Dec 7, 2014 Home from Cambodia/Thailand

Sunday, December 7

Travel day.  We leave for the Siem Reap airport about 10:00 and go through fingerprinting and all again. Interesting that the things they won't allow on the plane include hand grenades and dynamite, along with the usual scissors, fireworks, etc.

What?  We can't take our hand grenades?

Flying over the Gulf of Thailand

Bangkok from the air

The flight to Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok takes about an hour.  Chap and Mam are continuing on to ChiangMai, so we say our good-byes and the Tom and Sue and Greg and I get a taxi to a hotel Suvarnabhum near the BIG airport that we will leave from.  Greg and I will leave just after midnight, but Tom and Sue don't leave till tomorrow.  We have lunch at a cafe here on the 6th floor veranda.  Then we look at photos, nap and mess around for a while.  There is supposed to be music back on the 6th floor at 7:30 so we go back there and have drinks.  Tom and I have ice cream.  The live music never materializes, but they have nice music playing and it is a pleasant spot with a gorgeous full moon.

Greg and I get a taxi and head for the airport about 9:00.  Long lines but we have no problems.  There are delays due to problems with the water system on the plane, but we finally board about 1:00 AM and take off for London.  Good thing we have a 3 hour lay-over in London!

Watched a few movies and Beth was able to sleep some.  Thai Air is pretty nice, with more legroom, nice hot towels and free drinks and food.  Due to congestion at Gatwick, we did a few loops before finally landing. 6,259 miles from Bangkok to London in 13 hours. Another 5,100 , 10 1/2 hours, to go to Houston.

Both legs of this journey had planes that had many empty seats, so we were able to spread out a bit.  Greg managed to sleep some and we both watched some more movies.  I enjoyed the photography in "Bears" and Woody Allen's "Magic in the Moonlight" was pretty good.  Greg says "When the Game Stands Tall" was predictable but not bad.

We reached Houston according to schedule and breezed through customs.  Our friend Jim was there to greet us on this beautiful sunny 65 degree day!  Home again Home again and though we weren't up for dancing a jig, it was good to be home.  Takeout Chinese for dinner since our cupboards were bare, and we lasted till about 8:00PM and crashed for about 12 hours!


Thai phrases we actually used:  Sa wadee Ka - hello
                                                   Kop kuhn ka - thank you
                                                    Ped Nit Noi - a little spicy
                                                    Alloy mok mok - delicious
                                                     Ka - yes

Dec 6, 2014 Cambodia

Saturday, December 6

After breakfast, we head into the countryside for a while.  We are going to Beng Melea temple, about 50 miles away and have our same driver and guide.  We could do this on our own, but Bob has been very helpful and informative and this is one economy we don't mind supporting!  The temples have entry fees which help with maintenance and personnel.

We pass quite a few rice fields and they are harvesting by hand in several.  Some areas can get 2-3 harvests a year while others get only one.  We also see several water buffalo including some pulling carts.

Even here many of the houses are on stilts and use bamboo and thatching or simple boards. There are occasional "shops" which sell rice, fruit and gasoline.  The gas is sold in used bottles - like Johnny Walker or Pepsi - and is mainly for the scooters, motorbikes and boats.

The land is flat, though we can see some mountains in the distance.  That is where all the stone used to build the temples came from.

Cambodia has a king, but he is a figurehead only, with no power per Bob. He does not appear to be revered as the King of Thailand is. They are now considered a democracy, although Chap says it is very corrupt and more like a dictatorship.  In the country some people drive a vehicle like this, which also operates as a plow/planter for the rice.

Schoolgirls along the road.

 We travel on bumpy dirt roads for a bit - vehicles here don't seem to have much suspension.

We pass a group of small yellow houses which, Bob informs us, are government-provided housing for land mine victims.  Some of these areas have no electricity and use cisterns for water.  Bob said his home village only got electricity 2 years ago, but they did have generators.

Beng Melea temple has not been restored at all and one of its claims to fame is that it was featured in the Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom movie.  It has a moat which is overgrown. A 7 headed naga leads the way to the temple.  Seven heads has something to do with the colors of the rainbow.

This temple was built as a rural place of worship and education, about the same time as Angkor Wat.  The style and engravings are similar.  Many of the fallen rocks here have holes in them which were used during their transport. The jungle is slowly reclaiming the area, as you can see from the multitude of trees and winding roots.

