Cambodian Veterans Cemetery

  Siem Reap, Cambodia
Saturday, May 12, 2007

On the way home yesterday we stopped at the local park .. there was a huge boarder of these beautiful plants, I think they are a type of Daffodil, I tried growing some at Larry's last year but they did not flower.

Flowers at the Park

This morning I decided to check my email early instead of just in the evening and when I came out this cart was parked in front of the Internet store.

Water Buffalo & Cart

Water Buffalo - Cart & Pottery

Having trekked and trudged up one set of stairs and down the other in more temples than I can wrap my brain around, with old carvings that have been vandalized by invading army's. The noses of the cobras knocked off and the jaws and tail of the lions. . And the towers collapse over the last 1800 years (they were built in the 13 century) .I wanted to take some pictures of new sculptures.

We had been passing this place on the way to the temples every day . . two huge long cobras, held by an army of men. So I had Sok stop today.

Cobra Gate

Cobra Entrance

I did not realize what it was . . .a veterans memorial. And not only did it have the traditional Double Cobra entrance it had moderately new temples inside. I am good a picturing things in my head. But I cannot even imaging the grandeur of the temples in 1200 ad if they all looked like this. .

One of four Cemetery Temple

Then I went back to Bayon specifically to find this Bas Relief that was talked about in the Tourist Manual . . .of the Circus Coming to Town.

The Circus is Coming to Town at Bayon Temple

Bayon is an incredible place with 3 distinct types of faces looking at you from all directions. And Hundreds of Apsara's (the dancing ladies)

One of Boyon's many mysterious faces

And just how many Apsara can one woman photograph?

The vendors at all of the temples remind you of the Alaska State Fair . . maybe 50 at each temple . . .as you walk down the walk they are quite aggressive .. .most of the stuff is "been there done that, already bought three, just let me find my tuk tuk . . but this one vendor had a magnificent pipe collection like I have never seen before. Of note is that while marijuana is not legal to smoke here, it IS legal to cook with . . I even saw an ad for Cooking Classes with Marijuana and you can get it on your pizza at the local pizza parlors by asking for "The SPECIAL Pizza"

Cambodian Pipe Collection

Vendors at Banyon

Another thing I get a kick out of is how photogenic their garbage cans are . . they are everywhere. When not these nice little pots they have wicker baskets . . also photogenic sitting around and in the temples.

Canbodian Garbage Cans

When we left Bayon we stooped to look at the Elephants that you can hire to take you up to a temple that is to far up a mountain for the average person to walk.

The Elephants at Bayon Temple

After we left there we went to the local market as oppose to the tourist market where I bough some more crap, stuff, gifts : ) and found that this is basically the "wholesale"' place where all the street vendors buy there stuff to sell on the streets and shops . . so a Kilo of mixed fruit was only $1 instead of $2. They charge me more because I want a 1/3 pound each of three fruit instead of 1 Kilo each which is the most common weight of fruit to buy. I also bought about a cups worth or fresh raw garlic which I am going to start eating a couple cloves of a day for mosquito replant. While I have been feeling quite energetic and fit,
the mosquitoes here find me quit tasty and my little jaunt in the jungle yesterday netted me about 100 mosquito bites and yours truly is not taking any medication for malaria . . seems most people don't any more as the side effects is almost as bad as the malaria . . but unlike Alaska mosquitoes which only annoy me for a short time . . .these bites are itching for days.

Buying Garlic for Mosquito protection

Seems the rainy season has started and every afternoon we get caught in a short rain storm that gets us stranded somewhere. And just about any somewhere in Cambodia has a hammock. Learning to get in and out of them is interesting . . .

What do you do when it rains?

Is anybody interested in going in on an apartment building in Cambodia???
Prices are not bad but the economy is improving, and prices are climbing.
We would need to keep one unit open so we could all come have a piece of paradise : )

Every Unit has a store front downstairs . . seems finding a job here is hard to do . .
so every family that can afford a house has something downstairs. Most common are
Restaurants, Massage, Internet Cafe's, and Misc Stuff shops (Quick Stop Equivalents)
And Tourist Souvenir Shops coming out your ears.

They are building an entire new section of town that is absolutely blocks and blocks of
brand new units that all have a French Flair . .sort of look like they should be in Miami.
I happen to like this purple one. Each unit is actually pretty big (I have not been inside one yet. Store downstairs with two floors above.

New section of town