September 18: Kampong Cham

 Twin Mountains Temple - Village Visit - Buddha Garden - Phnom Phen Tuk Tuk After Dark

Today we woke up on board the Viking Saigon still docked in Kampong Cham.  We were off the ship before 9am and on our way to a small rural village.  As we drove we passed an open field and our guide said to look out the windows...what did we see?  Nothing but open ground.  He told us that years ago this was the site of a huge horse racing stadium!  And then we passed a big statute with two jockeys riding their thoroughbreds :)

The Kampong Cham race course - what's left of it

And they're off!

As we drove up to the village our Cambodian guide explained that the children of the village had the day off from school because of a local festival and that they would take us by the hand and lead us around their village.  It was interesting to be immersed in the local life and THAT is one of the things that is so very unique about this trip that we loved the last time we were here.  So much of the time just being with the people.  We walked by several homes along the dirt roads and then came to what was compared to "like a 7-11" convenience store where all the kids got a free treat.  Then they sang us a song.  And that wrapped the village visit.

Typical village home/property

The village school

Kim & her girls

Another common home along the road

Me & my buddy

We get serenaded :)

We were on the bus for less than ten minutes before we reached the "Twin Holy Mountains" temple site.  More like a small hill, but any kind of rise in the ground is called a "mountain" in Cambodia :)  We were there just a short time without actually going inside the temples.  Then back on the bus for about five minutes to the "Buddha Garden" - an area filled with Buddha statutes.  As we drove there our guide told us the story that reduced down to this moral.....Women are the "winners" and men are the "losers."  So as we walked around our Program Director Bob insisted we have a photo op of the "winners" and the "losers."  But when Bob went to take our photo all of us "losers" were insistent that he too join us :)

The temple on one of the "twin mountains"

Photo op atop "the mountain"

4-sided happy Buddha face temple in the Buddha Garden

Close-up view

The Buddha for the "winners" & "losers"

The "winners" of our group

And the "losers" :(

Elephant shrine

Sleeping Buddha

After dinner Kim and I joined a small number of fellow guests on a "Phnom Penh After Dark Tuk Tuk" optional excursion.  We got to see the capital city after dark and then went to a roof-top bar to top the evening off (see panoramic view at top of page) before returning to the ship around 10:30pm.  Up tomorrow morning for another excursion through the capital!

And we're off!

The rooftop bar panoramic view of Phnom Penh