Thurs, 5/3.  Day of Transportation.  Took an ox cart ride.  Suspension needs work.  I was offered the chance to drive, but passed on that.  Two wheels, yes.  Eight legs, no.

Highlight of the day was a visit to one of the Boat villages that populate the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asian.  Huge difference between the dry season (now) and monsoon season (September).  A boat stuck in a tree illustrates the change.  Each boat has a septic system.  People need to catch about 10 lbs of fish per day to survive.  The excess can be sold.  Trips onto dry land are infrequent.  There is a mayor.  Crocks!  In cages, not lake.  Huge tourist industry.

Before lunch Rath had time to school me on the game of snooker, which as apparently a popular sport here.  It was a fun and not too expensive education.  I was going to buy him a beer anyway.

After a siesta, we visited a War Museum, essentially a collection of mostly USSR scrap metal.  Large collection of small arms with serious displays of the Khmer Rouge atrocities and the ongoing problems with land mines.  Cambodia deserves some good days in their future.  Next we took a leisurely stroll around the city park.  Bats the size of small cats run along tree branches.  A nondescript shrine uses colored lighting for effect.  Birds are sold.  Buy one, let it go for good fortune.  Discovered a Raffles Hotel, taking me back to Singapore!  With threatening clouds we spent an hour on the balcony waiting for the eventual five minute rain burst.  I had a Singapore Sling.  Duh.  Power went out.  Walking in the market with no power was a unique situation.  Storefronts with dark inner passages.  Something evil this way comes.

Dinner and a show. (Transported back in time.)  Buffet style, so I had spaghetti.  Show was just fine.  The way women can bend their fingers and toes backwards so far is painful to watch.  After the show people rush up on stage for a photo op.  Tacky.

Walked back to the hotel.  At 9 PM, beauty shops still were open and busy.  Late night dates I guess?  Cambodia is largely a matriarchal society.  According to Rath, “Men don’t marry and get a wife.  They get a boss!”

It’s been a great time Siem Reap.  Being the only object of Rath’s attention

Video Provided too.

Huts for parties and lunch breaks. Restaurants provide food.

Note the boat in the trees. High water mark.

Don’t want your helmet stolen while fishing? Easy solution.

Population, 6,000.

A Buddhist monastery.

Big lake, but only five feet deep.

I passed on a chance to buy a crock belt.

Elephant trunk on roofs. I carefully staged the shot with the dragonfly and bird.

I guess someone buys this bird and lets it go. Then it returns to the salesperson to sell again. Good fortune for someone.

Same glass design in Singapore.

Most popular vehicle? Motor scooters. This is the second most popular. Not a joke. Lexus RS300s are everywhere.

Power goes out? Light a candle.

Looks very much like a Mongolian horsehead fiddle, without the horse’s head.

Wed, 5/2.  Drove a scooter!  My home hosted lunch was out in the countryside.  The host, a 24-year-old school teacher came to pick me up at the road.  I asked to drive and she said okay!  I didn’t figure out the gearing until the way back, but I didn’t hit anything either.  Furthest I’ve every driven without a helmet.  Her neighbors appeared to enjoy the sight.

The day was mostly spent looking at temples.  The one known throughout the world, Angkor Wat, was huge as expected.  Carvings cover nearly every surface. It’s hard to describe.  We also saw the newer and larger but less well preserved Angkor Thom.  It once had 216 large stone faces carved on its  54 towers. Next was Ta Prohm, which has been overrun by towering trees.  We also drove by various other temples, as well as a large field where elephant polo was once played.

Truth be told, yesterday’s temple remained my favorite.  Because of it’s type of stone, it’s much better preserved.  All the sites are being examined and partially rebuilt (following strict UNESCO rules) by various international groups.  Japan, Germany, Italy, USA, etc.

Before sunset we returned to Angkor Wat for quiet tme and a bottle of Cambodian whiskey, 23% alcohol.  With snacks of peanuts, chicken, water buffalo meat and rat legs.  That’s not a typo.  Tasted like chicken.

After dinner we did a scooter-wagon ride to the center of Siem Reap’s hot spot.  Rath dropped me off so I could walk around.  Bars, shops, curb-side massage center, featuring fish foot massage.  Hawkers were a nuisance.  Found a bar specializing in bug food.  The menu is populated with bugs you eat.  Passed.  I did have sugar cane juice, which someone should bottle and sell.

Hot, hot day.  But worth every bit of time in the sun.

