Moonin' Round Asia: September 2011

DISCLAIMER - This was written a few days into our trip at Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat resides). Unfortunately, on our last stop before we came home, we didn't get internet good enough to upload any pictures, so I just waited on it. Had it not been for people coming out of the woodwork telling me how frequently they read this thing, I would have just let it die. However, I'll be finishing this off with some final conclusions within the week. Enjoy....

We left Phnom Penh and were very excited to see what Siem Reap had to offer. Siem Reap is a town in central Cambodia that is very near to the oldest temples in existence on earth. Our friend Jeff, who had been here a few days earlier gave us a good idea of what we should do while there. We arrived and checked into a very nice hotel for what we hoped would be a fun 5 days.

Our first day in town included a lot of sightseeing, although not in Angkor Wat or any of the famous temples, just around town to see the “Old City”, surrounding markets and local people. We had a great time sightseeing and really thought the town and people themselves were fantastic. Cambodian people have a natural happiness about them. Even if they’re trying to get the most money possible out of you to take you around the block in their tuk tuks, they’re still unbelievably friendly about it.

Day 2 in Siem Reap, we decided to finally start our tours of the temples. We awoke rather late in the day, mostly being exhausted from traveling. Around 1pm, we grabbed a tuk tuk driver that was just hanging out very near our hotel and asked him to take us to lunch before we began our tours. He was happy to oblige and took us to town to grab lunch at the Mexican place, which by the way, was rather authentic considering distance. We ate lunch and towards the end of our meal we were approached by the driver who informed us that his tuk tuk had broken down and he’d be handing us off to a friend of his by the name of Sarin. As we were paying our bill, a man with no arms carrying a basket of books (around his neck) stood outside the restaurant just staring at me. I’m not exactly sure what he said, but he implied he’d like us to buy a book or two. Again, being jaded by street vendors trying to trick us out of our money, we instantly refused. Then we thought again – we really did need a book to show us the temples and give us the history behind them, and what better way to buy one than to help a handicapped person who’s trying to do something other than just beg for a living. He and I had a heated negotiation and at the end, I believe he won but we fist pounded (really more of a stump/fist pound) and we went on our way.

Sarin first took us to one of the outlier temples. The main temple in Cambodia is Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was constructed from 1113-1150 and is absolutely massive. There are significantly smaller and older temples in the surrounding area that are much less frequently visited. We sought these out and chose Preah Ko first. (DISCLAIMER – there are a LOT of photos in this post. It’s impossible to post them all and unless we did, we couldn’t possibly do this area justice. The pictures below are just highlights and will be in order. The first picture of a new area will be labeled as such and everything following will be the same area, until a new area is listed.) Preah Ko was beautiful, mostly because when we arrived we were the only people there. We spent some time walking around here and were awed by the feel of the place. It’s a very strange feeling to stand in a place that was constructed in the 9^th century. Just think about how old that is. Also, the tools and machinery they had to build these places just doesn’t seem to add up. How could they lift a rock that weighs roughly 1500 pounds, 40 feet in the air and perfectly place it on top of another? The answer may seem obvious – pulleys, manpower, elephants, etc. but in all reality, the dynamics of such a move are beyond comprehension. A family arrived towards the end of our exploring and tried their damndest to ruin our pictures by mysteriously popping out from behind everything as soon as the flash went off. We were able to survive though and made our way to the next temple, Bakong.

Bakong was significantly larger than Preah Koh and had a long causeway that lead to what looked like the Temple of Doom. When you arrive, you’re met by very tall, very long stairs all the way to the top of the temple. These must have been an absolute nightmare for the Cambodians (Khmer) of the 9^th century. These people aren’t tall RIGHT NOW, I can’t imagine how small they must have been almost 1200 years ago. This must have been like me climbing over Dodge Caravans to get to church.

After exploring this temple we headed to one last one, not too far from there. This one was called Lolei and was the least impressive of all the temples that we saw. It was cool to see the monk’s monastery right next to the temple, but the site was pretty beat up and it looked as though they were trying their hardest to keep it in tact. Nonetheless, it was still cool to see.

The next morning we planned to be at the temples for sunrise. Molly put me in charge of setting the alarm which was the first and biggest problem. I’ve proven time and again that I’m completely incapable of such a task. I totally blew it and we ended up waking up around 10:30. Our tuk tuk driver was less than pleased as we’d asked him to be there at 5am. We compensated him accordingly which seemed to ease his concerns. On this day we’d see the most famous temple of all – Angkor Wat. I really don’t know how I can describe this. In fact, I’m not going to try. I’m going to let the 100+ pictures I’m going to upload speak for themselves. That day we saw Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm (which was my favorite of all due to the trees that have taken over at this site. On a side note, it’s funny to me as these trees seem to play a dual role of destroyer and preserver. On one hand, they’ve grown absolutely massive and are right on top of a wall. They seem to crush the stone wall with their sheer weight, but at the same time, the root structure seems to hold the wall together, intact.)

We made it home that night, exhausted from the day’s activities and went out to dinner to see traditional Khmer (Apsara) dancing and enjoy some local fare. We called it an early night again as we were serious about catching sunrise the next day this time.

We finally made it to sunrise and our tuk tuk driver took us to Angkor Wat again. We’d wanted to try a smaller, lesser known temple but Sarin insisted this was the best place to see it. We were slightly disappointed as we’d woken up at 5am and it was very overcast that day. That said, it was still very beautiful and we even had the pleasure of watching a Japanese woman do Thai Chi right in front of us as the sun rose. Afterwards we left to go see Angkor Thom, Terrace of the Leper King, Elephant Terrace, the Royal Palace & Phimeanakas Temple, Baphuon Temple, Preah Ngok Pagoda and Preah Khon.

Have a look at the amazing pictures Molly took. Our last installment will be coming within a day or two – right before we fly out of Bangkok and back to Newark airport. We hope to see and talk to you all soon.

There Are So Many Jokes and So Many Places to Go With This That I Don't Even Know Where to Start

Needing Vegetables, I Was Excited to See That the Restaurant Had Broccoli on the Menu. When It Came Out, It Was All Stems. It Looks Like Some Kind of Weird Wizard With a Scruffy Beard.