Angkor'd Out!

As what has become the norm, there has been a good 3 days since last post. This time, my excuse isn’t just lack of time, but the fact that internet here in Siem Reap is sub par, at best. The term ‘Wireless’ is responded with blank looks, and the computers in the Internet shops are no more then relics of the past. I have yet to see a computer with a USB port on it to copy over my writings and pics. My first home computer was a faster machine than the rusty, burned out boxes that we have been using.

So anyway, on to some stories….or synopsis…or whatever you want to call it.

Going back to the travels from Chiang Mai because, well, that is where I left the story hanging…Michele and I were to board a train at 2:50pm on Sunday to travel 15 hrs on 3^rd class to Bangkok. We got to the train station with hopes of upgrading, but to no avail, but to our dismay, they gave us the option of upgrading to a 2^nd class train at 6pm. We weighted the pros and cons, but the last straw was looking into the c

ar that we were to sit in, and the bench seats with no AC were none to appealing…so needless to say, we paid the extra $12 for the 2^nd class car.

With time to kill, I called Dave, and made plans to meet at a small American restaurant that we found to have the best chicken wings in Thailand. 3 hrs later we left the restaurant well fed, well watered (beer’d), and well educated on the difficulties on preparing American food in Chiang Mai. It was a pretty entertaining talking to Dirk, the Floridian proprietor of Pinky’s restaurant.

The travels were pretty non-eventful, other than a busy change over from train to bus in Bangkok, and meeting a nice Aussie girl on the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap. We are now staying and traveling with this girl, Bec. I will mention that the final leg of the trip is a 3 hr. bus ride from Bangkok to the boarder, a 10 minute tuk-tuk ride from the bus depot to the boarder, then a 2K walk over the boarder. Once you get over to Cambodia, you then catch a cab (yes, a CAB) for the final 3 hrs to Siem Reap.

We arrived in Siem Reap late on Monday night. Before we even arrived in Siem Reap, we had been the victims of 2 attempted scheister schemes:
A) The Tuk-Tuk going to the boarder stopped at a travel agency trying to charge us mony for visas and transportations. Having read u

p on this particular scheme, we said ‘NO!’, and were eventually dropped off at the boarder.

B) The waitress at the restaurant we stopped at en route to Siem Reap charged us an extra $5 on the bill compared to the menu prices. It was thanks to Michele and Bec’s sharp eyes that we were able to foil this one.

With those two schemes behind us, we already were weary of anyone that wanted our business. In the last 2 days, we have learned that everyone in Cambodia wants your money, and will do anything they can to get it from you. Really, it is a 3^rd world Vegas in that regard.

A little more about Siem Reap (and Cambodia in general):

A) It makes me think this is what India would look like. The streets are dusty and filled with motorbikes, carrying everything from 3-4-or-5 people, to live hogs, to racks of chickens, to large propane tanks, to queen sized mattresses, and even large bedframes.

B) Like I said before, everyone and anyone wants your money. They will rip the white man off around every corner, so you have to keep your wallet close, and your wits closer.

C) Every kid has something to sell you, whether it is postcards, trinkets, collectables, tshirts, or just plain shit.

D) It is HOT! Like, heat I have never seen before! And there is no water in sight. We are all sweating,

E) Did I mention that they all want your money, and will rip you off around every corner. We met an American that was tossing around dollar

bills like he was Pacman Jones at a strip club. Every kid that asked for a dollar, he would ablige. Eventually, they were selling him goods for double what we would get them for. He also was paying more for his room, his water, his beer, his transportation, etc. They could see him coming a mile away. I laughed about it, he didn’t.

F) The currency in Cambodia? American Dollar. They have their own currency, called the Riel, but at 4000R to $1, it is basically used as change under a dollar. There are absolutely NO coins here. Also, the Cambodian people will take any currency at all…Thai Baht, Vietnam Dong, American Dollar, Cambodian Riel…Everything except the Canadian Dollar.

G) The babies in Cambodia are adorable! I understand why people want to adopt them, cause they are the cutest kids. That is saying a lot, too, cause I thought Thai kids were adorable! Some of the pics I have of the kids here would make even the coldest heart melt. Also, Michele made one little girl’s day by giving her some toys that she had brought from Canada. The girl’s eyes lit up as she discovered just what a ‘Super-Ball’ was.

Tuesday morning, we woke up nice and early (8am) and made our way to meet our pre-arranged driver. We had decided the evening before that we would prefer a car with AC over a Tuk-Tuk due to the sweltering heat. It ended up costing us $8 each for the day’s driving, and tour guiding by a young Cambodian named Barang. (Sidebar: The American I spoke of earlier spent $20 on a Tuk-Tuk. Once again, he felt that he got ripped. More Laughter from your humble narrator!)

So off our heroes went, in search of the Temples of Angkor, a true relic from the past, and one of the most amazing areas of South East Asia…Also one of the main reasons I am here in Asia to begin with.

The first stop was the big temple of Angkor Wat. For those of you that don’t know (My Mother) The Angkor Archeological Area is 400 sq. Kms just north of Siem Reap that consists of hundreds of temples, pagodas, carvings, monks, and Cambodians looking for cash. There are basically 3 large temples (Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Pohem), each being known for something of their own. For instance:

- The Big Temple, Angkor Wat, is a stunning view. The 5 towers dominate the sky, and the beautiful pools in front act as giant mirrors, making remarkable images early in the morning as the sun rises. But with that said, I could enjoy the sight of Angkor Wat any time of day.

- Bayon is much smaller, but is protected by dozens of faces carved into the walls throughout the temple. Each face is approx. 8 feet high, and 6 feet across. Around every corner, there is a new face staring holes through you. This was probably my favorite temple in the region, as it made for the best close up shots.

