Temples temples everywhere, literally

Day 100 - May 10th
A week or so back, when we booked our flight from Pakse to Siem Reap the helpful lady at Lao Airlines reminded us to check in at least 2 hours before our flight. As John hates to be late for these sorts of things, we arrived at the Pakse airport with 2.5 hours to spare. This turned out to be a little less necessary than it might be at other airports. First, there are 10 parking stalls at this airport, one run way and 2 flights per day which is really one flight that travels Luang Prabang-Pakse-Siem Reap and then back again. Second, we were the only people taking this flight from Pakse.

The days arrivals/ departures.

The cards came out and the hours were passed. When the plane landed to drop the 4 people off we went through immigration (a 7 second process), and went out to board the plane. As we were 8 on the flight total we had to sit with even weight distribution over the wings, this is a new one for an international flight. A short, bumpy flight later (our Asian flight luck remains), we were in Cambodia and our taxi was there to take us to our guest house. In Cambodia they have a different take on the tuk-tuk. It is a scooter with a carriage hitched to the back, pretty nice way to go.In our eternal quest for Mexican food, we found a place with the name "Viva" and opted for a nosh there to start our adventure in Cambodia, we'll try Khmer food tomorrow.

Day 101 - May 11th
The Temples of Angkor are really freakin' cool. I am not a poet so I will not try to compose some sort of ballad or tribute to describe them. Just go there and see for yourself. Someday we'll get the pictures posted online and you can check them out.

Stop One

We decided the best way to see all the temples was to rent bikes and pedal around. It was a great way to go, but if I had to do it all over again I would have hired a tuk-tuk. We got a nice early start. Not as early as I wanted, but Eliza insisted on sleeping or something, I wasn't paying attention. There are two popularly traveled circuits around the temples: The Grand Circuit and the Lesser Circuit. Of course we stated with the Grand Circuit as I would accept nothing less.I am not going to get the exact names right, or the exact order, but here is the path we took:Prasat Kravan, Bat Chum?, Banteay Kdei, Sra Srang, Prasat Top, Ta Prohm, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Prasay Krol Ko?, Neak Pean, Banteay Prei, Prasat Prei, Prah KhanHighlights include the whole day, but here are some notes;Ta Prohm was really cool. The archaeologists/conservationists are leaving this site untouched, so the jungle is moving in. And when they say "untouched" they actually mean they leave the cool natural parts and build a boardwalk throughout most of temple. There are huge trees (and I mean huge) which are growing over the temple walls.

Said trees

Also, Ta Prohm was as featured in "Tomb Raider" if you have seen the movie.Neak Pean is on an island in the middle of a reservoir.Ta Som has a cool tree growing over a door way.And one, I can't remember which, has cool statues of Elephants all over it.

A temple gateway


Day 102 - May 12th

Neak Pean

With our behinds sore from the previous day of biking (40km in total), we headed off on day two of our Angkor Adventures. This time we headed straight for Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was a walled city that housed many temples. Today there are about ten "sites" to visit. My favorite temple in all of Angkor was Bayon. Which sits at the center of Angkor Thom. It has 50 or so massive towers, each with a large carving of a face on each outside wall. So 200 or so faces. And the faces are big. Say 10ft tall. Some of the faces are said to be of Jayavarman VII (the ruler at the time of construction). No insecurity issues there.

Then we headed to the main attraction of Angor Wat. Just as we pulled our bikes up to the main entrance the rain started. And this was no light shower. We're talking Chicken Little "The sky is falling" rain storm. And being the proper Northwesterners that we are, we pulled out out rain coats and ventured in. Well the rain kept most of the crowds at bay. Which was nice, but it was difficult to take in the whole of the temple when you can only see thirty feet in front of you. After walking around for about an hour we headed on back to our hostel. Oh, and yes it was still raining and we were completely drenched by the time we got back.

Angkor Wat from the back

Day 103 - May 13th
So today's plan was to get a tuk-tuk and see a few temples that are much further from the Angkor center, and given the rain storm of the day prior, to revisit Angkor Wat. In the sunshine, it is truly stunning, and swarming with people. People who are in very bright outfits, of the same color, his and hers bright outfits. Bordering on strange. Turns out May 13th is the Kings birthday, and therefore a very lucky day to get married. All of these groups in bright outfits were wedding parties, doing pictures at Angkor Wat. Hauling around massive suitcases containing up to 13 outfits per person that they will wear throughout the day. Angkor was definitely worth the re-visit.