Angkor Wat.

The old steps are narrow (so you can’t point your feet at the Gods) and very steep. The tourist steps are very steep too.

It might just be me, but the carving looks somewhat like the crowds streaming in.

Angkor Thom.

The balloons were a hit again.

Note that the bicyclist is moving along by holding the elephant’s ear.

A picture of me!

Fish nibbling on feet.

Tue, 5/1.  What. A. Day.  Siem Reap, nearly in its entirety, is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre, with reason.  First stop was a buddhist temple partially made over into a memorial for the Cambodian holocaust.  Years ago a builder across the street, while digging a foundation, discovered bones from one of the estimated 20,000 mass graves.  The bones were transported to the Temple, where a new mini-pagoda was built to house a small sampling.  Billboards tell the story.  I asked Rath if the government was making any effort to downplay the history.  His reply was that with the whole world watching, they couldn’t try.  A lesson on the importance of international influence.  A sobering hour.  No pictures out of respect.

Next was the Siem Reap Museum of History.  Exhibit halls had AC, connecting corridors did not.  Very well done and exhaustive.  It combined a narrative of Cambodia’s extensive history with an examination of the evolution of its art and religion.  I learned a lot more detail about hindu (and Brahmanism).  Cambodia had an interesting (and peaceful!) progression from Hindu to Buddhism.  The artistic side was a lot more detailed than I was ready to study.  But two+ hours went be quickly.

Lunch was standard salad, greenish soup, a stew of lightly curried veggies and chicken, ending with fruit cocktail.  At a brewpub!  Very western.

After a siesta we departed on a bumpy ride to Banteay Srei, a thousand year-old temple with incredibly well preserved carvings.  Made of sandstone, one of the harder forms of stone.  The complex is not large, but the details are awesome.  Pictures don’t come close to the impression one has while there.  I could not accept that it was so old.

One the way back we stopped at some of the food stands.  Bought some palm tree sugar.  Tasted just like maple sugar.  Ate the fresh fruit from the same source.  Looked like floppy scallops.  Then I had some stuffed frogs.  The stuffing was frog, pork, veggies and spices.  Except for the tiny bones, it was fine.

After a fairly normal dinner, we drove through the happenin’ part of town.  Lights, bars, etc.  I’ll get there tomorrow I think.  (I learned today that $100 US is equal to 400,000 Cambodian Riel.)

My room. Needs a pool table.

Who does this remind you of?

Pray to crocodiles. They are the messengers of the Gods.

A picture of me. More or less.

Craft beer. Not bad, though all were on the light side. The stout was as expected.

Touch the leaves and they squeeze shut immediately. (Next picture.)

Weird, huh?

You can see more by Googling Banteay Srei. But the pictures don’t do it justice.

Remember, this is 1,000 years old! Outdoors, in one of the wettest areas on earth.

From the trees.

Carved out of the insides.

Stuffed frogs.

Mon, 4/30.  No pictures.  Trip to Hong Kong Airport was just Jacky and I, who was heading home for a week before doing it all over again.  Got to vent a little about the man on the tour who should have been sent home on day 1.  Walked about .5 MPH.  Seriously.  Other, more kindly members of the tour group supported letting him stay, though many later regretted their support.  They should not have even had a vote.  Brochure stressed fitness as a requirement.  I won’t officially complain to Overseas Adventure Travel (it would impact Jacky, who was great otherwise), but I enjoyed venting directly to Jacky.

Hong Kong Airport is a monster badly in need of a tram.  Flight via Bangkok was fine.  Doesn’t count as a visit to Thailand.  Pretty airport though.

Arrived Siem Reap after dark.  Sign at customs reads “Children are not tourist attractions.”  Warns against giving $$ to scams professing to support orphanages.  Cambodia is a deep third-world country with one magnificent tourist spot.  Rath, my tour leader, speaks excellent English.  I asked for an ATM to get Cambodian currency and it spit out a $100 US bill.  Huh?  Rath says, “Oh, everyone takes US money here”.  The lesson cost me a $5 transaction fee.

Hotel is terrific.  Big room.  Excellent AC.  Used the pool and the fitness center.  Downside is mosquitos, which I failed to prepare for right away.  Had a beer for $3 (no tip).  A shot of Bourbon is $5.  Restaurant menu looks to be a copy of my favorite Thai restaurant.  I suppose I’ll spend some time touring, in among eating and drinking.  It’ll be 91 degrees tomorrow.