The Singapore Times Exclusive: THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: ANGKOR WAT LEAVES ME BREATHLESS: I AM TO BE ON THE WALL OF FAME AT SOFITEL ANGKOR PHOKEETHRA GOLF & SPA RESORT
Prior to my abduction Bob had some huge chuckles about Viking cruise advertisements showing sophisticated passengers enjoying some very sophisticated activities onshore. Bob thinks that is all a load of crap as what he has heard and witnessed over the years is a cruise ship passenger likes nothing more than to have Mickey Mouse butter pats at dinner, midnight chocolate buffets and to wear gaudy clothing as they stream off the ship soiling the beauty of Venice, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Lisbon, Porto, Positano and just about every destination a cruise ship infects by its presence assuming there is no raging plague onboard preventing disembarkation of passengers.
I saw a Viking announcement board just off reception and despite the early hour of our breakfast we see Americans speaking far too loudly with some men wearing baseball hats in the dining room. I may be a dog but these are poorly behaved “Viking people”. Whereas Bobby Jr. and Amira enjoy an Asian breakfast I see the “Viking people” eating bacon and eggs, pancakes and Cornflakes “just like home”. Now that’s sophistication!
We drove 40 minutes to Angkor Wat and to our delight it was not jammed with tourists yet. We wandered around from about 07:30 -11:00 thankful for our early start as by the time we had finished our tour we were suffering from the intense heat and humidity. Bobby Jr. was so hot he downed two beers one after the other at the refreshment tent. I had half a bottle of Orange Fanta which I enjoyed but had a few large burps!
It is difficult to describe Angkor Wat as a picture tells a thousand words. It was an astounding site. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the 12th century; it is the largest temple in the world and the crown jewel of the temples that sit within the 155 square-mile Angkor Archaeological Park. It was built by King Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu; the temple eventually became filled with Buddhist elements as the new religion spread through the empire.
We stopped at an artisanal rice noodle enterprise making rice noodles by hand. We saw how they were made by soaking the rice, pressing it, boiling it then cutting it into noodles. Amira told us these noodles were far superior to commercially prepared rice noodles and famous in Southeast Asia. What a delicious lunch we all had eaten off a rough wooden table with vegetable curry over rice noodles, a puffy rice cake and several desserts made with rice. There were a few feral dogs engaged in a fight in the bushes behind the area where we were eating. Amira said there are over 200,000 dog bites a year in Cambodia.
We returned to the hotel to a crowd of “Viking people” wobbling round with fanny packs and clapping at a Khymer dance troupe that welcomes cruise ship passengers to the hotel.
As I entered the front door to be greeted with a bow by a beautiful Cambodian lady I went up on my hind legs, put my front paws over my eyes and gave a bow. The staff cheered and the manager pulled Bobby Jr. aside. Bobby looked at me and said, “And you thought you’d be sniffing out land mines with groups of gigantic jungle rats! You will be honored at a special reception tonight at the champagne bar!”
We all had a brief nap and were up groggy from all our heat this morning. Amira took me out for a late afternoon walk and it was like “Good Morning Vietnam” out there!
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 