A Half Marathon in Angkor Wat, Cambodia?

The sunrise at Angkor Wat is just breathtaking

Two days after my Penang Bridge Half Marathon last year, I went for a trip to Cambodia. Starting with Siem Reap ending with a 6 hours bus ride to Phnom Penh.We arrived at LCCT KL on the early morning of 23 November 2011 and departing to Siem Reap the same morning at 6.45am. To save on the cost of the hotel accommodation we decided to spent the night at the airport. The lack of sleep was  really killing on arrival at Siem Reap.

However, the excitement of travel chased the sleepiness away. But I end up having "red eyes" on the second day due to the lack of sleep and the dustiness from the trip. And these vampire eyes lasted until I am back to Penang. One interesting part of the trip I have to travel in "tuk tuk. Other than the main roads which are tarred the rest of the roads have quite a lot of potholes. And this is the only trip that I actually lose weight because when you are in a "tuk tuk" and going on the road with potholes, you will be like riding a horse. If you do not hold firmly to the handle, you will be thrown out of the "tuk tuk".

The airport at Siem Reap and the mode of transport "Tuk Tuk" and the conditions of the smaller roads.

The magnificent of Angkor Wat and temples around Siem Reap is a sight to behold. It makes you wonder how could they build such huge stones structures so many years ago. And the Angkor Wat with sunrise as a backdrop and casting a shadow on the lotus pond is just breathtaking.  There are so many photographers waiting to capture the perfect picture for the sunrise. And one unfortunate photographer forgot to bring her camera's battery. It is like a sight you must see before you die. Just like the sunset at Tanah Lot, Bali. (http://thorrunning.blogspot.com/2012/08/running-in-bali.html)

The stone structures in Angkor Wat

The tree entrance for Angelina Jolie's "Tomb Raider"

And how about running a half marathon in Angkor Wat, Cambodia? Yes, you can. It will be a great to run in such a historical place. There is a actually a half marathon organised for Angkor Wat each year with the theme "Building a better future. Aid for children and disabled in Cambodia.". I was pretty surprised when I saw the signboard and I just ran a half marathon in Penang  a few days ago. The coming event will be on 2 December 2012. Link to Angkor Wat Half Marathon. So you can run the Penang Bridge International Marathon on 18 November 2012. Then fly off to Siem Reap for a half marathon.

Half Marathon at Angkor Wat 

Cambodia has a very interesting history but lots of killings during Khmer Rouge regime which has been shown in the movie "The Killing Fields" where millions have been killed. There are a lot of poor children running around Angkor Wat areas and people have been advised to bring them candies or stationery. There are so poor that they cannot afford stationery for their studies. And here our children has an overabundance of it. Probably it will be good to bring our children to see unfortunate the Cambodian children are. This would make them appreciate what they have better.

The adorable children of Cambodia

The girl with a smiling face is "Nech"

There is an incident where I am deeply touched. It happens around the Angkor Wat area where we have given a box of stationery to this 11 year old girl named "Nech". She actually wrote us a thank you note in English wishing us good luck. It makes me realised that our children has only been taught to get good grades but not been taught the two important words, ie "Please" and "Thank you". I remember my school headmaster said "Academic excellence is no substitute for poverty of character". So true !

Her Thank You Note