We are in Siem Reap, Cambodia now – the location of Angkor Wat & all of the accompanying temples that are so famous. We flew out of Bangkok yesterday afternoon and had a safe and easy flight, and got into Siem Reap late in the afternoon. It’s only an hour-ish flight which is pretty nice, though as we were descending and just minutes from landing I was quite worried about where we were going to land as all surrounding areas seemed to be completely immersed in water!
About 3 minutes before landing sure enough some land showed up in our window – thank goodness! We got picked up by our hotel which is always nice, got checked in, and just chilled out last night as there was a huge monsoon rain that prevented us from venturing out. Where we are isn’t so populated that there are tons of taxis available, so we made due with a delicious hotel restaurant dinner and some movies while listening to the storm outside. It was actually nice to get some rest, so we didn’t mind as we had booked our tuk-tuk driver to come and get us at the hotel at 5 a.m. so we could make sunrise at Angkor Wat… yikes, I hate waking up in the 4’s!
Morning came quickly, and as promised our tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Lika was there to greet us at 5 a.m. A tuk-tuk is like an open cart made for passengers attached to a motorbike, and they are specifically licensed to take tourists around Angkor Wat. We got to the park, got our tickets, and got on our way to the temple. Curt was hyper and hurrying as the horizon was turning a brighter shade of blue, so he turned to tell me to hurry along, or something, and ended up clocking me in the head with the tripod strapped to the backpack! I cursed aloud, which of course broke the peaceful morning calm, but it hurt like hell! He was really sorry, but I was kind of sour so I held back from the hyperness and just followed as we scouted our spot, and started to set up the cameras.
Then we were reminded of Cambodia’s humidity as our lenses started fogging up, and Curt went into overdrive to start trying to defog his so he could get his shot… I just stepped back and decided that I would at least enjoy the sunrise if my lense was going to be foggy, but he was fanning, blowing, wiping, and had set the backpack on the ground.
Next thing I know Curt’s jumping, slapping, and creating a crazy ruckus in the quiet morning of Angkor Wat’s sunrise causing the other tourists to turn and look, and he’s exclaiming he’s covered in ants… apparently he set his hat down on one of the adjoining temple ledges and ants covered it and then rained down on his head, neck, and back when he put it back on… poor guy, I was picking off these tiny, crazy biting ants for a few minutes before we got most of them. But what a bug dance – LOL! I know they hurt, too, I got bit by a couple myself, and it’s no fun I’m sure for them to be in your hair, haha!
I just couldn’t stop chuckling to myself, and when he asked what I explained what a ridiculous disaster the morning had been thus far, and to top it all off, the sunrise wasn’t even a great one as it was cloudy (great for a day of being outside to minimize heat but made for some lackluster sunrise photos)! Hilarious…
Thankfully the rest of the day went just fine… we enjoyed walking around the temples, and were surprised at just how many there were! We saw a large majority of them, took loads of pictures, and appreciated the amazing structures that are so ancient. Imagining so many people making pilgrimages to this place and seeing the tree roots trying to take them over was just really cool...
We wandered around at least 10 temples, and saw even more from our tuk-tuk, and by lunch we were tired and ready to go.
All along the way, as we came out of each temple the kids and even adults were begging for us to buy all kinds of things – t-shirts, cold drinks, snacks, flutes, bracelets, Asian guitars, etc. Talk about tugging on the heart strings – they’re talented, persistent, and adorable – no – beautiful, children. It’s not hard to see how Angelina was affected and ended up adopting! They are well looked after (so it seems) and easy to smile, so we just kept saying no thank you, and when they realized finally we weren’t buying they gave such a sad look that it was killer… aww, all I could hope is that they have the acting down. The other kids on bikes (tiny kids on huge adult bikes, so cute!) and anyone we passed along the way would give us the biggest smile and wave – they so melted my heart!
We also saw along the way two bands at the entrance and exit of one of the major temples playing beautiful Asian music – strings, drums, small cymbals, etc. They had CD’s and a tip jar that went to benefit landmine victims, which almost every member of the band was. I would say the men in the band are maybe 15-20 years older than us, and some had no legs, some had crutches, prosthetics, one limb missing, etc. so I’m guessing they are old injuries from closer to the war. They had a sign posted that said they wanted to live with dignity and earn a living, so they formed this band instead of turning to begging for handouts, and they were really good, so of course we were glad to give some money.
After Angkor Wat we headed to the market to check it out, and it was huge and fun to browse, then headed back to the hotel to grab a late lunch, rest, and let Curt catch up on some work… what a great day!
Tomorrow we head to Nha Trang, Vietnam, to do some more diving and see another great country!
Enjoy the pics (posted the other diving ones, too so see below!)
1 comment:
Dude...I'm proud of Curt's bug dance! That's awesome! But I'm sorry he was covered in ants. :-(
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