Siem Reap – Day 6
Phew. Been a minorly major week!
We’ve visited the temples; Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prom, Ta Keo.
Angkor Wat was just massive. Although it was spectacular, and impossible to really fathom, we just didn’t feel much of a connection to it. It didn’t feel holy. It felt like an extravagant waste of time and human life for the king Jaravaman VII. I think that’s his name ;)
Bayon was cool, but similar feeling to Angkor Wat. It’s the temple that you see a lot if you’ve googled cambodian temples before. (I know it’s a common thing to google – accidentally type in “Ta Prom” instead of “Teh Porn”) Bayon has the big smiling faces that are 1/3rd Buddha, 2/3rds Jaravaman VII. Dubious. But specky.
Ta Keo was awesome. Nearly shat myself climbing the ’stairs’ up to the top. It was wicked hot and steep. You had to crawl up these steeeeep stairs which were about 15 cm wide (at their widest) and the sandstone was burning your hands. Had to forget about that and concentrate on not falling down 3 sets of 10 meter stone steps, to your certain death.
Ta Prom… Highlight of our 2 day temple tramping.
We got there after we did the Angkor Wat sunrise on the 2nd day, arriving about 7am. We were suspicious as there wasn’t a single tourist around. This made it all the more powerful. This place had an awesome feel to it, and we later read it was actually a Buddhist monastery which would probably explain the vibe.
The structure was mind blowing and nigh on indescribable. It’s better known world-wide as a set in Tomb Raider and it’s understandable why. The place looks like something from Tomb Raider (we’re talking the games here, not the movies, for anyone out here who was a gamer a decade+ ago when Tomb Raider meant an epic game series, not Angie baby looking cool. Oops. I digress…) and had tree roots taking it over.
I have many photos from these temples and I’ll collate a set to upload and upload them next time I have reliable internet access.
Rose and I had a wicked massage yesterday. Got stripped to my jocks and rubbed from toes to ears with oil next to a mostly naked Rose. Smirking, I said to Rose halfway through our $7p/h massage “I bet Chris is working right now”.
We’ve been learning as much of the language as we can absorb and having a great time being thoroughly teased while we use Khmer for ordering food, telling Tuk-Tuk drivers to stay put and asking for the bill etc. Pretty crazy language but at least it’s not tonal, so if you say something wacky, they’ll understand somewhat. Tay Aw Kohn! is yelled about 100 times a day, meaning No thank you. They just usually yell it back at you, smiling. It’s weird.
I was walking down the street near the river the other day, and there were a few Tuk Tuk drivers there. One said “You need tuk tuk? Tuk Tuk?” I said “aah. Tay!” He caught me off guard so I had the “aah” infront. The driver next to him cracked up and said, in the big Japanese style voice, laughing at the pwned tuk-tuk driver “AAH — TTEEYY” *pause* “NOOO THANKYOU SIRRR!!!”. It was hilarious. Had to be there I guess.
Went on a bit of a solo adventure this morning as Rose has the reading bug at the mo. (she’s across the table at the restaurant reading right now!) Went across the river and found this market which looks 145% local. Not a white face in sight, for obvious reasons. Was a bit crazy. I kinda kept walking and found myself there. Saw a chap who works in my favourite restaurant in S.R. and he showed me where he lived and walked around the markets, looking for his lunch. The meat was pretty crazy and the live eels etc were in abundance. Not sure if the flies were on sale as well, or they were just keeping the pigs heads and intestines company.
I asked the fella what was down the road if you kept walking and he didn’t know. I probably should have used that as the yardstick to not go down there but I felt like going for a walk. Found some pretty crazy shit. There was this woman with a net on the back of her bicycle selling these tiny birds about the size of finches. One kid came up and bought one, holding it he cycled home. I guess they were for eating but I bought a couple and let em go. Probably get SARS now… Stupid country…
We’re getting much better at bartering now. It’s so funny. If you get a good price, they look a bit stroppy. The best way to get the price you want is to act like a small child. You kinda whinge a bit, and if you don’t get what you want, you threaten to run away from home – aka walk off – and they fold like a pair of 2’s.
A small change of plan. I think we’re going to Phnom Penh tomorrow as we’re pretty sure Battambang will be like Siem Reap, only smaller.
Anyway, I should probably go. I’m not sure if my new internet card is metered or what. Would shit me if I wrote all this and couldn’t post it.
Thanks everyone for your emails. It’s good to hear from home.
Az: You should come here and bring a camera. It’s a photographers wet dream.
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