Tomb Raiders (Not Really)

Biking with Buddha (see him in the stone above the arch?)

The tree is engulfing the stone building.

So one thing I learn today is that I have sweat glands on every inch of my skin (I was going to say body, but my eyeballs and fingernails didn't perspire - but that's it).  It's in the mid-90s with high humidity, and I spend the entire time drenched.  But what a wonderful day!  This is the primary reason we booked our trip - to see the Cambodian temple ruins. 

Our first temple ends up being my favorite of the day - Ta Phrom.  I think it's the trees and moss growing in and around the buildings.  It definitely has a special atmosphere around it.  Turns out a scene from the movie Tomb Raider was filmed here.  I saw the movie, but it was such a long time ago I don't remember it.

I feel like there should be majestic music playing in the background.  Maybe Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries?

The temple was built in the late 1100s, and was originally a Buddhist monastery and university.  However, much of the Buddhist artwork was destroyed or converted to represent Hinduism in the 1200s.

I expect to see Indiana Jones walk through the doorway any minute.

In the 1400s the Khmer Empire fell apart, and the temple was abandoned and neglected for centuries.  When it was rediscovered by the French in the late 1800s they decided not to do a restoration of the temple.  The buildings had merged with the jungle and formed into one entity.  Due to its increased popularity in the last 20 years, foreign archaeological groups have come in to make it more accessible to visitors (building wooden sidewalks and staircases) to save the buildings from damage.

Depending on the direction the walls face, there are still carvings that have not worn away.

Just the side of a wall...can you imagine
what it must have looked like 700 years ago?

Another pretty quilting design!

Doesn't this look incredible?

Can you find Steve?

After Ta Phrom we hop back on our bikes.  It's kind of like driving through the countryside in England, "Oh, look, there's another castle," except here it's "Oh, look, there's another temple."  I don't know the name of this one, but we stop and Steve decides to climb to the top (I determine I'm already sweaty enough, so I'll just stay on the ground and take the pictures).  

Steve is biking and taking pictures of Kimthet and me
at the same time.  He's a talented guy!

We then ride around the wall of Angkor Thom, bordered by the moat on one side and the jungle on the other.  (If I had fallen in maybe it would have helped me to cool off.  I would have felt just as wet.  Though seeing how I react to the tap water here, maybe the moat wouldn't have been too good for me.)  Hundreds of years ago when the moat was "in use," it would have 1000 crocodiles in it.  Though it's hot, it's nice to ride in the shade of the jungle for awhile.  We see lots of butterflies, and even some very large monkeys!  No pictures, though - we just keep riding.  I'm starting to regret not going to spin class lately.  I ride my bike around Tokyo, but it's usually not for more than 20 minutes at a time.  Certain muscles are feeling a little sore! 

Wow!

Our next stop is at Bayon Temple, located inside Angkor Thom.  We have a nice selfie outside it's own moat.









Here's a closer shot of the main buildings of Bayon Temple, though you're still not getting the sense of its size.  This was the last official temple to be built at Angkor, in the late 1100s.  It's known for it's hundreds of faces carved into the towers, usually one facing in each of the four directions. 

The temple rises up 150 feet, about the height of a 14-story building.

Brotherly love - Kimthet is on the right.

While we're wandering around the different terraces, our guide, Kimthet, runs into his brother.  He's giving a tour to a couple of French women.  Our guide speaks Khmer, English and Japanese, but he says he's currently taking classes for French and Korean.

Framed up!

I try to find fun pictures to take and our guide does a good job of telling us about amusing photo opportunities.   I see this window and I know it will make a nice photo frame!





Kimthet helps us get nose to nose with Buddha.

I hope Steve doesn't feel the need to burp at this point.

This Buddha face is almost smiling.

Very cool carvings here, too.

Our first view of Angkor Wat!

