Land of Contrasts

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

"Rat" picked me up promptly at nine, and off we went to explore the Angkor complex.  I was surprised at how similar the carvings are to Mayan ruins, and the subject matter to the Egyptian ruins.  Ther is always a lot of conquering going on.  Every asian culture also has their own take on the Monkey King, I think you have to be born with it.

The many temples are in various states of repair, some being well restored, and some being piles of rocks spread out on the ground.  One temple, the western Bayon, is in pieces and will likely never be restored, as Pol Pot detroyed the charts when the temple was dismantled, so there is no way to know how the thing goes back together.

We spent that day scrambling up and down steep rock staircases and visitng the elephant terrace, the leper king (at first I though "Rat" called him the leopard king, until I saw he had no fingers), and basically getting in a good cardio workout.

That evening, we all went to a dinner show featuring Aspara dancers, the traditional dance of Cambodia.

The following day, we went back to Angkor Park and, after driving through a family of monkeys, did a bit more temple-scrambling.  We saw the "Tomb Raider" temple as well.  Then, we went off to take a balloon ride.  The balloon is to the west of Angkor Park, and affords a wonderful view of the Angkor Wat (Temple City).  Around the temple grounds are simple farmers, picking rice in their fields.

After all this rock climbing, we all went for a Cambodian massage (one hour, US$8).  It put Roy to sleep.

Today is Wednesday, December 9.  I stayed in this morning, but in the afternoon, Pedro and I took a boat ride out to the floating village.  These villages are all built on things that float -- not necessarily boats or barges, but whatever will float.  These are impoverished people, yes, but with an amazing sense of community.  They migrate as a group to wherever the water is at the right level.  This is a constant process on the Tonle Sap (tun-LAY sop) lake, which rises and falls a good 18 feet each year.  Cambodia is literally the flood plain of Indochina.

I rather felt as if I was driving through people's backyards.  Here they were, doing the things that we would consider private, and we had full visual access to their living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.  The kids playing out back, were clothed and unclothed, playing catch with a large water bottle as they paddled around in their buckets (see picture).  We stopped for lunch at the fish market.  Not the fish market you think of -- this one raised the fish, killed the fish, and cooked the fish while you waited.

We returned to the hotel, and it was time to grab my bags and head to the airport.  Many thanks to our wonderful guide, Mr. Phin Sophrathat, who catered to our every request, honestly and professionally.

Now, off to Phenom Penh.