- Ta Pohem is known for the movie ‘Tomb Raider’ with Angelina Jolie. Just knowing she walked in the same places I did was enough to want to go there, but there was a reason they chose that location for the movie. It’s a good sized ancient temple that has since been overtaken by the roots of the Karok Tree. As you walk through the archeological treasure, you are in awe of the shear size of the trees, and the 1100 years it has taken then to shape the character of the temple.

Those are the big 3 temples, but for archeology buffs, you could easily spend a week at Angkor exploring the hundreds of sights there are to see. Here are a few more observations and stories about Angkor:
A) Throughout every temple, every statue or carving has been beheaded. We heard multiple stories as to why this was:

a. The temples were originally hindu temples, so when the Buddists took over, this was their was of flexing their muscles, 1400’s style!

b. Same story (ish), but it was the Siam’s (Thia’s), and they couldn’t take the whole statue back to Thailand, as it would be too heavy, so they just took the heads.

c. The Kumar Rouge chopped the heads off in 1975 when they took power to show the people that this was their land now.

d. Theives throughout the years wanted their place in history, so they swipped the heads for their own tresures.

Either one or all of those stories are true, but regardless, looking at a huge statue of Vishnu (The Hindu god of destruction) seems a little strange when there is no eyes looking back at you.
B) It’s best not to delete any pictures you have taken while at the site, but if you do manage to do so, do it on a day where you can go back, and re-create the pics you deleted. That is what happened to me. With my mind in a state of retardedness, I managed to wipe 1G of my memory card free, containing all my shots from Those 3 temples, along with a couple other smaller ones. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but was salvageable with the fact we were going back the next day, thank god. If we had been in Phnom Phen already, I might not be alive now to tell this anticdote. Michele would have beheaded me like an ancient hindu statue.

C) AC was the way to go. This chubby Canadian can only take so much of the heat, so being able to jump into a Toyota Camry with the Air Con cranked was a beautiful release from the grasps of the Cambodian summer heat. Plus, our driver, Barang, was a friendly guy that loved looking after us, whether it was by playing tour guide, or with a story of his own in his Cambodian-English.

D) I had confirmed what I already knew: Monkeys are hilarious. We saw a pack on the side of the road while driving between Bayon and Angkor Wat, so we stopped, and fed them some bananas and lotus seeds…Michele, while attempting to pose for a picture, was holding onto a lotus seed a little to long, and the largest of the monkeys took a swipe at her. Once again, we had ‘the’ classic Borotsik-Smith conversation: ‘Are you ok?’ ‘yup’ ‘BHAHAHAHA!’

E) Sunset at Angkor Wat is stunning. The three of us awoke at 4:40am on Wednesday morning to get Barang to haul our asses out to the Site once again. The pics I got of the Temple refelceting of the water as the sun rose in the background were some that I am sure I will get blown up, and framed. For me, it was right up there with the view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate, and the Alp Valley from the top of the castle in Salzburg. All three are muse like sights for me that pictures do it no justice.

For sunset on the first night, Barang took us through the Cambodian country side (which is a story all on its own) to a pier that would take us out to the floating village. Another thing about Cambodia is that everything is negotiable, so when they told us it would cost $20 to get to the village for sunset, we scoffed, and walked away. By the time we got them down to $13, Michele was in, and I was tempted. Finally, I decided to make the trip, thankfully. (Sidebar: They ripped us off on change, so it actually cost us $15 each).

We hopped in a boat driven by a 19 year old, Thong, and his 14 year old brother, Chen, who was the talkative one of the two. He pretty much entertained Michele and I as the modified longtail navigated its way through the tributary to the main lake. What we saw when we got there was something out of a National Geographic Magazine. There are 5000 people that live on the floating village, and what I didn’t expect is that every house, shop, restaurant, etc was separate, so you need a boat to get from one house to the next. Out of the 5000 residence (made up of 380 separate floating residences), there are 3 different communites: 1 Cambodian, 1 Vietnamees, and 1 Muslim. They all live in harmony as the lake rises and falls with the seasons. Chen, Who lives in the village, mentioned that most people live there because they cannot afford places on the mainland. He also told us what his average day was like:

3:00am – Up with the birds so he can cast his net into the water in attempts to catch the daily need of fish, and maybe sell a few more to the market for a couple spare American dollars.

7:00am – Off to school, where he also attends in the village. The morning studies are from 7-11, with a two hour lunch break. At 1pm he returns for his afternoon studies, until 4.

5:00pm – Off to the pier to drive the boat for tourists like Michele and I. He got home at about 9pm, just in time to put his head down on a pillow, and start all over the next day.

When heading back to the shore, Michele asked Chen if she could take the wheel of the boat, and sure enough, she was driving a boat for the first time ever while on lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. Not many Canadians can say that.

That basically describes the 2 ½ days we had in Siem Reap. We are now on a bus on our way to Phnom Phen. Our party has grown by 1, as the American, Trevor, has decided to join us. I have told him that I can negotiate for him form now on if he would like me to.

But all is well, all is good. As I write these words, It should be the 3^rd period in game 4 of the Flames-Blackhawks series. I am assuming the Flames have a comfortable lead (4-1?), so the series will be deadlocked at 2 heading back to Chicago.

I hope.

I hope all well back in Canada, or wherever you are reading this! I am pretty excited to say that we will be in Vietnam in a matter of days.

This trip is more than ½ over now, and I am starting to dread coming home….

MB

PS - Sorry bout the formatting...Computers in Phnom Phen suck as well. And Go Flames! I saw they won! What is the injury update?