We take a break for lunch, then ride the bikes to Angkor Wat, the highlight of the day.  What a surprise - it has a moat, too!  It's the largest religious monument in the world and was built in the early 1100s. (It's interesting to think about what was going on in North America at that time.  The Indians pretty much had the continent to themselves.)  Originally it was built as a Hindu temple, but by the end of the century it was converted to Buddhism (the opposite of Ta Phrom).  It was neglected after the 1500s but apparently never completely abandoned, and the moat protected it from being reclaimed by the jungle.  

Kimthet helped direct us so we could get a perfect reflection of Angkor Wat in the water.

"Ohhmmmm..."

Kimthet helps us to have entertaining pictures here, too.  He knows to bring us to the far colonnade, which is empty of tourists, unlike the packed opposite side of the facility.  I'm "meditating." 



In case you're curious, here's part of the outside of the colonnade.  It really is very long (remember, biggest religious monument).

This photo only shows a small section of one side of the temple.

We wander around the facility for quite awhile, then make the trek up to the third (top) level.  This section is called "heaven," and due to the heavy traffic and limited space guides are not allowed up there.  It's not as busy right now, because it's the hottest part of the day and so most of the tourists are somewhere cooler.  I don't mind being out in the heat if it makes it easier to see everything and enjoy the experience.  We're glad we don't have to wait an hour to climb the staircase to the top.

A bird's eye view of the middle level and the countryside

This is also where they're strict regarding covered knees and shoulders.  But we discover your knees don't really need to be covered, they just want your shorts to go all the way down to them.  So Steve's shorts are okay, and this is why I've worn pants, anyway. 

Steve posing on one side of the plaza on the heaven level.

The stairway to heaven.  Is this where Led Zepplin got their inspiration?

It's late in the afternoon and we have the option of riding the bikes the five miles back to our hotel.  However, a few hours earlier as we entered Angkor Wat I make an "executive" decision and decided we're going to take the car back.  At the end of the day, Steve is glad I made the judgment call - we're tired after exploring and climbing Angkor Wat for hours in the heat.  Kimthet, who's in better shape than both of us, is also relieved.  It's been fun exploring antiquity, but modern conveniences are phenomenal!

We're here!  No, over here!  Wait - where are we??  (More Kimthet photo fun!)

Cambodian Countryside

Selfie with the King (Your first thought was Elvis, wasn't it?  Not that king.)

Independence Monument - in daylight

We start off this morning viewing a few of the monuments we didn't get to yesterday (and we'd previously seen lit up at night).  There's obviously no leash laws here, as we see dogs roaming around and in the countryside there are loose horses and cows.  What I don't notice as we travel around today are the cone-style hats - apparently, that's only a Vietnamese thing.  We also don't observe public displays of affection - that's a big "no, no" here.  So Steve and I develop a secret code to give each other a kiss in public. 

No leash, but he has a harness on.

loose horses...physically or morally?

Something I do notice as we go around are the cute signs indicating the bathrooms. 

These are adorable!  They should become the
international standard.

She has hair in this one!  And yes, people
probably thought I was strange to take
pictures of the entrance to the bathroom.
"Tourists! They take pictures of anything."

 


We then take a quick ferry across the Meking River to go to an island.  Car ferries are my least favorite means of transportation, and there's not much to see, so we entertain ourselves by taking a selfie.

Does anyone know where the life jackets are on this boat?

The car ferry turns out to be worth it, since it allows us to stop at the silk farm.  We get to scrutinize some of the worms, first.  They sleep with their heads up, so if you zoom in you can tell which ones are napping. 

Sleeping and munching mulberry leaves.  That's the life!

Steve examining the different kinds of silk thread.

Once they spin their cocoons and die (well, I should say they're killed) you can collect the thread for spinning.  I never realized the term "raw silk" comes from the outer potion of the cocoon, which is about 30% of the total.  The inner portion is the "fine silk."  Now I understand the difference in clothing, too.  Once the cocoons are spun into thread, they can be dyed with either natural elements or chemicals.  Then they can be woven into cloth.  I get to try out the loom, but I'm not very good at it.  I keep getting the shuttle stuck between the threads.  

