Flight 11 hours from LHR to Bangkok and then one hour to Siam Reap. We departed LHR Sunday 2nd February 2020 and arrived Siam Reap Monday 3rd AM. Checked in to Park Hyatt hotel and joined our Noble Caledonia tour group.

Sarah and I spent most of the day walking around the town. Sights included the riverside, independence park, the royal palace and the old covered market. A busy town with motor scooters and the ubiquitous tuk tuk much in evidence.

This is the Siem Reap HQ of the Cambodian governing party. The poster shows Party President Han Sen. He has five large scale photos of himself or with him in it. The Party deserves credit for the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge and developing a free market economy. However, it remains a Communist Party. Cambodia is not yet a modern democracy.

one of the new 7 winders of the world. They are Hindu temples from a long departed culture. Few people are likely to be unmoved by the shere cale of the temple complex. The Hindu culture is reinforced by the figure cut into the stone. These include the Aspara 'celestial danncers.

This magnificent site suffered though the Pol Pot perio. There is evidence of damage caused by shellfire and neglect. There is now international  help and recognition by Unesco as this has been designated as a world heritage site.

Oursecondday at Angkor Wat. Getting a better sense of the historical timeline. This as Hindu culture with recognisable Hindu caevunsc evrywhre. The Hindu Gods: Brahma the aerator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the  Destroyer  each had dedicated temples. There Were Aspara 'Cellestial Dancers'. The earliest structures  dated from the %9th century and the site evacuated around 1470.

The jungle took over and a feature today is of Banyan and fig trees growing over the temple buildings.

There  is a story about Andre Malraux, French author  and Mister of Culture. In 1924 he was arrested for stealing Hindu statues and damaging temple structures.

Bus drive over 5 hours from Siem Reap toKamlong Cham on the Mekong. There we embarked on the MV Princess. We sail tomorrow from Angkor Ban to the country's capital Phnom Penh. 

Wee walked around the village. Most houses were on stilts. This ensured that living quarters remained dry during the rainy season. We spent an hour in a primary school as the children were being taught English. All very disruptive to the lesson but a welcome distraction for the children, Then our ship started downstream on the way to Phnom Penh.

Visited Angkor Ban, a village on the Mekong river.We entered the primary school classroom and talked to pupils on learning English? I cunducted a short whole class  session it seemed to go well. 

We were taken by cyclo to the main visitor attractions in Phnom Penh, the capital city They were the  Royal palace, with its impressive throne room, the Silver Pagoda and the National Museum.

in the evening we had a lecture from a French academic, on modern Cambodian history. From a French academic (953 - 1953:

Genocide carried out by Kner Rouge Communnists between 1975 and 1979. About 1.5 to 2 million were killed, amounting to one quarter of the population. There were 20,000 interrogated through torture at the Tuol Slleng interrogation centre in  Phnom Penh.