Cambodia Day 3- The Small Circuit

Sorry for the intermission...I ran out of juice. Here we go again.

Ok, to remind you were we left off...I'm on a trip with Nate and Cheri. We took a bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. We entered the Angkor Wat park for sunset and now...the story continues.

We arose at 4:30 wiped the sleep from our tired eyes and met the driver who would transport us from the temporary hotel (you'll remember that the hotel we booked had put us up in a temporary location since they overbooked) with breakfast in hand. Breakfast consisted of an egg, cucumber sandwich with green tomatoes. It was not delicious. The driver took us to drop our luggage off at the hotel we would stay at for the remaining 2 days and then were were off to Angkor Wat for the sunrise, again finding ourselves among throngs of others also hoping to catch a glimps of and photograph the rising sun behind Angkor Wat. After a frustrating experience of trying to avoid getting heads in our photos the sun purched high in the sky giving off way too much heat and we made our way into the Wat to explore the ruined temple. What a joy it was when we found several monks in gold colored robes inside the temple making the experience picture perfect. We then wittnessed what I can only imagine was a monk initiation ceremony where a young boy (around age 12) also dressed in a yellow gold colored gown with head shaved except for a pig tail on the crown of his head. There was chanting, gift giving, water flicking and then the ceremony was crowned by the shaving of the remaining pig tail on top of the young boys head. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Afterward the ceremony and exploring Angkor Wat we continued to several other sights including the Bayon where Cheri and I rode and elephant eager to go on break and get some rest. I’m pretty sure he was running to the finish line as we caught up and even passed the elephant in front of us leaving him in our dust. We then happened upon a group of monkeys and several young girls selling bananas to feed the monkeys. I declined purchasing the bananas despite the continued assurance that “monkeys don’t bite.” I glanced over my shoulder and found that one monkey had begun to climb up Nate’s leg. Knowing that monkeys are never to be trusted I got a bit nervous for Nate and was glad to see the monkey jump off him without injury. I took my camera over to get some photos and soon enough I found a monkey climbing up my own leg. Not having any food to offer him he began chewing on my leg. Luckily it didn’t hurt but it was starteling. I went back to the tuk-tuk to join Cheri and was again approached by a young woman selling bananas insisting that "monkeys don’t bite." “But he just bit me!” I told her. “That’s because you have no banana’s she replied.” We both laughed at the irony.

The day was unbearably hot and we must have spent $20 on water alone! Finding shade was difficult and even then...we had to keep moving finding relief only when seated in the breeze of the moving tuk-tuk. We stopped for lunch at a foodstall inside the park and negotiated cheaper prices than what they had advertised for the simple meals we ate. Cheri and I ate yellow noodles with veggies and chicken and Nate ate the Anok curry. The young woman serving us said she was 12 years old and off school that day. She was a good negotiator as she offered us discounts on the rates advertised.

After lunch we continued on our way and came across the most darling 4 or 5 year old girl repeating the phrase “10 for one dollah”. Looking in her hand to see what she was selling I found 2 magnets one of which was broken. We wondered how she could sell 10 for one dollah when she only had 2. Trying to talk to her we discovered she spoke no english except to say "ten for one dollah." Sweet little girl learning the trade of her family I’m sure as she was not the only child vendor we came across. In fact, anywhere we went, as soon as the tuk-tuk came to a stop we found ourselves surrounded by children of various ages begging us to purchase (normally 10 for one dollah) whatever they were selling. Their wares included bracelets, post cards, whistles, books, water and much more. Most of the children, while they were very pushy, were polite. Unfortunately, we ran into 2 young men who were not. One approached Cheri and she wasn't interested in what he was selling but she did make a purchase from another vendor. The young man who had approached her first told her she was "a bulls$%# lady." He was quite bitter and let us know of his disgust. Another young man approached me and told me that if I didn't purchase from him I'd make him cry. Well, I didn't purchase from him and as I was leaving he cocked his arm as if he intended to punch me.

We made our way to a number of ruined sites taking countless photos and trying to bear the heat. The ruins were decorated with Buddhist and Hindu gods and their stories. Some were well preserved while others almost completely destroyed. To think about what the sites would have been like in their heyday was not difficult and left me with a sense of awe for all the hard work that went into the construction yet sadness to think of the forced labor that was used to construct the edifices. At the end of the day we found ourselves atop another Wat enjoying the sunset which was over as quickly as it began. We then made our way down the ridiculously steep stairs (which were intentionally made difficult as it was explained that reaching heaven is no easy task). The driver returned us to our hotel just in time for the rains to begin falling and not just falling but POURING! It lasted less than an hour but the lightning and thunder that accompanied the rain was most enjoyable.

For dinner we decided on a Khmer restaurant that had a traditional dance show. Cambodian dance is very similar to Thai, slow moving with similar leg, arm and hand movement. After dinner we stoped for what was advertised as foot massages but which we would refer more descriptively as leg rubs. Nate said it’s like they read a copy of a copy of a copy of how to do a Thai massage...a perfect description that made us laugh. But ya know...for $5...it was alright. We walked back to the hotel, crashed in bed, trying to prepare for another early, early morning.