Angkor What????
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Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday: I gotta fever, and the only cure is more temples!
Yesterday was our second pre-5am morning in a row. OUCH. We wanted to get up at dawn to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. We took a tuk-tuk out there in the pitch black and waited with all the other hordes of tourists. Unfortunately sunrise was a bust; we're going to try going back tomorrow for sunset. However, the temple itself is beyond impressive and yet another of those "things I can't describe to you and wish you were here to see" (SEP ie someone else's picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanbing/405586685/). We spent a couple hours walking around it, it's huge, the bas reliefs are amazing. There is such an incredible feeling of ancient-ness to it all, it's so old and so intricate. Like a holy maze. Go there, go see it, see Angkor. We saw monkeys there! One of the babies came up to Aaron and started playing with his umbrella, then climbed up on it. Aaron tried to get him off, but the mother came and hissed at him, so he let the baby monkey take the umbrella. There was nothing funnier than watching that tiny monkey drag around the huge umbrella, even lifting it up the stairs. There is also nothing funnier than seeing a grown man get beat by a monkey.
By this point the sun was barely up and we already sweaty and disgusting, plus covered in a sexy greasy layer of sunscreen, sweat, and bug repellant. We had breakfast by Angkor Wat, where I attempted to eat pineapple but my braces said NO! Then it was off in the tuk-tuk to the Ta Prohm group, where we went to the Bayon (SEP: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Cambodia/West/Siem_Reab/Angkor/photo200027.htm). The Bayon is also magnificent, over 200 big smiley ancient heads looking in 4 directions, which are said to represent either the King who built the place or bodhisattvas, depending on who you talk to. We really liked the Bayon, we are going to try to get back there for sunset too, but we are running out of sunsets.
Off to the temple Ta Keo (SEP:http://www.flickr.com/photos/damianrowe/1323756170/ ), which was basically a frighteningly steep set of shallow stairs that scared me half to death. I was so tired and greasy by this point, I was sure I was going to slip and die. We got to the top and had a "sit", as we like to call them. This temple is in very poor shape, but if you walk around the back you can see a HUGE reclining buddha, 2 or 3 stories tall and very bloody long. We then had lunch at a very overpriced khmer restaurant, though the food was very good. Generally I find the prices of food and drink here to be highly inflated due to the number of western tourists, but I think it's good, the money is obviously going straight to Cambodians and heaven knows they need it. I had something called vegetable amok (SEP: http://www.flickr.com/photos/puffsdaddy/351554355/ ), which is possibly the most awesome name for a meal ever ( "oh my god! my vegetables have gone amok!!!"), and it was served to us in coconuts, which is cool.
Lastly came Ta Phrom, the tomb-raider-esque collection of temples from the 1st centruy AD. Basically everything here is being swallowed alive by the jungle (SEP: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcheong/1392379974/ ). Massive silk cotton trees seem to grow out of stones like magic. The roots twist over and through everything. It was very beautiful. Like all the other temples, it was like walking through an archaeological dig put on hold, there are massive carved stones laying everywhere with numbers inscribed in them with chalk as the archaeologists struggle to piece them all together. Though we were exhausted smelly backpackers by this point, I was floored by this place, and once again stunned by how very very lucky I was to be there.
Today: Bug Bonanza
We woke up at a more sane hour of 8am and went off to the temple of Bantay Srey, which is even older than yesterday's temples, and noted for its very intricate engravings (SEP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Banteay_Srei_Kala.jpg). This temple was 37 km from town, by tuk tuk. The drive was long but fun, we got to see alot of rural Cambodian countryside. Rice fields being ploughed the old-fashioned way, with big black asian buffaloes. Cows, cows everywhere, on the street, in the fields, under the palms. Lots of rough houses with kids laying around doing a whole lotta nothing. Dirt. Dirt everywhere. People shovelling it, kids playing in it, trucks carrying it.
We went to Kbal Spean waterfalls, which involved a 30min jungly hike 1500m up a mountain, a happy break from temple land. I was very impressed when we got to the water, as it was a river and waterfall that ran over ancient ruins, and looked very cool (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oktoke/207639503/). I was very happy to be using my much-neglected body by sweatily hiking around some mountain.
Then we had the long journey back to Siem Reap, where we had lunch/dinner (dunch? linner?) at the Butterfly Restaurant. This is an outdoor restaurant that is completely enclosed by mesh, and chock full of, you guessed it, butterflies. Flying all around your head like crazy, big ones and small ones, colorful and plain-janes, and some nice big frogs underfoot to kill of the dummy butterflies who fly straight into their faces.
Today was also insect day.
Insect #1: giant beetle the size of my thumb that flew into my face while on a boardwalk over marsh at Banteay Srey and made me run away while Aaron stood and laughed and laughed.
Insect #2: big, bright red dragon fly at same place as insect #1.
Insect #3: long scary millipede in a crack in the rocks at Banteay Srey. These are the ones that send you to the hospital if they bite you.
Insect #4: freaky huge black and yellow spider suspended above our heads during the hike. Aaron thinks he is some kind of nephala, whatever that means Aaron.
Insect #5: big red ants that could probably bite off your arm.
Insect #6: the butterflies!!
Since yesterday was Monkey Day, and today was Insect Day, I am hoping that tomorrow will be Large Mammal Day. I want to see tigers and elephants and whatever else they got in these here jungles!
Cambodia pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61832&id=512559754&l=b6ce36d0de
