After a wonderful farewell banquet at No Signboard Seafood in S'pore we left on Wed. a.m. Lee and I left for Cambodia. Our first place was to Bangkok. Since we were changing airlines and had to go in and out of immigration we missed our next flight. We made the best of it by shopping in the fancy airport and having shoulder massages. I'm hoping Isaac can make this his next business venture: massage at US airports. If you were stuck in the airport wouldnt that be better than just drinking?? Anyway we made it to Seam Riep by 7pm on the next plane and met Jaymie and Bryn at our beautiful hotel, the Shinto mani. Everyone in Cambodia is so gracious and friendly. Instead of handshake they bow with hands in prayer position. The height of the hands signals the degree of respect with the highest being for a deity of course. We had our first dinner at the hotel and began our affection for fish amok - a Cambodian dish.
On our first full day we began in our tuk-tuks (motor cycle with a pull behind cart for people) and our guide,Ly, a 36 year old man whom we had hired for 2 days. He is so knowledgeable about the more than 200 temples in the area. We learned about the change in religion from Hindu to Buddhism which resulted in yanking all the Buddhas off the temples. These temples were built from 890- 1191, many by the King Jayavarman VII - not to be confused with all the other Jayavarmans. The guy made incredible temples for himself, his mother, his father and his relatives - in that order. He was Buddhist and his dad was Hindi - and he respected the dad's preference and made him a Hindi temple. nice, don't ya think? Angkor Wat - the biggest was the one for himself. Some of these temples were in use forever but many had been abandoned in the 1400's and only re-discovered amidst the jungle that had grown around them in the 1800's and 1900's. Amazing. The temples are beyond beautiful and no pictures can do them justice. The engineering genius is staggering. And the trees and roots now intertwined with the stone work is unbelievable.
We returned to our hotel for foot and body massages. After the long day of touring it was bliss.
Our Thanksgiving dinner was in a Thai restaurant where we all expressed our gratitude at the opportunity to make this trip and to be together. All of us missing our people at home.
On the second day we set out earlier because it's really hot in the middle of the day. Because we were going to temples that were further out we opted for an AC mini-van. good call. Ly had told us some of the mythical stories that are recorded in the beautiful bas reliefs in eachof the temple. On day 2 we got to see the heroine Sita who had been fought over in a previous temple. The Cambodian Helen of Troy. These are some great stories and the carvings are so detailed and magnificent. we also stopped at the Land Mine Museum. it was put together by a former child soldier who has devoted his life to de-mining the country. His organization also cares for children who are victims of landmines. It is a small little place with a very moving video. Landmines continue to be a serious problem as you know. Our guide had told us his own story of being separated from his mother and siblings at age 3 and living on his wits from several years. The thought of a four year old walking thru the jungle looking for his mother, eating berries and roots is just unbelievable. He described the time when the Vietnamese took over after the Khmer Rouge as just as bad. Until the U.N. threw them out it was still a terrible place for the Cambodians. There are so many reminders of this awful period in our history. And yet the Cambodians have moved on, embrace even their enemies and are working hard to make this a desirable place for tourists. Awesome in every way.
Afterward our second temple day we had some terrific pool time.