The cool kids at Angkor

Off to Banteay Srei, also known as the Women's temple since many scholars thinks the carvings are to intricate and detailed to have been done by men. It is a small site about 28km from the main area and completely worth the tuk-tuk ride out there.

Banteay Srei

To round out our tour of Angkor, we finished with "The Rolos Group" a set of structures from a different era and about 16km east of the main area. One major plus to this group is that, while they are very impressive, very few people venture out to see them. In fact we were the only people at Lolei and Prah Ko, and it was only 20 minutes into our visit at Ba Kong that another duo joined us. All in all, it was a chance to really take in the grandeur of these places and get a true sense of how they wanted their deities honored.

On the way home we were privy to another 'sky is falling' storm. It got so bad that out tuk tuk driver pulled over, pulled down the plastic make shift sides and crawled in to chat with us and wait out the storm. As with all extended conversations, it came up that we are from the USA. This time we were not asked if we knew an uncle/ aunt/ cousin in Mississippi, but instead what our knowledge of the green-card system was. Can you buy a green card? Is the lottery free? What percent chance does he have of actually getting one? Is it a better idea to move to California or New York? For all the bad press America gets, we are still seeing a strong interest in moving there. Huh.

Day 104 - May 14th
We took an early bus from Siem Riep to Phnom Penh in order to arrive at a decent time. The problem is not so much the distance (300km or 250km depending on who you ask), or the road condition (not too bad for SE Asia, and much better than even three years before), but the fact that the bus stops three times for lunch. In most modernized countries the trip would take maybe three hours. So, seven hours later we roll into Phnom Penh. As we left our first hotel choice (they did not have any rooms to our liking) a nice Norwegian gentlemen waved us to his new guest house. After checking in we went to the large central market to pick up some supplies.
Then to a new "market", which strangely resembled a "mall", but Eliza told me it was a market and therefore had cultural benefits. And if she says it, it must be true. There she picked up some much needed supplies (I carried the wallet). We ate dinner at a nice restaurant on the waterfront.

market number one

Day 105 - May 15th
Today was glitter day. What does that mean? It means I read about shinny things in Rough Guide/ Lonely planet and we are seeking them out. First stop on glitter day was the Royal Palace and silver pagoda. You are only allowed into certain building in a small part of the grounds as this is where the King still lives and works. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras in, but the throne was very gold ornate, and definitely shinny. The Silver Pagoda got its name from the entirely silver tiled floor. In any western nation, the things in the display cases in the pagoda would have some pretty major security, here there is a list taped over the opening of each display case so that people can tell 1) if that case has been opened and 2) if so, what is missing. Security at it's finest.
Headed over to the national museum next. A number of carvings and smaller statues (read less than 20ft tall) from Angkor have ended up here. It was pretty cool to take a look at these pieces up close and out of the elements. Ended the night with dinner on the river, watching the lightning storms somewhere in the distance.

Day 106 - May 16th
We started the day with a trip to the local tourist market to get some of the gifts you people expect from us when we return. After loading up with "My best friend went to Cambodia and all I got was this stupid T-shirt" shirts, we met up with Lynn and Hannah. Another set of people Eliza knows. A-ha, fooled you, this is the one and only time we are meeting people I know. Okay, so they are friends of my uncle and I have never met them before, but I am so tallying this under my section of the score board. They are both very nice people and we had a great lunch with them. As a pick-me-up, we went to the Tol Sleng Genocide Museum which is housed in the old S-21 site. This is the former high school buildings where many of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge took place. Not a very nice place at all, but worth a visit.

Day 107 - May 17th
Today I ventured out to the "Killing Fields" which is about as happy of a place as the name sounds. From History Class I knew that the Khmer Rouge were not nice people. And from Life Class I can tell you they were REALLY-NOT-NICE people.

We then spent the rest of the day researching/planning the next part of our trip.

More pictures to follow when we get a chance!