Tomb Raider

Cambodia has temples like New York has mailboxes. They are pretty hard to keep track of, especially since the Khmer keep switching between Hinduism and Buddhism. Angkor Wat is the most famous and well built temple, so it is used as a sort of focal point. I don't even remember the name of this temple (feel free to google it), so I call it Tomb Raider like most tourists because it was a setting for the movie. It's pre Angkorian and pretty small, but has huge character thanks to the fig trees growing around it, sometimes pulling it apart and sometimes holding it together. Like other Buddhist temples, it was defaced by a late king who converted Cambodia back to Hinduism. He only ruled for 5 years, but long enough to carve out every Buddha on every temple and put a third eye of Shiva (not even a very pretty eye) on the large faces. The temple walls had plates like a Stegasaurus all along the top, thousands and thousands of them, with a little seated Buddha, now all gone. Still, I feel that only adds to the history of the place, and this is one of my favorite temples.

You can see the third eye carved in this temple entrance.

Ankgor Thom

Angkor Thom is often thought of as #2 to Angkor Wat for some reason. It came later and was built just next door but is actually an entire city with many religious sites. The king at the time was Buddhist, but was very religiously tolerant and left the Hindu Angkor Wat alone. Angkor Thom also has both Buddhist and Hindu religious themes. One of the best Hindu stories is depicted in the entrances and a relief--The Churning of the Sea of Milk, not shown here because--well, I'd been here before. Anyway, the king's tolerance was repaid by the afore-mentioned later Hindu king who went and defaced Buddhist icons all over the temples. Still, it's just enormous, and impossible to take in every site in one day, as I tried on two occasions. And you can ride an elephant through it, which is uncomfortable but pretty neat.

The locals call him "The Leper King," but actually his arms were seared during a battle with a huge venom-spitting cobra.

Don't know what this is, but we climbed the hell out of it.

The Elephant Pomade, or something.

A Garuda, one of my favorites.

Bayon temple is my favorite, though I'd be hard pressed to compare them all. It's well known as the one with many huge faces in 4 directions.
There's a lot of detail. You have to stop for a while until you can pick out the huge faces.


Most of the reliefs around Bayon temple are of Khmer, allied with the Chinese, against Cham invaders. The Cham invaded quite a lot, and at one point they took over for 4 years. Now, the Cham are reduced to small villages scattered around Cambodia and their old capital in central Vietnam, and for some reason converted to Islam.

This guy, with many umbrella carriers, is probably the king who built Angkor Thom.

Apsaras, virgin Cambodian dancers. A common theme in the temples and a common brand for anything Cambodian.

Khmer Budgies

Another good thing about having a guide is he will tell you all the usual places for great photos, like when two faces in profile are framed in a window.

This face is said to be the most beautiful because she's smiling the widest.

Ankgor Wat

Well, here we are. Definitely far from home. Angkor Wat is THE temple in Cambodia, the most well made and most famous. It is a Hindu temple, but many gods crossover into Buddhism and are still worshipped today. Here's Vishnu, much restored and in modern garb--one of the first things most people see past the moat.

A rare photo at a usually hectic entrance

.

The temple and a reservoir still used today.

One of many great things about Angkor Wat is the huge reliefs telling the epic battle in the Ramayana of demons vs. monkeys. The monkeys are obviously winning. I had to enhance the photos like crazy to see the reliefs, the rock is very flat. Here's my favorite, Garuda taking out 4 horsed riders at once and Hanuman beating up two lions.

Another wall of reliefs, new to me, showed various levels of heaven and hell. This guy had it the worst, only an adulterer. He's literally getting nailed.

Vacation Within a Vacation (part 2)

Where else does an expat in Vietnam go on vacation? Cambodia, of course.

It's about a 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh, but it went by fast. The seats were relatively comfy, and we were entertained by a muted Jackie Chan movie with Vietnamese subtitles.

Despite its reputation, I liked Phnom Penh. I could sense its undercurrent of socio-economic problems, but it wasn't Saigon! I was ultra-cautious when we got off the bus, but the tuk-tuk driver who'd been soliciting the spot between my unfocused eyes for 10 minutes was actually a really nice guy. We hired him for the whole day: to our hotel, from our hotel to the palace, from the palace to the russian market, then to the night market and back to our hotel for only slightly higher than the local price, $12 in total.