Steve doesn't have to worry that I'll start a new hobby!

We then drive on to the village we'll be visiting.  Along the way we notice a local market (but no grocery stores, so this is it).

Everything under one roof - not quite!

Is it only $500 for a condo??

I find the billboard for condos and a golf course interesting.  Reminds me of some places in the US!  I wonder if it will actually be built.  When we travel back to Phnom Penh along the highway (no ferry this time) we do see some construction on large condo buildings like this.

Luckily, there's not a lot of traffic here.

The mopeds are around, too.  Four people on this one - that was the most I could get a picture of.  Looks like helmets are not required, like leashes.  One thing I didn't get a picture of was the ice cream truck riding around, playing music.  Who knew that was universal?

Similar to what we saw in Vietnam, the houses in the village range from "very nice" to "made from scraps."  The houses are all built up off the ground and have dirt as their ground level (no concrete or grass).  Even the silk farm had their facilities directly on the dirt floor.  That's why we couldn't see all the worms at work - yesterday's rain made it too muddy for us to walk back to the coop. 

The rice and lotus fields are here, also similar to Vietnam.

We take a horse-drawn cart to see the lotus fields up close.  There is a horse here, but my body is blocking it.  If you look close it looks like I have horse ears growing out of my head!

cart selfie!

School is out for the day, so we see the students returning home, in their uniforms.  School only lasts four hours a day in Cambodia.  It's also not mandatory.  Around the world, children look happy when the school day ends.  Lots of people are out and about in their yards (working) and if you smile and wave, they will, too.  It feels like a friendly community.

School's out!

Lotus as far as you can see!

The land used to be covered with rice fields, but more recently lotus farms have become preferred.  The crop has a shorter growing season and is more profitable.

It's afternoon, so the lotus have almost closed up all the way (they bloom in the morning) but I'm able to take a close up of a partially open flower.

Pretty!

Lotus pod bouquet

 Our guide collects some of the lotus pods to show us the seeds.  You have to open the outer shell, then the green shell, then the white one before you reach the seed.  They are dried, and sell for around $30/kg.  He gives us one to try, and it reminds me of a soybean.  Our guide also shows us what they did as children - you take an unripe seed and pop it against your forehead.  We all giggle at the noise.  It makes the same sound as popping bubble wrap, another game kids seem to enjoy.  I guess that's universal, too!

Pop!

Who can resist a lotus field selfie?

Setting up lunch

We ride the cart back to our host's house, where we enjoy a home cooked lunch at a table on the ground floor (under the house).  There's chicken soup with mint (which tastes different than Mom's chicken soup), pork stir-fry, and bean flan.  Dessert is dragon fruit and bananas (dessert always seems to be fruit in Asian countries).  It's all very good, as usual.  I notice they eat like Thai people - the fork is used to scoop food up on the spoon, then they eat from the spoon.  So the fork is used the way we use a knife.  

Our host's wife is a nurse, and she arrives home as we finish eating.  Our guide helps to translate, and we have an enjoyable conversation (so much so we forget to take pictures).  One interesting tidbit she says is that it's not easy for Cambodians to travel outside of their country.  The government requires you to have $10,000 in a bank account before you can leave (so they know you'll return for your money) and you can't depart for more than 90 days.  Since a skilled worker averages $8 a day in wages, it's much more money than the average person has. 

One of the two classrooms

We're able to tour the school for English that they have on their property.  It was started in 2007 but they were able to build a new building in 2013.  They teach two sets of classes a night and have 120 students.  Though public school is not required and is only for a limited time, some people take classes and lessons to try to improve their job prospects. 

Once we drive back to the city we take one last selfie with our guide, before leaving him for our flight to Siem Reap.  It all goes smoothly and we're glad we have a chance to get a good night's sleep at our hotel in anticipation of tomorrow's early morning bike tour.

Selfie with our guide