We leave here and in about half an hour we reach Tonle Sap Lake.  We stop briefly at a small village along a dirt road which will be under water at the height of the rainy season.

 The houses are on tall stilts with one door and ladder leading to the street and another leading to the water.  We watch a woman frying water snakes, and several people smile and wave.  We only hope that some of the $20 fee we each paid will reach these people.

We are a month into the dry season now and the water level is low, but will go much lower before the monsoons arrive again in March or so.  The depth at the center will vary from 3 meters at the height of dry season, to 15 meters during the rainy season. There are about 2,000 families living in this area.  Most are fishermen. We see men staking out nets, drying fish and motoring about.  Many types and sizes of boats most of which are wooden.  Some are rather primitive, almost like dug-out canoes.

The Mekong River feeds this lake and there are some Vietnamese who escaped Vietnam during our war/fiasco and settled here.  The Tonle Sap river flows from the Mekong to the Lake during rainy season and from the lake to the river during dry season!

We board a boat and cruise through the village which is all on the water.  The boat is pretty rickety and the driver and his helper are very young but proficient.  After a while we reach another kind of village, they call the floating village.  Folks here live on their boats and can move as the water level changes.

Floating house

Our driver.  Many people wear protection from the sun.

Floating school

 There is a school here and many boats of all sizes.  These people use the lake for washing, drinking, etc.  but also as a sewer.  Bob says they have recently installed filters in most of the houses.  In addition to fish, there are also crocodiles up to 10 ft long living here, though we see none.

On the return to Siem Reap we pass many stands selling sticky rice in bamboo. It is a glutinous rice mixed with some coconut milk and a few black beans and steamed in the bamboo.  We stop to take a photo and I buy one which we share. Tastes good.

Our new phrase for getting out of the car:  "Let's Eject," which Bob says everytime we stop.  That and "Let's Roll" seem to be favorites of his!

We stop at Stueng Trorcheak Restaurant and Garden for a late lunch, then head back to town.  We agree to meet later for dinner.

Tonight we go to a Japanese/Khmer place near the Old Market,  called Hot Stone, which had good reviews.  Very disorganized,  they were out of "finished" many items, service took forever, food was mediocre and they couldn't even get the bill right.  Definitely an off day.  All we can figure is that you need to get there early for the good stuff.

Back to the hotel.  There are 18 different language TV stations! US visitors make up only a small portion but there are 5 or 6 English TV channels.  There is a marathon tomorrow at Angkor Wat and they expect several thousand runners, which must be good for their economy!

 We check photos, watch a little TV and read.  Tom and Sue and Chap and Mam enjoy massages.

Friday, December 5

Met for the breakfast buffet at 7:00 downstairs.  Large selection including omelet bar, noodle bar, fruits, salads, breads. rice, potatoes, bacon, juices, etc.  Pleasant now but very humid and it will near 90 degrees this afternoon.

Our tour guide's name is Bob and yes, it really is Bob.  In Khmer language it means "big" and he was a big baby, he said, and got teased a lot about his name when growing up.  He is 35 years old and studied at the University.  His English was good, though some things were pretty funny - like when the van stopped and he wanted us to move, he'd say "Let's eject!"

Cambodia (and Thailand too) went through various periods of Hindu or Buddhist rulers, so some temples are Hindu, some Buddhist and some a mix of the two.  Angkor Wat was built as a Hindu temple and features Shiva as well as other gods and goddesses.  Some buddha figures were added later. At its height, the Angkor area was home to one million people and was the capital city of the Khmer area which included present Thailand, Cambodia and parts of Laos.

Angkor consists of a large area and many temples, with Angkor Wat being the largest and most well known.  Built between 1113 and 1150 AD, of a combination of Lava Stone and Sandstone, it is surrounded by a moat which provided protection and also a way to get building supplies here. It is a massive three-tiered pyramid crowned by five lotus-like towers.  It was eventually abandoned because of drought and then forgotten and left to the jungle until re-discovered by a mahout in the 1970s.  Much of the restoration and work is funded by a combination of UNESCO, China, India, Germany and other countries.

Approaching Angkor Wat over the moat.

The total population of Cambodia is 15 million and up to 40 million people visit Angkor Wat annually. It is very busy today.  Many tourists these days from China, but we have also run into people from France, Indonesia, Holland, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, and a few other Americans.

