One of my travel agent (whoops, 'destination management') friends is exploring ways to get into Kulen without the exorbitant road toll. Kulen is privately managed, for some reason that is not entirely clear. We motorbike in a side road, then hike up. Here's a shrine at the bottom.
A small reflecting pool with statues of Hanuman and Sovann Macha.
After a bit of staring down the gate guards, they let us through. Alexandra has a tour guide pass and I have an Angkor pass, we obviously work here.
One kid tries to tag along and practice his tourist spiel. I.E. 'I'm very poor and can't afford English lessons', "Will you be my godparent?" Kid, I hardly know you.
There are lingas in a riverbed, a gigantic lying Buddha, and lots of monuments, all deteriorating fast. One could spend days up here. I think I'm due a return trip. At least to retrieve some more pictures.
Butterflies and a piece of trash. Kulen in a nutshell - natural beauty and encroaching environmental damage. Even a few decades ago the majority of Khmer packaging was largely organic. Plastic is treated in the same way. A coconut shell or banana leaf degrades, but a plastic bag is a different story.
Wow. How many waterfall pictures can we take? Let's find out.
And this is just the beginning of the rainy season.
Ahh, that feels good.
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