posts

      • half dome: part 2 (the climb)
      • half dome: part 1 (before)
      • favourites
      • queretaro
      • white sands
      • orange county
      • life update
      • news21
      • land’s end
      • big sur
    • Instagram

      No Instagram images were found.

    • Categories

    • Archives

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel