On 28th December 2007, at 4:30am, we, 13 students from 12B class together with our homeroom teacher, Mr. Gurkan Cil and our history teacher, Mr. Phirun Meas, were supposed to be at ZAMAN International School in order to start the great journey. At 5’o clock, we were all here at school except one who still didn’t arrive. We waited until 5:45am but still he wasn’t there, so we decided to wait no more and set out with just 12 students and 2 teachers on a 25-seat bus.
On the way, we bought bread from Bayon Bakery. 5 of us went to buy the bread but just 4 returned. Having thought that all of us had come back, we continued the trip, but not long after noticed that one, who was Darapheak Tin, was missing and was seen running behind the bus. He put back on and we continued.
At 8:30am, we stopped to have breakfast at Arunras Restaurant, Kampong Thom and buy some ice for the day, and then continued our way to the ancient city. During the journey, 4 or 5 of the students got motion sickness and felt not very well. At 12’o clock, we arrived in Rolous, Siem Reap and visited Preah Ko and Bakong Temple, which was dedicated to Shiva. Then, we went to Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chom, a place where wishes would come true, to pray for happiness and safety. At 1:30pm, we arrived at the booked hotel but there were no rooms available for the third day. Therefore, we needed to find another hotel for the last night. Not for long after, we found one, booked it and started to have lunch. Unfortunately, Bunly Srey felt very bad because of motion sickness. So we cancelled all afternoon programs on the first day and took Bunly to a hospital. After a while, Bunly got better, so we came back to the hotel and had dinner at an Indian Restaurant, which Mr. Gurkan requested. After dinner, we came back to the hotel, rested, and swam until 11pm. That night was a delightful night for us as Bunly became a lot better. Before going to bed, we agreed to get up at 6 o’clock in order to start the programs of visit at 7:30am.
The next morning came, we got up late and had breakfast at 7 o’clock. The breakfast took less than 45 minutes, but our homeroom teacher, Mr. Gurkan was copying pictures into his laptop, which slowed down the trip until 8:20am when we could start. That day, first, we visited Krovan Temple, and then went on to Mount. Kulen which is best known for its religious carvings on rocks underwater. It took one hour to reach that place. There, we visited Preah Ang Thom, which is a Buddha statue carved on a big embossed rock, and a beautiful waterfall. After having lunch, we came back to Banteay Srey Temple, which is widely famous for its lifelike sculptures and carvings.
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Later that evening, we entered the Cambodian Cultural Village near the hotel we stayed. There, came a lot of visitors, both national and foreign, to watch shows of Cambodian minority groups such as, Phnorng’s traditional Rice’s soul-praying-ceremony and the show of the great king Jayavarman 7’s reign. We also took pictures with actors and actresses, esp. with the Apsara dance group. Those scenes were so wonderful that we just wanted to see it again and again although we had late dinner, for the shows ended at 9:00pm.
Next day, it was the time for us to move to another hotel. After leaving all the cloth bags at the hotel, we visited Angkor Thom, the third and last city in Angkor Period built by King Jayavarman 7. The first place we visited on the third day was the central, Buddhist temple with a lot of amazing faces, Bayon Temple. Then we went to Bapoun Temple, Phimean Akas, which was an ancient royal palace, Preah Khan Temple, which is so much damaged by nature, Neak Pan, which was an ancient hospital curing people according to their 4 elements, respectively, and to the most famous and largest religious temple ever built in the world, Angkor Wat.
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There, we saw the great carvings of a lot of things esp. the angels, Apsaras with different appearances and actions. We made a round-the-temple-walk and took a lot of pictures until it was late enough to see the sun setting. Filled with wonder, we hurried up Bakheng Mountain, while other visitors were already coming down. We were a bit late but still excited to make our way up there. There, stood a temple called Prasat Phnom Bakheng and we bought coins to use telescope to look around the whole central Siem Reap and the view of Angkor Wat until we were asked to leave the mountain top. We didn’t go down by usual way but by another 2 connecting ways, a shortcut path and Plov Domrey( Elephant’s path).The sky was beginning to get darker, the way seemed to be dangerous and scary but at last we made it to the bus which was waiting near the entrance of the way up the mountain. Dinner time came and we had it in a buffet restaurant. There, Mr. Gurkan found it a little bit difficult to cook and ate himself but enjoyable. After that, we went back to the hotel, gathered in a room and ate some snacks and ice cream happily with each other.
The last day of the trip unexpectedly arrived, so we had to leave the marvelous city with great sadness. After a long journey and a stop for lunch, we arrived in Phnom Penh at 5pm.
Joining-Students’ Opinion about the Trip
This great trip was very good, adventurous, enjoyable and educating. All programs were finely planned and performed. With our history teacher, Mr. Phirun Meas, all the stones, styles and carvings seemed to have lots of unthinkable meanings that we’ve never thought of. The temples and the lost city seemed awake and lots of imaginations of how, what, and why Angkorean people did things came into our mind. This trip played important roles in improving our self esteem and self confidence as all the things were decided and done by all of us alone with just the guidance and encouragement from our supervisor and we made it. Our thanks go to our 2 teachers, Mr. Gurkan for arranging the trip, supervising us, and letting us experience outdoor life, and Mr. Phirun Meas for giving us the honor of accepting our invitation, guiding us, and explaining the great meanings of carvings, and our school (ZIS) for giving us a chance to have this trip. Even though we visited for 3-days still we felt like wanting to visit again as we were really excited and enjoyed not only by the wonderful carvings and temples but also by the performances of all of us.
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