We woke at 4:30 a.m. to go to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat, and were picked up by our guide and tuk tuk driver at 5 am. Before we left, we saw a large toad near our rooms and a rather large spider. I was a little more excited about the toad. The guide told me that I had to change to pants as women aren’t allowed in the temple in shorts! I took my offensive legs back and clothed them.
The ride took maybe 15 minutes and we headed back through town over this incredibly gutted dirt road where I had my second ‘I wish I was a man’ moment (wishing I wore a sports bra!) Our guide’s name is Jac, and he’s really wonderful and knowledgeable. He pointed out some of the five star hotels (there’s an excessive amount of large hotels here). We purchased our tickets and were on our way. Cambodians do not pay for entry, and it was $40 for three days for each of us. It was still dark when we arrived, though starting to show small wisps of light. We walked over the Rainbow Bridge crossing the moat to the temple and found a spot next to the lake to watch. There were a lot of people here, particularly Japanese, and several hundred waited for the same sight.
It never happened. It was so cloudy that we didn’t view the sun rise, though we did get to watch the shadows creep away over the temple. Jac shared with us some information about the Cambodian people and the temple, then we shared breakfast. I got noodles with pork as well as a plate of fruit with bananas, mangos, and pineapple. Jason got nutella pancakes, which when it appeared was a fat pancake over some cut up bananas and a container of Duncan Hines chocolate frosting! It was hilarious and an interesting interpretation. We also got coffees, which were not as strong as the Vietnamese style, and are served with a can of condensed milk.
We headed over to the temple and walked in and around it for several hours. There are three levels, and we climbed stairs to the top level to walk around as well (yes, that was * fun * climbing down). Jac gave me the scarf around his neck to cover my shoulders as I was wearing a sleeveless shirt, so I also covered my offending shoulders before climbing up the steep and long stairs. My friend wasn’t very good to me, taking a picture of me clinging to the railing trying to climb down, and was rewarded with a gesture of my pleasure. We saw two young Buddhist monks in bright orange robes. Jac pointed out and explained many of the carvings in the walls, which were very intricately carved with dancing women, gods, monkeys and various other animals including horses, elephants and alligators. The four outside lower walls were completely carved with fighting scenes and scenes of rebirth and reincarnation. The local people were originally Hindus, but most converted to Buddhism. Even so, they still honor the old ways, and the temple was a mix of both. Buddhist monks lived there until they were told that they hindered conservation efforts and moved to a monestary near the Wat in the early 1900s.
Jac told us about his family. He lives in the country with his wife and her family: parents, and two sisters-in-law. He stays there when he doesn’t work as a guide. It’s typical that people live with their wife’s family so the daughter will care for the parents when they get old. He has a 9 month old son, and really lit up talking about him. He has a dog and a cat, both with jobs to do as the dog protects the house and the cat hunts mice. He’s had an interesting life and has lived at a monestary, worked as a grade school teacher, a realtor and now a tour guide. He also told us about finding guns in random places, even now, from the country’s long civil war. There was fighting from 1970 to 1975, then 1979 to around 1998.
We looked at all the carved walls, and Jac told us the stories they depicted, and stepped off the temple for a little bit to take some pictures of it, before heading out. There were some nice, long sun dresses in the stalls outside the temple, but I was a bit overloaded by the rush of people trying to sell us things, and we left. We were quite tired so decided to head to the hotel for a nap and some lunch. I think I fell asleep when my head hit the pillow, and woke a short bit later still tired. The heat and humidity really seems to have an effect.
The hotel is quite cute by day, and there’s a nice pool right in front of our rooms that we didn’t see at night. It’s really charming, though is lacking in some amenities like hot water! Even still, I’m enjoying it there and am glad we chose it.
We had lunch at the hotel consisting of two pork sandwiches with pan fried pork and great flavor (Khmer sandwiches) and enjoyed the sounds of the jungle for a bit. I kept a piece of pork for the skinny cat we’ve seen twice now on our hotel grounds. We met Jac at 2 to head to another temple, then into the market for some shopping and walking around.
We went to see Angkor Thom, a smaller temple complex in a different part of the complex from Angkor Wat. We saw the Preah Ngok Pagoda with many carved Buddha statues, the Bophuon Temple and climbed two rather steep areas (one a ladder and one steps—Barb, you would have been impressed!) to enjoy this beautiful small temple. We saw the Royal Palace, the Elephant Terrace and the Leper King Terrace. There were many amazingly beautiful carvings, including several five-headed horses, dancing women, gods and animals.
We headed back to shower then planned to go to the market for some dinner and shopping. The shops are in buildings supported by stilts over the water, and many have homes attached. The people are poor and own no land, so this was their way around the cost of land. Building over the water requires no land.
Tomorrow we head back to spend the day touring temples, then watch the sun set over one. What a perfect time!
Sam
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