Spean-mania

A corbelled archway at one of the small laterite Angkorean bridges on Highway 6

Four and a half hours on the road today between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap was pretty tough going even though I was in an air-conditioned 4WD. I don't know, some people will complain about anything... At least it gave me the opportunity to take a food-break at Kompong Thom and to meet up with one of my best pals, Sokhom. He's had his own car for about a month now, it's a camry - what else, and he'll take customers to Sambor Prei Kuk, Koh Ker and further afield. He said the English-speaking guides have now begun work at Sambor Prei Kuk but it's early days and a few visitors have complained about the strength of their English. He also mentioned that the troop movements through the city on their way to Preah Vihear has been very noticeable over the last few days and eating in the same restaurant were a tv crew from CTN on their way north to cover the face-off between the Khmer and Thai troops at the mountaintop temple. High-level talks between the two sides broke down on Monday without any resolution, so we may well be in for a long-running saga.
The 30 kilometre section of Highway 6 between Kompong Kdei and Damdek is populated with more than half a dozen of the laterite Angkorean-age bridges (or 'speans') that you can see in these photos. In a rare moment of sanity, the modern-day road builders actually took into account the historical significance of these bridges and deliberately paved the highway around them, and even rebuilt them in most cases, to preserve them for posterity. Most people just sail past them, unaware of their existence, so I thought I'd post a couple of photos just so that you can keep an eye open for them next time you take that section of highway. They pale into insignificance compared to the mighty Spean Praptos that you can see at Kompong Kdei, but in their own small way, they too represent the golden age of bridge-building in Khmer history.
Finally, I had dinner with friends at the Shadow of Angkor restaurant tonight and the place was heaving. Everyone has been telling me that visitor numbers are sparse at the moment, so most of them must've been in the Shadow! I was passing on the good news of the latest 'our pick' in the new edition of the Lonely Planet guide to the owner Seng Hour and it seems word has already got out amongst the travelling fraternity. Not a spare seat in the house, both in the restaurant and the guesthouse upstairs.

One of the small laterite Angkorean bridges to be found on Highway 6