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Published: March 18th 2009
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First off, I just want to mention that about 2 weeks ago, our friends Steph and Adam Skerkowski welcomed their son Rory to the world and we couldn't be more happy for them. We're sorry we couldn't be their guys, but we can't wait to meet him.
It's been about a week since we left Cambodia and yet I still find myself thinking about the smiling people and the spectacular archeological remains of Angkor Wat. Cambodia was simply incredible and certainly lived up to our very high expectations. The country and people are obviously poor, but their happy smiles and their bright eyes could easily convince you otherwise. If we went to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat we came away with much more. From its terrible past and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge to the wonders of the city of Angkor and the present state of the people, Cambodia has seen it all and the Cambodians have suffered through it. This country has a lot to offer and there is a lot to see.
We arrived at our very nice guesthouse - probably the nicest accomodations we've had on this trip - and settled in after our wonderful
border corssing experience. In Siem Reap, we found a great little "pizza" restaurant called Hawaii Pizza which served up delicious homemade pizzas as well as traditional Khmer style food. This little place was just down the road from our guesthouse and became our watering hole for the four days we were in town. The most interesting thing we saw at the restaurant however was when a cat came around the corner and into the outside sitting area with a half dead rat in its mouth. Luckily we had already eaten and the cat stayed very much away from the kitchen. As the predator watch his pray, and waited for it to die, the rat mustered up it's last bit of courage and escaped his aggressor and fled to a near by pile of wood to die in peace. It was sad, but it is the circle of life...
On a less disgusting note, when we weren't eating, we spent three full days exploring the amazing ruins of an ancient civilization - The Khmer Empire!
On the first full day we woke up fairly early, met with our tuk-tuk driver, who would be our "chauffer" for the three days,
and set off to see the temples we had long been dreaming about. I would love to go into detail about the history of the massive site and each of the temples, but the I'm not sure I would even scratch the surface or do the history any justice. Simply put, Angor is a set of temples and building that together constituted the heart of the Khmer Empire between the 10th and 13th century. The temples are a mixture of various different styles with heavy influences from both Buddhism and Hinduism.
The site was beyond anything I could have imagined and pictures will never do it justice, but with dozens of temples and intricate, beautiful art and architecture, the stunning impact of the remains are undeniable even in photos. I couldn't help feel like Indiana Jones as we stumbled through ancient arches and climbed the steap steps to the top of Banyon temple. Despite the large crowds and the hundreds of tourists, the site wasn't overpowered by them due to the enormity of the grounds and Steph and I often found ourselves alone in some remote part of one of the temples. Angkor is comprised of much more than
just Angkor Wat, which is the most well known and most beloved of the temples, but also includes the massive, walled city of Angkor Thom which spreads out for miles and miles. Once you pass the incredibly intimedating gates into the city, you are transported back in time to a place that is so different than anything you've ever seen.
I could go on and go about the grounds and continue to poetically describe each carved stone, but I'll refrain. Of the dozen or so temples we saw that first day, I prefered Bayon temple which was built at the end of the 12th century and is decorated with over 150 giant faces looking out over the Kingdom. Steph loved, with good reason, the Jungle temple which is where parts of the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. It is a spectacular example of the fight between man made construction and the power of nature as, slowly but surely, the trees are reclaiming the land they once occupied.
After the first day we quickly realized how dusty and sanding Cambodia was as all our white clothes are now a lovely shade of beige...
The second day we got
up very early to go and see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, and though the clouds did not provide us with even a small climpse of the sun, watching the massive Angkor Wat appear infront of you from the darkness was magical. We also saw a very large scorpian...That night we climbed up to the top of another temple complex and watched as the golden light of the sun, set over Cambodia. Later, we went to the night market where we met up with an american woman who is traveling in Cambodia with her 16 year of daughter and whose blog helped us make it through the border. This is one particularly funny entry: http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-380748.html
It was great company and we were treated to a beer. The night market was neat and I bought a few t-shirts for 4 dollars and 2 Krama, a traditional scarf worn by the locals for every use under the sun. Unfortunaly since it was written in the lonely planet to buy, every tourist in Cambodia also has one. I felt terrible bargaining the price of the t-shirts down from two for five to two for three, though it was kind of fun. Barganing
is a slippery slope. If youdon't go low enough you feel cheated, but if you go too low you feel like a completely jerk for taking a few bucks away from people who really need it. The problem is that there are a hundred people selling stuff, but it's all the same stuff so they're desperate to sell something, anything, at any price. It makes you feel awful, as one by one the women or children ask you to buy something and say "you buy only for me...come find me" when you say no. At the temples there is a constant demand to buy things and it can get very frustrating as the vendor don't go down without a fight, but in the ends a simple smile and a "no thank you" will do the trick. It's terrible to see people get mad or angry over something that is truly a creation of the tourism they are enjoying.
The third day we did a longer tour which included a ride out to the country, where we saw how the poorest people lived. It's though, but they still smile. The fourth day was another traveling day as we headed back
to Bangkok and another border crossing. This was was much easier and pretty much stress free. All in all, Cambodia was one of our favourite places we've been to, and we would go back in an instant. I wish I could say more, and in person I probably could, but for now this little entry will have to suffice until we see you face to face, or until you decide to visit this amazing country yourself.
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Dad T
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Angor Wat
Nice. It sure sounds special. Wait til you buy your car, think of all the experience you are getting, trying to get a bargain. How was Steph's feet after that fish massage. I would have been throwing a line in. Yum, scorpion soup. I think we have enough of your pictures that Mom wants to blow up to fill every room in the house. Keep it coming.