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We spent Tuesday at some of the more far flung temples of Angkor. We began the day with our horn happy tuk tuk driver, Mr. Nyen. Seriously, he honked at everything, all day long. Every single tuk tuk, moto, and biker we passed, a good half of the cars that passed us, every truck he felt was taking up too much space, dogs lying in the road, dogs standing too close to our side of the road, dogs standing too close to the other side of the road, naked babies playing on the curb, naked toddlers playing on the curb, and even a good handful of naked 6 year olds playing on the curb. He honked every once in a while when no one was around just for fun, and I'm pretty sure he honked once at a bushel of bananas.
Our first stop was at the pharmacy, shortly after we left. Though we've managed to keep on our feet for several days in a row now without falling once, health issues still plague us at every turn. At the moment, our problems have taken an opthamalogical turn. My glasses lost a screw yesterday, then today Adina developed some (wikipedia-diagnosed) bacterial conjunctivitis. That's right, she's got her first ever pink eye. Ew.
Our first real stop was Banteay Srei, a temple known not for its splendor so much as its detailed carvings in the walls, floors, doors, etc. It was very impressive, but we weren't enthralled. Perhaps we were bothered by the crowds too much, or maybe it was too early in the morning. It also could have been the musicians playing (sounded like damn Peruvian pan flutes all over again - no wonder we haven't seen any guinea pigs) wretched sounds that carried through the entire place. Neither of us really got into this place so much, but don't worry, that didn't stop us from taking a buttload of pictures. We again were able to wade through the throngs of peddling kids, but I did almost buy an Angkor guide book for $1. Then the kid tried to change the price to 1000 Baht ($30), so I didn't like him much anymore and kept on moving.
After a bit of negotiating with our driver (turns out there was some miscommunication with bizarro Ari last night at the guest house), he agreed to take us a bit farther down the road to the river carvings and waterfall of Kbal Spean. Here we had a nice hike up a rocky hillside (no mud! woo hoo!) to the river carvings on the top. What are river carvings, you ask? We had the same question. They are very similar to all the other stone carvings of various gods (mostly Hindu) that are found all over the temples of Angkor on doorways, walls, stairs, etc. Only these were carved out of giant stones that were still in the river, some of them completely submerged. Sort of like they paved a cobble stone street for the water to flow over. The waterfall was less impressive, though it was nice to cool down a bit in the spray. After following a very slow but giggly Korean family down the slopes, we eventually made it back to our driver. He of course had to be sitting in the very last food stall in the long string of stalls, so we again had to ward off many women trying to get us to eat. We didn't really know how to explain that pig on a stick really wasn't going to work for us.
Then our trip got interesting. The next place we wanted to visit was pretty far out of the way, but that was no problem for our super-driver. He said "Some tuk tuk no take, but I bring you. Not impossible." Not impossible isn't exactly the ringing endorsement you want to hear, but whatever. So we started driving pretty fast to get there in time, but that didn't seem too bad. Then, about 50 km before we got to the temple, we hit the end of the road. I shouldn't say that, there was still a road. It just wasn't pavement. It was one third dirt, one third rocks (we still don't know which is better), and one third pothole. Giant potholes. Everywhere. Luckily, our dirt bike racing expert of a driver was pretty good at stearing his bike around them. Less luckily, the two wheels of the carriage were spaced wider than the single wheel of the bike he was driving, so all those narrow misses for him were straight on hits for us. After Adina's first ride on a bike in three years yesterday, her ass was in no position for such a bumpy ride. Especially one that lasted 45 minutes. Other than almost being run off the road a few times, and being whipped by branches of the trees we narrowly missed, we had a blast.
This was all to get to our third stop of the day, Bang Maelea, which we were told was the crown jewel of Angkor temples. And $5 extra. It really was fantastic. A lot like the jungle temples we went to yesterday, but bigger and far less crowded. This was the first place we've been to where we weren't overrun with other tourists, and only a couple of peddling 7 year olds. There were even a small gaggle of cute NON-peddling kids, which is always a fun surprise. They had fun sliding their way down the staircase that Adina was barely comfortable walking up. Her sasquatch feet were not meant for the narrow stairs of khmer life. This temple was dark, green, and crumbling all over the place. To view it, you need to scramble of large piles of boulders that used to be towers, crawl through small openings that are all that's left of doorways, and trip over roots of giant trees that are choking the ruins and taking over everything. We were certainly not alone in the place, but we were able to walk through it without feeling like we were constantly in some one else's picture. Not stumbling over other people definitely adds the the mystique of the place, or as stupid Lonely Planet likes to say, it was very atmospheric.
For dinner we went to yet another too expensive (but actual khmer food) veggie place, where we got our last meal before giving up fake meat for the nine days. It's gonna be rough.
Wednesday was a bit of a lazy day, having sort of run out of desire to see the temples. We considered sunrise, but decided it would be too cloudy. Which it was. Instead we got out of bed a bit later to try and see the eclipse, though we were worried it would be too cloudy. Which it was. There will be another one just like it in a century or so, so no big deal. We've spent most of the day wondering around Siem Reap itself - the market, the artist colony, a butterfly garden (which turned out to be a restaurant with butterflies in it. They didn't seem too upset that we just took pictures and left.) The market was filled with more types of seafood (some of it fresh enough to still be moving) than I've ever seen, but we were again forced out by the smell pretty quickly. Most of the things we've thought about doing today and tomorrow are too pricey ($100 dollars to go to another temple??!!), but we'll figure something out. Later today we're planning on seeing the sunset over the lake, and maybe tomorrow we'll try another cooking course if we can find one veggie enough for us.
Then Friday we're off to Phnom Phen for Shabbat and a nice downer of a day at the killing fields Sunday before heading back to Thailand and the islands.
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