Reunion at Siem Reap (Day 1)

The day finally arrived. Some of the guys (a few with spouses and children) began coming into Siem Reap from Sat 29th August, while my family & I took the Silkair flight from Singapore at 1030 this morning, together with James Kuo & family, and Chen Liang Fang. We landed just before noon.

What a welcome! Our friend Sinos was there on the airport tarmac, greeting us the moment we stepped off the plane. And when we had passed Immigration and Customs, there was a banner greeting us with the most familiar logo of St Joe.

Here are some shots taken at the airport when the different groups arrived...

A mini-bus brought us to the Borei Angkor hotel, just 20 minutes away.

After checking into the hotel and meeting the rest of the guys, we went for a nice Cambodia local lunch.

Here are some of the photos taken at our lunch at Bantaey Srey Restaurant.

After lunch, it was off for a tour of the Lake Tonlé Sap (the Great Lake), the largest freshwater lake in south-east Asia. The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: 1) its flow changes direction twice a year, and 2) the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake. So for most of the year the lake is fairly small, around one meter deep and 2,700 sq km in size. During the monsoon season however, the Tonlé Sap river, which connects the lake with the Mekong river, reverses its flow. Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake, increasing its area to 16,000 square km and its depth to up to nine meters, flooding nearby fields and forests. This floodplain provides a perfect breeding ground for fish.

The Lake Tonle Sap outing was an interesting and also quite a moving experience. We saw how the people lived in floating villages on the banks of the lake.

The level of poverty was heart-breaking. As our boat made its way on the lake, smaller "sampans" with one or two people (often young children) would come up alongside our boat, and the kids would jump over or paddle over in a small basin boat & start selling souvenirs to us. Naturally, many of our group put a few dollars in their palms, often even without taking their ware.

We also saw "sunken" forests, ie. trees which were submerged in the high water level of the lake.
In the evening we went for dinner plus traditional Apsara show. "Apsaras" are the legendary Angkor angels. The dancng ladies were beautiful and graceful, and the performance was very colourful.

After the show, we went back to the hotel and went to the music lounge on the top floor of the hotel. There we found the St Joe banner strung up above the bar.

What an incredibly packed first day ! It felt that we had done so many things already.
Our host did a fantastic organizing job. A million thanks to Tuan Sinos !
xxx