Cambodia

Written on March 6...recounting events of April 26...

After Angkor Wat, we went to the city of Angkor Thom (means Great Angkor/Great city), which is a gathering of several temples (at least 7-8) surrounded by a wall that is 12km long.
Here is a pic of the main entrance- there are 5 entrances/exits in total. Notice the statues on the side are re-enacting the battle "Churning of the Sea" that I mentioned earlier.

Inside Angkor Thom, we first stopped to see some monkeys that were on the side of the road, and I ended up sharing (aka letting him get it all) my mango (the one I had just bartered down to 1000riels, if you remember from a previous entry).

I first gave him (or her) a piece, then it jumped on me and we fought for the bag a little, so he reached in and touched all the pieces, taking a bite ofmost of them. As a result, he ended up with all of it, but it was an enjoyable close encounter. I wanted to pet him, but remembered the tour guide (when we went canoeing) who had told us that they bit when you touch them, and to bite back if they did. We avoided a biting match here.

We first visited the Bayon, undeniably the best temple there is. From the outside, it resembles a pile of rocks, but once you get close and definitely inside, it's aww inspiring.
Here's a view from the outside

And from the lower level inside:

The inside is amazing, it's a never ending twisty turning maze of corridors, stairs and upper levels. The second floor is built in a circular shape, and to my eyes (aka "the untrained") seem symmetrical and identical, making it somewhat confusing ("have I been around yet?).

It's well known thanks to it's 216 faces overlooking all directions of the kingdom. There are 3 different shapes of faces (subtle differences, but nevertheless), prompting the experts to say that 1 type probably represents Buddha, the other the King who had this temple built and the 3rd, a mix of both (King/God complex at it's best).

Pics on the next entry!

The following are pics of some of the carvings found on the walls. They are called "bas-reliefs".

There is said to be over 40000 of these goddesses throughout Angkor Wat, and everyone of them is a little different (different hair-do, clothing, eyes, hands movement, etc). Wow!

Most of the original Buddha statues look like this.

The heads (and often hands and feet) were broken by the Khmer Rouge (who wanted to abolish Buddism), and/or by looters to sell them to collectors (we saw a few at the National Museum).

Let's finish Angkor Wat with a couple of more random pics. The architecture is quite nice, with "doors within doors" like this:

The thing above the buddha is called the Naga. It's part of the mythology, and it's the symbol of water and fertility. It's said to be the first inhabitant of Cambodia. The details are a little blur, but the story goes like this: Cambodia was covered by water. The gods and demons were fighting (symbolically represented by pulling on both ends of a snake (naga)- we could picture is as the game:tug-o-war). The gods won and the land of Cambodia was created. The Naga is often represented protecting the Buddha in meditation.

Witten on May 5...., recollecting the day of April 26...

Gees.. I don't even know where to start! It's been so long! I just found pics from Bangkok, but for the sake of moving this along, let's forget about them and focus on Cambodia.
This is the border crossing.

First and foremost, I must say that I have failed at my attempt of going to a McDonalds in every country I visit, as I didn't see a single one in Cambodia (you know a country is poor when...!).

The following is loosely inspired from Aliya's journal (since she's been good and wrote in it most days, aka, when the info was fresh. Note to self: buy freaking journal!!)

Note throughout Cambodia Lonely Planet: "Stay on marked paths, as there are probably land mines near by".

How many people do you know who get lost going to one of the largest religious structure in the world? - we do!

This is the view we had while biking on the dirt path trying to find the main entrance to Angkor Wat. As previously mentioned, we eventually made it to the right entrance (after two failed attempts on the same day) and decided to call it a day until the following day.

On our second attempt, with a Tuk Tuk driver, we (he) managed to make it to the site. Angkor Wat is thought to be the world's largest standing religious structure. To get to it, one has to walk on a bridge to cross the moat that surrounds the site (the width of the water is 190m, for a total lenght of 11.5km by 1.3km), walk through the outer wall (which is 1025m by 800m), walk on a longer walkway, passing fields, ponds and smaller buildings, then walk through a second set of walls which protect the 3 towers of this temple.

Unfortunately, there is no remaining documentation on the site, and therefore most interpretations are in only assumptions and theories. It is thought to have been built to honor the king's power (who at the time may have been king-god), and/or as his thomb. Today it is used for tourism (obviously) but also as shrines to Buddha (there are several several several shrines and Buddhas throughout every temple). Many stories/legends are recounted through intricate carvings on the walls. In fact, there is no section left untouched and some of it is quite amazing (aka must have taken forever!!).

Since I don't really have a great pic of the 3 towers, refer to the "Welcome to Cambodia" sign, which is a small replica of Angkor Wat. This pic was taken from the top of the central tower, and we are looking at the small courtyard, it's surrounding wall, and the massive ourside courtyard, also surrounded by a wall. The entrance to the site is seen in the distance.

