Goodbye to Cambodia

IAfter four days, it's sad to be leaving Cambodia.  The people here have been wonderfully friendly and it has just been such a welcoming, easy place to travel. I fear that Laos is going to be much more difficult.  Today we slept in a bit and then had our last big buffet breakfast at the hotel.  When they asked us what we liked best at check out, we both answered "breakfast"! They had a huge mix of western and eastern food.  I tried a lot of new fruits- longan, rock melon, and pink dragon fruit.  I really loved the noodle soup for breakfast- they made it fresh while you waited.  I topped mine with fried garlic and roasted shallots, and a few spoonfuls of soy sauce.  I usually also had a croissant and some fried rice, and bacon. Oh, and yogurt and granola and dried fruit. See what I mean? Amazing.

We decided to pamper ourselves with some of the refunded money from our cancelled plane tickets and went to the spa for rejuvenating foot massages.  It was just lovely.  Quiet room, hour long massage that included head and shoulder massages too.  It was positively relaxing.  

We checked out, had lunch (cashew chicken for me, roasted pork with coconut and mango for Julie), and then went to the Angkor national museum just down the street from the hotel.  It was a great museum. Their collection was limited but it was enough to give and example of the art styles and filled it in with great explanations, pictures of the ruins, and videos.  Everything was in Cambodian and English. There were really informative sections on Hinduism and Buddhism, the Khmer kings, and the sites of Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom.  It ended with an exhibit on costume styles during the Khmer era based on the he apsara carvings.

That was the end of our imminence in Cambodia.  We took a tuktuk back to the hotel and got our bags, then it was off to the airport.  Or flight was slightly delayed, but we are in the air now and heading for Luang Prabang.  There was a Dairy Queen on board and we got blizzards to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Outside of Angkor

Today was a weird day.  We got up really early so we could go to sunrise at Angkor Wat.  Ewe left the hotel at about 5:20. They said it was too early for a cab, so we walked out to the street and about a block down we found a tuktuk driver to take us.  He was just getting set up for the day, putting on his shirt! He drove us out for $5.00 each way, waiting for us to return.  Sunrise was beautiful.  We watched for about half an hour, from a sky with just a hint of pink until the sun was above the temple.  After, we rode back to the hotel for breakfast and then went swimming at  the hotel pool. It really is a beautiful pool! 

At that point, it was only a little after nine, so we hung around the room for a bit before lunch.  We walked down the street toward town, looking for an ATM for Julie, and found a cute pottery studio.  I bought a little elephant.  Siem Reap is lovely but it really isn't a walkable city.  Everywhere tuktuk drivers were calling out to give us a ride.  Probably should have taken them up on it, since it was so hot.  We got to the old market area and had lunch at a place on pub street called Cambodian soup.  I was so hot, though, that I was fading pretty quickly, so after failing to find a market area that was on the map, we took the tuktuk back to the hotel and crashed.  Julie didn't want to sleep since she keeps waking up at 3 am, but I had a nice nap.  We rode back down to the old market for dinner.  Poor Julie, I dragged her through the grocery area, where women were squatting up on the tables scaling fish and chopping out their guts.  I love that sort of thing- real travel.  There were no backpacking tourists in there! 

We ate at the red piano, which had been recommended but wasn't great.  We talked a bit with a guy from Norway who was living in Thailand.  Then Julie got a new bag since her drawstring backpack was ripping, and we headed home.  Oh, there was a stop at The Blue Pumpkin for ice cream first- caramel cashew and green lemon.  Both were great.

Angkor in detail

After a wandering around on our own yesterday, today we wanted some expertise on our side.  We hired a guide and a driver for the day.  We started back at Angkor Wat, in the back door this time.  Our guide had excellent English and he explained to us the history of the building and the people as well as the religious aspects.  We got the full story of the churning of the sea of milk relief, as well as the celestial impact of the image.  We also got to go to the temple at the top, since we were dressed appropriately.  Shoulders and knees had to be covered, and not by a scarf but actual clothes.  The view was spectacular from the top of the tower, the former king's space.  There wasn't much decoration there which surprised me, but the guide said most of these decor was at the lower level, for the people.  There were also several libraries at the site, which I hadn't realized.  They wrote on Palm leaves.  

Our next stop was Angkor Tom, where we once again went through the Bayon temple.  I loved the reliefs we had missed the day before.  They showed scenes from everyday life, a great history of the people.  You can see the Chinese and the Khmer people clearly distinguished, as well as the defeat of the Cham by the king.  We went to the top again, not as spectacular saw yesterday when the light was more glowing than glaring and there were fewer people.  Or guide too us from the temple to the terrace of the elephants and the other sites in Angkor Tom: the Bauphon temple with the reclining Buddha, the former royal palace (only the walls remain since it was wood) and the first temple built by the kings.  We also saw the stones left when  Pol Pot's regime burns all of the archaeological records during the reconstruction of the temples.  Tragic.

Lunch was near the place from yesterday, and I had the most delicious thing: amok.  It's a Khmer dish, made of coconut and kafir lime leaves.  I had it as a soup with chicken, over rice.  I adored it, ate every bit.  Julie had cashew chicken.  

In the afternoon, the clouds rolled in but we stopped at two more temples: one was similar to Ta Prohm, but had a lot of Buddhist iconography that had been destroyed.  The other was a very early brick temple to Vishnu, with some impressive molded brick carvings.  

We got back to the hotel before 4 and waited out the rain.  We took a cab down to the night market, but were disappointed in the mass produced commercialism we go found there.  Dinner on pub street was good- I had a fried amok that wasn't as good as the soup, but still tasty.  We took a tuktuk ride back- those things are way fun.

Today was a long day, and I've got a rocking heat rash on my face thanks to the heat and humidity,  I hope it clears up by morning, it's the first time in many summer trips that has happened to me!

Introduction to Angkor

We arrived in Cambodia yesterday after a seamless transit from Bangkok.  Bangkok airlines was phenomenal- a full breakfast box served on an hour flight.  He airport here was tiny me well set up to give visas.  We were at the hotel under an hour after landing.  The shuttle driver was waiting for us with our names on a sign, cold water, and a cool cloth. At the Meridien, our room wasn't ready so they held our bags as we went exploring.  

We hired a driver for the day and got our tickets, then went right to Angkor Wat. Without a tour, our first taste was just exploring, taking in all of the relief carvings.  I thought it had some similarities to the Alhambra in layout and decoration.  However, the reliefs were much more dramatic in some places.  We spent about two hours, then went to Talk Prohm temple.  It rained there. A lot.  We tried to hide inside but the roots dripped.  Eventually it let up and we continued our explorations.  I loved way it was mostly unrestored, with toppling walls and trees growing over it.  

We had lunch after (chicken with vegetables and cashews over rice) and then went to the Bayon temple.  Built later, it is Buddhist not Hindu and it has giant stone faces over the towers.  It was nearing sunset to the light was amazing, and we were almost the only ones there.  I couldn't believe that this gigantic, striking place was just there, so empty.  How is this not more famous, more visited? This trip has been so easy, I fear in 10 years it will be discovered and the masses will emerge.  But now, it's here, with nothing more than a few "don't sit on the ballistrade" signs.  

We ate at the hotel tonight, a meal much bigger than expected.  Then Facetiming with home before bed.  Ten years ago when we traveled we were searching for pay phones - how times have changed.