Musings of the developer :
The Plain of Jars
I
first went to Cambodia
in August, 2000. I had a meeting in the capital, Phnom Penh. Having
a day free, I wanted so much to visit Angkor
Wat which
is located north of Siem Reap. However, it would have taken me 9
hours to travel by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. I couldn't
afford the time and I was quite disappointed.
After that visit, I was grounded for a little over a decade. In January 2011, I was able to travel again and it was largely due to AirAsia. My first trip out of Malaysia was to... Siem Reap, Cambodia. I would often joke that it is at the top of my bucket list to be "one with the wall" of Angkor Wat. I spent hours in that wondrous archeological site and, in doing so, made a friend - the tuk-tuk driver who got me there. Saren Ret had not, before then, ferried tourists who would spend that amount of time in Angkor Wat. It was also a time when the number of visitors was not as voluminous as of today. (Very, very few tourists took selfies with the majestic temple then.)
Checkout this video that was made in gratitude of Saren Ret's friendship and services https://youtu.be/MynsEs7vx34 here.
~ ~ ~
I have just
discovered another archeological
site
that has captured my imagination and fascination. The site is The
Plain of Jars in Laos,
which has been
recorded to be at least half a millennium older than Angkor
Wat.
Thanks to
the affordable fares of AirAsia,
I was fortunate to visit the
UNESCO
World Heritage
Site
of Luang Prabang,
Laos..
Again, the same thing happened to me. I was hard-pressed for time and had to forgo visiting the mysterious Plain of Jars. The travel time by road from Luang Prabang to the Plain (near Phonsavan) was estimated to be 8 hours. The round trip and site visit would take at least two days. And, I would not have had the luxury of time like I had during my second trip to Cambodia. The Plain of Jars is hardly a place to visit just for selfies.
I have left Luang Prabang and I miss it already. However, this time I AM NOT going to wait another decade before I tick off the next item on my bucket list...
to be ONE WITH THE JARS! (Note: one might not want to be IN the jars - as they are believed to be of funerary purposes!)
After that visit, I was grounded for a little over a decade. In January 2011, I was able to travel again and it was largely due to AirAsia. My first trip out of Malaysia was to... Siem Reap, Cambodia. I would often joke that it is at the top of my bucket list to be "one with the wall" of Angkor Wat. I spent hours in that wondrous archeological site and, in doing so, made a friend - the tuk-tuk driver who got me there. Saren Ret had not, before then, ferried tourists who would spend that amount of time in Angkor Wat. It was also a time when the number of visitors was not as voluminous as of today. (Very, very few tourists took selfies with the majestic temple then.)
Checkout this video that was made in gratitude of Saren Ret's friendship and services https://youtu.be/MynsEs7vx34 here.
~ ~ ~
Again, the same thing happened to me. I was hard-pressed for time and had to forgo visiting the mysterious Plain of Jars. The travel time by road from Luang Prabang to the Plain (near Phonsavan) was estimated to be 8 hours. The round trip and site visit would take at least two days. And, I would not have had the luxury of time like I had during my second trip to Cambodia. The Plain of Jars is hardly a place to visit just for selfies.
I have left Luang Prabang and I miss it already. However, this time I AM NOT going to wait another decade before I tick off the next item on my bucket list...
to be ONE WITH THE JARS! (Note: one might not want to be IN the jars - as they are believed to be of funerary purposes!)
