Temples Day 1

You can't beat a breakfast buffet, which is what we woke up to today. We then sorted out our tuk-tuk driver, explained our ideal itinerary, got water ready, and then we were off. 

Now this is the most temple rich area in the world as successive Khmer dynasties sought to outbuild their devotion to their Buddhist/Hindu reverence (and national security) of the previous god-king. My guidebook suggested starting with the earlier temples to see the progression of Khmer architecture and art. So our first day started with the Grand Tour. Our driver (whom I heard him say his name was Juan, but I'm sure it was more like Won) took us out to first buy our tickets. 

We call these our 'thug shots.' They didn't tell us at all when the picture was being taken, so we just stood there smugly until they told us to move. Great pictoral evidence of zero directions. 

Finally, we were off to our first stop, Preah Khan. This temple had amazing symmetry in a plus shape facing the four cardinal directions. Three were equal (representing Hinduism) and the western entrance was unequal (representing Buddhism). 

(Notice how the passageway perfectly leads out.)

This was our first site at the consistent framing design around widows and doors. 

And also meeting our first aspara, the celestial dancers awaiting Khmerian heroes on the afterlife.  

Meredith found a headless Hindu diety and kindly substituted what was missing. 

This being an older temple of the Khmer Empire, nature too took back its claim on the territory. 

After one of our pictures, we were stopped by a guard to point out a better shot. In fact, he posed us and took the picture for us. He's good!

He then followed the professional shot with a hands together short bow saying, "Thank you, lady, sir. Good luck to you. Please, sir, tip for picture. Safe travels to you. Thank you. Please, sir, just small tip. Enjoy your travel. Please, sir." 

It was a good shot, so I followed with whatever riel I had. 

"Please, sir. This is 2,000 riel. Only 50¢. Please, sir. (Hands still together.) Have good travels. Thank you."

This guy was a pro. 

So I dug out a $1 bill and he was more content. 

We wandered around a bit more of the ruins. 

Then we made our way out to our tuk tuk and onto the next temple. 

Next up was Preah Neak Poan. This was a royal bathing area. 

Some of it had (obviously) dried up which Mer took a little too seriously. 

It was a fast stop, so we were quickly onto Ta Som. It was here we got caught in another round of Cambodian rain. Someone in this group is quite averse to being wet. 

But we would not be deterred. Ta Som had our first bas-relief of a face to greet current visitors and scare ancient Khmerians into submission. 

This temple, too, faced forest reclamation   

Luckily, the rain subsided for our next stop, East Mebon. This site had a steady climb up three levels. Most of the roofs had fallen, but it was spectacularly level at each rise. 

You can also see the spectacular towers behind us (and the newly blue sky). There were some good doorway photos here too. 

It was also about this time our selfie stick started to malfunction. First, it wouldn't work when pressing the button. Then it would take 17 successive shots of the ground, or catch me making an angry, annoyed face as I pulled it in to fix it. 

Arg!

We made it to our next temple that we didn't quite catch the name of. We tried to take a picture of the name to remember, but this one was unmarked and I could understand the name from Won (maybe Ish Won Preadeau). This one had quite the climb of stairs. 

The rain also started once again. We took some more pictures and then headed for the tuk tuk. 

At this point, we were hungry around midday and thought a downpour would be a great time to feed ourselves. So our driver, Won, took us to a restaurant. Unfortunately, restaurants in the temple area has a rather captive audience and their prices reflected it. Regardless, we enjoyed the chicken fried rice and beef and noodles. 

I did take note of a funny menu quirk at this restaurant. All dishes were listed in Khmer, English, and Mandarin, but why was dish #67 lacking an English name? 

Our rain luck did not continue after lunch. So, we got our ponchos on and continued to Banteay Kdei. 

Mer enjoyed the framed doorways. 

I tried shaking my fist at the rain. 

Sometimes the temples responded in kind. 

Our last stop was just across the way, Sras Sarang. This was another royal pool for doing what royalty do in pools. 

At this point, our Grand Circuit ended just as we were running out of steam. Won took us back in the tuk-tuk to Siem Reap and our Boutique Hotel. 

We showered. I napped. And then we got ready for our show. We had earlier noticed a dinner and Aspara dance show advertised in our hotel lobby, so we signed up and got another tuk-tuk there. 

Dinner was a buffet of many Khmer dishes (appetizers, salad, mains, and desserts) with some Western plates available too. 

Mer got her dragonfruit. 

We sat next to a Welsh girl and her grandmother who kindly took our photo. 

Mer tried to convince them to try the Asian desserts. You put shaved ice at the bottom of a bowl and then put this on top. 

Maybe it was sweet. Maybe it was coconut milk. Maybe the floaters were small animals' former eyes. Who could say?

Then the show started. We were quite far back, but we got the idea. They danced much like depicted in the temples bas-reliefs. 

And then a dance with many aspara concluded the hour long show. 

The conclusion featured a chance to go on stage for a photo with them, but we were too busy talking to our Welsh table neighbors. 

We made our way back to the street and hailed another tuk-tuk. They brought us back to our hotel and we promptly headed to bed. We wanted an early start to the Small Circuit, but heavy hitters. Although we eventually decided against the 4:30 am sunrise start, we wanted to beat the crowds in the early morning to Angkor Wat. 

The Road to Siem Reap

Today we're off to Siem Reap. It's the base city for visiting the Angkor temples, one of the 7th Wonders of the Ancient World. These temples peaked my interest in Southeast Asia which evolved into this trip. 