Or hotel was near an interesting park (actually a huge traffic circle) with elephant rides and troops of wild monkeys.

The palace was very nice. It's still the residence of the King, though now he's tucked away in a minor building. We skipped the Killing Fields for another lifetime.

Shopping in Cambodia is an ordeal for me, but a true feast for a haggle-monster like Jenny. I played the reluctant keeper of the purse while Jenny would slash prices to under 1/3 of the outrageous starting price. Very often I was racked with Jenny pulling on one arm and the shopkeeper pulling on my other arm.

We had dinner at a fairly expensive Western restaurant, but had a nice sample dish of Khmer desserts. They're pretty similar to Vietnamese rau cau (fermented jello from algae), sweet soup and bean cake.

The road from Phnom Penh to Seam Reap was over 5 hours but seemed much, much longer. The minivan was not nearly as comfortable as the bus, and our fat, drunk neighbor who was constantly laughing and snorting into his cellphone put us in something under "coach." Though I probably shouldn't complain, the local buses were crammed with tons of crap and about 20 passengers hanging on the outside as an afterthought. Many, many times I'd prepared for death as a bus came barreling down the wrong lane towards us, or vice-versa. Sometimes we had to stop for cows or, outside a pagoda, people collecting money while a very, very unfortunate guy in a huge costume dances in the hot sun. We were very smart to fly back to Saigon.

Our resort in Seam Reap was over-the-top sumptuous. As always when we're traveling, we both had bad colds and didn't get to enjoy the accomodations much. But, we still had a splendid time.

Jenny playing the hit-a-mo-bobs.

Seam Reap town is a crazy, crowded tourist trap. After wandering in circles, we got desperate and dined in our usual dessert cafe.

Amazingly, the food was outstanding. We had a Khmer sample set, with Amok, curry and spring rolls. Khmer food is amazing, but it seems to be extremely limited.

These things are everywhere, but the Alien and Predator sculptures made this one special. You put your feet in a tank and let tiny fish extract your dead skin. It's actually an old practice for people with eczema, banned in the US for (probably unfounded) sanitation purposes. It's hardly a massage.

Of course, you go to Seam Reap for the temples. We saw the big 3: Tomb Raider, Ankgor Wat and Ankgor Thom, though there are many others. You must purchase a pass to enter the temples and there is so much information that you don't want to miss a guide.

Just next door to the King's getaway palace is a very plain little park, except that it has an enormous roost of flying foxes. Very neat to see and no one seems to know about it!

The bees keep curiously naked racks of combs.

Shopping in the Old Market was actually less crowded than the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, but stinkier and more expensive. The goods are quite ubiquitous--even the paintings in each stall are totally identical.

Tuk Tuks are the only way to get around. When you don't need them, you have at least five tuk tuk drivers soliciting you. And if not today, then for tomorrow or the next day. If you take one into town, the driver will ask to pick you up when you're done. It seemed strange to me that they're willing to wait for hours, but then there are just to many damn tuk tuks. They spend their days asking every passing tourist twice for a ride and they're very lucky to get one trip. That's just one indication of how bad the economy is here for locals.

Our souvenir spoils. This is--oh, one of those useless kitchen things, but handmade from silk and sequins. After haggling, $2!

We got many, many refrigerator magnets, $2 for 3 after haggling.
This is touristy, I know, but we wanted something from the wall that said "Seam Reap," and Bayon temple was my favorite. Only $6. Jenny had a blast with all the haggling, but I thought the whole thing was pretty sad. There are so many shops selling the same things, shopkeepers are quite desperate when dealing with customers. They didn't make much profit with us. I guess one solution, though unsustainable, is to be really really rich and buy everything at the asking price. And tip everywhere. Our guide confided that hotels do not give their VAT tax and service charges to the staff and some people are lucky to get $50 a month. Apsara dancing is a dying art since the tourist industry is unwilling to pay for it, and that was one of my favorite things. So, I love Cambodia, but it makes me sad.