To get there (top of central tower), we had to climb super steep steps (and I'm a chicken when it comes to that). The first steps are nice and square, but the last 5 or 6, at the very top, are rounded (by time) and very scary. I had to consciously think "to not think" or look down or I would certainly have froze.

The following pic is taken in front of the central tower.

Ok, gotta start a new entry. This one is getting too big.

Written on April 28...

We've just made it in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It's definitely a big city, but it feels a lot "more real" than Siem Reap, so it's good. We plan on visiting the killing fields, National Museum and Genocide museum while we're here, so it's looking like a pretty intense couple of days.
A few cute "re-wording when they can't find the right word" we've heard so far:
Small swimming pool you have in your house (for a bath! hehehe)
Electric fire (for the lamp posts on the street)
Water from the sky (for rain)
aaawwwww! It's just so cute!
I had other stuff I wanted to write, but just can't remember and am running out of internet time anyway, so later!
Cheers!

Written on April 27...
Today we visited a few of the temples of Angkor Wat. It's quite a sight indeed! We were originally going to buy the 3 day pass ($40) which is crazy expensive for my budget, so for budgetary reasons, and a small blunder yesterday, we scaled down to the 1 day pass ($20).
Indeed, we tried to go yesterday, and rented bicyles ($1/day each)to get there (it's only 7km fom town), however we somehow managed to get lost on the way and end up at a back entrance, where they only emitted 1 day passes, so they gave us somewhat vague instructions on how to get to the main entrance. We tried to follow these directions, but ended up at a side entrance, where they also only gave 1-day passes. We finally ended up at the right entrance, 4 hours later, after biking in the super hot sun (from 11am to 3pm). hehehe, by that time we didn't even want to go in anymore and decided to hire a tuk tuk the following day (today, tuk tuk is $10 -haggled down from $15), buy a 1 day pass and get a tour that way.
On the flip side, this "getting lost" forced us to bike through where people actually live. Poverty is overwhelming and is seen constantly, through their houses, and in town, through people begging (at the entrance of minimarts, on the street, at the restaurants, kids and adults selling stuff or just plain asking for money or food). I don't think I can properly describe the feeling of repeatedly saying no to 2-3yrs old kids, handicapped men, mothers with their children asking for food... And this is side by side with the sheer opulence of tourists fancy resorts and expensive restaurants. While biking yesterday, some big hotel had a sign advertising their chef's special meal, for $32/person. I think that $32 is more that many many people here make in a month...it's just crazy.

I also feel very very bad with being on such a tight budget here. On one side, people ask for food, or to buy trinkets and clothes for crazy cheap prices (T-shirts: $1, scarves: 3 for $5, bracelets and postcards: 10 for 1 $) and we keep saying no (no space in the backpack, no money to really spare), so they bring their prices down, walk with us for as long as possible, pull on our clothes. It's honestly extremely difficult and is making my stay here rather unpleasant. Being cheap is not so cool, and feels rather silly when faced with this reality..... One example today, of which I still feel bad about: yesterday I bought a "cut and ready to eat" mango at the market from an old lady, for 1000riels ($0.25). Today at the temple I saw some, sold under a tree by an older lady - side note: there aren't very many older people here, with the massive killings of some 50yrs ago) and asked how much: 2000riels. Stupid silly me, who got used to bargain everything, said no thanks and started walkign away. A kid selling postcards They kept asking and I said "yesterday I bought for 1000riels", so their gave it to me for that. It felt bad rightaway, and in retrospect, they could certainly use that 1000riels more than me, we are, after all, talking about $0.25..... I tend to forget that "in the heat of the moment" and just see 1000vs2000, or whatever amount is in question. I hope Phnom Phen is different (maybe with less tourism, there'll be a different feel)

Back to the temples.
Overall, I think 1 day was enough (after all, ruins are ruins). My only disappointment is that we didn't hire the services of a tour guide (we didn't even know the option was available until on site, and they must be hired at a centre that's a bit aways from the actual site) as we would sometimes "walk slow" or "linger around" a guide and his group and it sounded sooo interesting. If you ever come here, HIRE A GUIDE!
A distinction must be made between tuk tuk driver and official guide. We hired a tuk tuk (the taxi service around here, essentially a carriage for 2 people pulled by a motorbike) thinking that he would walk around with us and tell us some stuff (essentially acting as a guide), but not, he simply drove us from site to site and gave us very very brief explanation of the site (i.e. this is a temple the king built for his mother). Unfortunately, there isn't much written wabout what we see at each site either, so we got our info from the LP (brief paragraph on each temple), the bits of info "stolen" from the guides, and the occasional info board at the entrace of a site.
We got many great pictures and saw a total of 4-5 temples. I'll talk in more details about each (the little more detail I have) once I post pics. The internet here is way too slow to even consider posting pics!
SO it was a good day, but I'll be happy to leave this town of Siem Reap tomorrow morning, heading for Phnom Phen.