I'm also excited for the boutique hotel we'll be staying at the next 3 nights!! After the past few hostel experiences, I'm craving what I call are "clean corners." That's where our room has clean corners and the floor is dirt free. Our place in Phnom Penh had ants crawling in the bathroom, one towel, and a hair ball on the floor that was not ours. I'm not in my 20's backpacking and I'm sometimes my desire for comfort overpowers my frugal nature. And when I say splurge, this is a three star hotel & we'll be paying $70-for all 3 nights, including breakfast. As you can tell, we're breaking the bank $$$$$!!

The bus to Siem Reap...oh boy. Not as bad as our Bolivia experience from summer 2014, but by far our worst thus far. We could purchase $6/$7/$9 tickets from our hostel to Siem Reap. They said the $9 was VIP & thus "more direct" and with bigger seats. For $2, I figured we'd be OK-buses haven't been circuitous this far. The ride is supposed to be 6-8 hours, most buses have arrived early, so I thought leave at 8:30am, we'd be in Siem Reap by 3pm which would give us time to explore the city & get a game plan for the temples by sitting poolside (I told you I splurged).

The bus was 45 minutes late picking us up this morning. When we got on the bus, it was certainly a second world bus-seats were broken, floor was dirty. This was no tourist bus. And there is a group of gap year students aboard. They are English speakers so their constant chatter has kept me awake on the journey. There is a TV playing Cambodian music videos-on repeat. My goal was to catch up on sleep as I'm not feeling well-that didn't happen.

The chatty gap year kids were the least of our problems. This bus has stopped every hour for the first 4 hours. We picked up one guy who loaded 7 boxes to the back of the bus. We stopped for the bathroom and then took lunch at 11am. We stopped to fill up a tire with air. Chris was able to track us and by 1pm we wern't even 1/2 way there. 😧

Then there was the tire that blew. We're cruising down the road, there was a pop and we were riding on metal-back right. Guess that's why our driver stopped earlier to put air in it. We pulled off the side of the road & every male filled off the bus-foreign & domestic. Chris took photos while I stayed on the bus & took advantage of the non-moving bus to blog and read. Twenty minutes later we were back in the road. 

Our journey to Siem Reap was a full 8 hours. We were dropped off far outside of town, again. Thankfully the boutique hotel has free transfers and we had a tuktuk waiting. For the second time someone was waiting with a sign with Chris' name on it. He's going to think he is hot stuff after this trip. 

Again, we were thankful for the tuktuk as our ride was 10 minutes into town and it was raining. I scouted our places to get our laundry done & took in the sights.  I gazed in awe as to how this non-organized traffic works. I think the key is the lower speeds at which vehicles travel. We arrived at Tanei Botique Villa-the driver took in my bag and we were served juice on arrival. The place felt like an oasis in the midst of rain & a busy city. 

I must admit, I had alterior motives with our nice hotel. I wanted a place where we could find an English speaking tuktuk driver for visiting the temples. I read a blog which talked about how good their tuktuk driver was and how much insight he provided. I wanted a good tuktuk driver for our time in Siem Reap & I thought this botique hotel could provide us with one. I'd read about paying $18 for a driver for the day. Our hotel had no such offers-we read their tour information sheet & headed to our room. My alterior motives dashed. 

Check out this swank. Real flowers, folks. This is what $21 in Cambodia can buy. I still have to take the toilet paper out of the bathroom each time I shower, but I feel like I'm in luxury and the blanket is in a duvet cover. I'm pleased as punch with the location and it's certainly an oasis. 

Dinner was EXCELLENT. I had fish amok and Chris had sweet potato with chicken oven something or other at Khmer Kitchen Restaurant. The staff was friendly. Great English, and meals were just $5 (including rice). I'd like to take home the recepie for fish amok-it's like fish curry over rice. I couldn't finish my meal & was stuffed. 

Our restaurant opened to the Angkor night market. I was in search of a frog. This market has a lot of t-shirts and elephant pants, lots of massages and oil paintings. Since it was our first night (and we still have to carry on our backs whatever we buy), we just browsed. Once again, I enjoyed being in a tourist town.

Chris was cracking me up. He is genuinely interested in things-be it a painting, sayings on a shirt, a figurine. He'll wonder about it & touch it-to look at some aspect. That's all a shopkeeper needs to tell you the price. Chris isn't interested, shopkeeper starts to bargain. He walks away, they keep taking about said item-or offers another item. He had one woman on his heals, about 18" away from him, following him throughout the store trying to sell him the hammock he touched. This happened 3 times and we had the "don't touch" conversation. I was cracking up-because this is just so classic Chris. He wonders about things, oblivious to the implication. I'm still chuckling about him as I write this-because I've seen him do it again & again. And he'll probably do it 3 more times before this trip is over. These are the quirky traits that are endearing in a marriage. 

His "touchy" hands did find a frog. A little metal one-but only $1, we bought it. There is a toad that we keep seeing, but it is so ugly I cannot add him to my collection (besides, it's a toad, not a frog). We saw a silver frog for $8 and she offered $5 as we walked away. I'm still thinking about it, so something tells me we'll be going back. I'm going to start at $3 and hope to pay $4.  

Tomorrow we'll head to the temples-which is a bucket list item for me. Let's hope this botique villa lives up to expectations & I can get a good night sleep.