We entered across the moat and into the people's entry.  There are other entries that were for soldiers, the king, gods and elephants. There are two libraries before you reach the temple. This temple was dedicated to Vishnu, shown here. And there is a large pool where the stone was washed before used in construction.  The main temple is up a set of steep stairs, about 80 meters high.

 Other than extensive carvings and a few statues, most of the movable items have long ago been plundered.  As recently as this year, the US returned quite a few antiquities that it had confiscated and these will be in the National Museum in Phnom Pen.

 There are several galleries, like long porch areas, which have thousands of carvings on the walls depicting history, legends, etc.  Bob tells us about some of them featuring wars, religious stories, legends, animals, etc.  This one shows a god sitting in judgement and sending people either upward to heaven or down to hell.

One of several galleries with extensive carvings.

 

Bob explaining carvings.

The next temple we go to is Ta Prohm complex.  We enter through the East Gate and as we walk towards the temple we pass this group of men playing music.

 They are a landmine band - all have some injury from land mines.  This is still a problem in the border areas, though most of the more populated areas have been cleared.  Ta Prohm means Brahma Ancestors and Brahma is the Creator God.

Again there are libraries.  This temple was built in the late 12th century as a Buddhist temple.  It contained the Royal Monastery and Buddhist University. It also has a moat and a pool, with the library located in the middle of the pool.  The huge silk cotton tree growing atop the temple is probably 100-200 years old and parts of the complex are intentionally left unrestored, with trees and vines taking over the area.  Bob says there are cobras living in the rubble.  He tells us that he and his family frequently ate cobra when he was young. (Tastes like chicken - ha!)

Next we drive to Khmer Angkor Kitchen for lunch.  Here, as in Thailand, dishes are served as they are ready rather than waiting to serve the entrie table at once. Restaurants provide a nice waiting area for drivers and guides, with hammocks.

After lunch we head to Ankor Thom temple. (Sounds like Uncle Tom).  Thom means Banyan tree.
This was built as a Buddhist temple, in the late 12th-early 13th century.  There are 49 towers here (54 if you add the entry gate towers) which represent the 54 surrounding counties.  It also has some galleries with intricate carvings many of which Bob explained. We see some restoration workers fabricating parts of lion statues.  Most of the towers have four faces on them, one on each side which reflects the 4-headed god Brahma.

Back to the hotel around 3:30.  Greg and I walked to a local convenience store to get some cash from the ATM.  Cambodia uses the riel but prefers US money (for stability) and will give change in US dollars with change less than $1 given in riels.  40,000 riels to $1, so our 1000 riel bill is worth about $.17.  The average annual income, per Bob, is about $1,200 or $100/month!  (Thailand is about 4x that.)

Bob talked today about Pol Pot, the ruler during the 1970's 80's who massacred millions during his reign, mostly anyone who was educated, and he closed all the schools.  He set the country back and it is still struggling to recover.  Bob said he didn't start school till he was 10 and when he learned to read he did so with his uncle who was 10 years older.  His school was in a house and had about 50 kids of all ages. We pass the infamous "killing fields".  Bob said HIV was an issue here for a while, then malaria became a problem.  He says both are mostly now controlled with medicines, clinics, mosquito nets, etc.  but with all the water it is easy to see why it might be a problem.  Now he said the most deaths are from highway accidents.

Showered and rested up and met the group at 6PM for drinks downstairs.  Tonight we opted to go to Khmer Kitchen in town, which Greg had read about and got a recommendation from one of the staff here.  We take yuk-tuks.  It is a busy place, always a good sign, and has good, inexpensive Khmer food. Fresh Spring rolls, Lo Lak Beef, Baked Pumpkin Curry and Arok Fish are some of the specialties we try. I enjoyed the pumpkin curry.

our Lambourgini yuk-tuk, waiting on the sidewalk.

 The restaurant is near the Old Market and Night Market, so after dinner we wandered through the market area.   Many similar items to Thailand, though it seems a bit more expensive.  Tuk-tuks back to the hotel. At one point they drive onto the sidewalk to let some buses go by on this narrow street.  The tuk-tuk (pronounced took-took) drivers have cute names and decorations on their vehicles.  The ones we got tonight had "Lambourgini" fancily inscribed on them.

We will meet tomorrow for an outing to another temple, about 50 miles out of town and then to Tonle Sap Lake, the heart of the country.