It rained again during the night. Quite a lot actually! When we went out to meet our driver, Lin, there were huge puddles in the unmade road outside and we had to pick our way to the Mercedes minivan to keep our feet dry.
But, before we left our room for our day trip we had made sure that we would have everything we might need in our day packs. Raincoat, tick, water, tick, toilet paper, tick and the Go Girl, tick. Whats that? people might ask. Well, a week or so before heading to Vietnam and Cambodia I was stressing about the whole squat toilet thing and decided that maybe I needed a ladies urination device so that I could pee standing up!
Some research ensued and, not only are these a thing, they go by all sort of weird and wonderful names: STP PStyle, Purple Turtle, SheWee, The Tinkle Belle, Whiz Freedom, etc, etc. I decided on the Go Girl because I was able to pop into Boating, Camping, Fishing in Box Hill South on my way home from the hairdresser and just buy it, rather than stressing about purchasing it on the Internet and
risking not having it arrive before our departure. I practiced with it at home and managed to direct the flow into the toilet bowl, but today just might be the day that I really need to use it to avoid peeing on my shoes??!!
Before we left town we had to visit the ticket office that sells permits for Kulen Mountain. The ticket that we already have only covers temples in the Siem Reap area. When venturing further afield it is necessary to pay another US$20 per person to visit the sites on Phnom Kulen. The driver and car cost us US$120 for the day so, all up, our day trip set us back US$100/couple.
Our first stop was at Banteay Srei which is about 36km from Siem Reap. This temple is renowned for its delicate carvings on every surface of the temple that depict traditional Hindu stories and portraits of celestial nymphs. Banteay Srei has a sanctuary featuring three towers and three statues with kneeling human bodies and animal heads. There are also three enclosures to explore, but our visit was somewhat short and sweet because Lin had asked us to return to the car within 40
Well, there wasnt much time between finishing our breakfast and departing at 8.00am so our breakfast fluids (juice AND tea!) hadnt really been processed and eliminated before we left this morning. We decided that we should use the WC here at Banteay Srei because facilities were only like to be more primitive the further we ventured from Siem Reap.
We walked across the bridge over the lotus pond to the facilities and they were MAGNIFICENT!! Bernie had read that during COVID lockdown Cambodia used the time to develop their restroom facilities and they have certainly done a great job. These restrooms were on a par with any that you would find in a shopping centre in with flushing toilets with seats, sensor operated taps and electric hand dryers. I didnt even have to resort to my trusty wad of toilet paper in my pocket!
After this stop we were really on the dancing road! The roads around Siem Reap have been really good because the Chinese have invested in them over the last couple of years, but the further away we drove from Siem Reap the more the road surface deteriorated. At
the base of the mountain we pulled into the checkpoint and showed that we held the necessary ticket for our excursion up the mountain.
After last nights rain the unmade road up the mountain was pretty dodgy. Ideally we should have been in a 4x4, but we made it in the old Mercedes minivan that Lin was driving without having to get out and push!! We really felt for the road maintenance individuals who were out by the side of the road in their flip flops with a shovel a thousand years old trying to shovel the dirt washed out last night back onto the road. Hopefully someone is paying them for their efforts??
Our first stop on the mountain was at an absolutely stunning viewpoint at Poeng Ta Kho.
