Last night I had a pork sandwich at a cafe alongside the old market. It was delicious and cost $2.00. I was thankful to break from the group because the tour meals have been disappointing (as they say here, "same same, but different.") I had some ice cream and then made it an early night because of our early start today.
At 5am we left on tuk tuks to watch the sunrise at Ankgor Wat. The sun was pretty far to the left of the site, as it is this time of year. It was a nice photo op. There are many temples to visit and they are all often generally referred to as Ankgor Wat, but Ankgor Wat is is only one of them (and the largest).
After a quick breakfast back at the hotel we headed on tuk tuk to tour Angkor Thom, built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII, "the greatest of all Khmer kings." I can't even begin to describe the beauty of this place. The pictures don't even do it justice. (I uploaded a public album because it was hard to choose just a few to share). Some of the students took elephant rides.
Sadly, when you exit Angkor Thom, you are accosted by children attempting to sell you bracelets and books and little flutes. This one girl relentlessly walked alongside me and looked me in the eye and repeated "3 bracelet 1 dollar." She couldn't have been older than 5. I've been told that it is bad to buy things from the children because it only reinforces their parents using them in this way. The kids are so adorable it is hard to resist their salesmanship. But instead of giving the girl money, I bought her a coconut (I think from her mother or someone she knew) and she seemed genuinely grateful. It is very hard to see young children out there trying to make the sale and it presents a catch 22. You don't want to give them money because then they will keep getting sent out to sell, but you also know that it feeds their families.
After another same same flavorless lunch (I've decided that I will again go off the tour for dinner tonight), those of us not yet destroyed by the heat visited Angkor Wat. It was (of course) spectacular and words cannot describe its beauty. On the walk in we saw a mother, father and baby monkey. The father was eating a popsicle.
I rode in the tuk tuk with our guide and was thankful for the opportunity to ask him lots of questions. Given that my brother is about to get married, I asked him about Cambodian weddings. It turns out that he got married just 2 weeks ago and he was showing me all of the pictures on his phone. His aunt arranged the marriage. The wedding lasted 2 days and involved at least 7 outfits in vivid colors -- red, purple, pink, etc. (both bride and groom). He had over 900 guests (they invited 1000). He said that the guests each bring a small gift that basically covers the cost of their participation.
We also talked about Buddhism. It turns out that the young Cambodian Buddhists are a lot like the secular Jews in the states. The are culturally Buddhist but they go to the pagoda maybe twice a year on important holidays.
No comments:
Post a Comment