Thursday, May 26th, 2011
We ventured out early this morning so that we could be one of the first people to enter Angkor Wat. After a night of struggling to sleep without a pillow on a very small bed next to Lauren, I was grateful to finally hear my alarm go off at about 5:45 AM. I hopped out of bed, got ready, and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Are those … are those pancakes?! The continental breakfast was wonderful. Never in the US would you see a bin full of pancakes and hash browns next to a bin of fried rice and noodles.
We hopped into a large 12-person Mercedes van and made our journey to the Angkor Wat complex, a large national park that houses many temples, both large and small, and other historical sites. The compound is so large that it takes many days to see all the temples, so we bought a three day pass for each person in the group.
This was it. After months of waiting, I was finally going to feast my eyes upon Angkor Wat. We drove for a few miles through thick forest, rounded a corner, the trees on the far side of the moat parted, and the towers of the temple pierced the sky. It was surreal. For so long this temple had been a wandering thought, a place in my mind that I would travel to when I dreamt about Cambodia, and now I was here.
I walked across the moat on a jetty made of stone. Each individual stone had two to four small holes drilled into its body. Ralph informed us that they would drill the holes, stick wood dowels into each hole, and then carry each stone to the site. Just another example of the great ingenuity of the Kampuchean people.
The jetty traversed, I made my way to the wall that surrounds the temple. Just inside the entrance stood an older man, handing out incense to be given to a statue of Buddha just around the corner. I didn't want to be disrespectful, so I kindly accepted two sticks of incense and made my way to the Buddha. Another man was waiting there and directed me to stand next to him. He then put his hands together in asompeah and proceeded to bow towards the statue repeatedly.
"Mother, father, sister, brother, niece, nephew, boyfriend."
Then he stopped, I put the incense sticks into the sand, and he motioned to the Buddha's feet where a ten dollar bill was lying.
"Now you pay an offering."
You have GOT to be kidding me. I committed a travel faux paux and fell face first into a tourist trap.
"Nah, I'm good, but thanks anyway." I abruptly left before he could make more demands. I walked through the last bit of tunnel and made my way to the inner grounds. The overcast day made for a heat that was very bearable as I continued my journey toward the main temple.
To try to explain the enormity of Angkor Wat would be a futile effort. I meandered through its various chambers and passages, picturing orange-clad monks and Kampuchean citizens roaming the estate. The feeling of history was overwhelming. It's no wonder the people of Cambodia are so proud of their heritage.
A young Cambodian boy was standing near one of the common areas. He saw me taking photos and, pointing to himself said, "Picture?" I knew it was a tourist trap and that he would undoubtedly ask me for money afterwards, but I was just too raptured by his cuteness to say no. He posed against a pillar and I snapped a photo.
He promptly stuck out his hand. "One dollar."
Heck no, kid.
I sweetly said no and continued to walk on. He followed me.
"One dollar … one dollar … one dollar …"
He wouldn't leave. So I gave him a stick of gum instead.
Lauren and I eventually found each other as we came upon a Chinese couple. The couple were taking photos of something outside, but we couldn't quite tell what. As we approached, we were excited to see a monk standing outside on some stairs near a passageway.
I love monks. Love, love, love.
We watched as he politely posed for them, his orange garb floating in the breeze. I wanted a picture so bad, but was nervous to ask for it. Lauren, sensing my desire, went up and asked the monk after the couple had left. We had a small conversation with him; we asked him his name and his age. I can't really remember his name, but I do remember that he was 25. I was expecting him to say 16 or 17, but Cambodians tend to look a lot younger than they actually are. The best part was when he was trying to pronounce our names. He giggled and covered his mouth, causing Lauren and I to giggle ourselves.
Monks are the best.
I eventually found my way to the stairs leading to the topmost towers. As I walked past the guards to follow my team, I was promptly stopped and told I couldn't go up. The guard pointed towards my soccer shorts: "Too short."
Great. I came all the way to Cambodia, all the way to Angkor Wat, just to be denied access to the coolest part of the building. Awesome.
I retraced my steps until I was out of the line. I walked to a corner of the plaza and stared up at the towers. At first I was frustrated. To have the amazing opportunity to go to Angkor Wat and not be able to tour the entire temple was a little unsettling. I shrugged it off, though. Even though my shorts, which weren't revealing even by BYU standards, caused me to miss out on the pinnacle of the excursion, I respected their decision. Just as we in the Church value modesty, so do the Buddhist people, especially when it comes to their sacred places. I accepted and appreciated the choice they made to turn away travellers who don't measure up to their dress standards.
Continuing my tour, I inspected the rest of the temple. I made friends with a man from Hong Kong who offered to take a picture of me as he watched me struggle to take one of myself with the temple in the background. We made small talk, I told him I was here on internship, etc.
I finished my tour of the temple and made my way back to the front. I sat on one of the large stone bannisters, looking up at the towers, wishing I was there. As I was walking back into the temple to pass the time, Spencer called me and suggested I go buy a cheap sarong from the market so that I could do the rest of the tour. Genius! Why didn't I think of that?
I got my game face on while I walked across the lawn toward the vendors. I had already been sighted. "Lady! You want to buy so you can go up to the top?" "Lady! You want cold drink?" Lady! Lady! Lady!"
I picked one from the crowd and she took me to her stall. I promptly found a pair of green fisherman pants and bargained enough to get them down to four dollars. I changed in the back of her store; she stayed around and showed me how to wear them correctly, bless her heart. I had been wearing the fisherman pants I bought backwards!
Finally, I was at the top of the building. The view was great. Unfortunately I got there right behind a pack of Asian tourists, so the standing room was a little difficult to maintain, but other than that I enjoyed it. I was in and out in about ten minutes, not wanting to hold the rest of the team back.
Once Angkor Wat was said and done, the group headed to another temple within the park. Our driver took us to Bayon, the temple with all of the huge heads. I hadn't seen any of the other temples other than Angkor Wat, but I knew this one would be my favorite of them all.
We finished at Bayon and decided it was time to eat. I bought a pineapple from a young girl while everyone else was munching on ice cream. We found a small outdoor restaurant and the professors ordered while the rest of us ate what we brought. I gobbled down the peanut butter and raisin bread I had purchased a few nights before and sipped on a banana shake. Delicious.
We headed to another temple, this one being a little smaller and much more remote than what we had already seen. We only saw a few other tourists, so that made enjoying this temple a much easier experience. I don't remember the name of the temple…
Our last temple of the day was Ta Prohm, famous for the strangler trees overpowering the building and its setting in the feature film "Tomb Raider". It was a very large temple in the sense that it covered a lot of area. Ralph had told us that the last time he had been there, someone showed him a carving of a stegosaurus. Yes, a dinosaur was depicted somewhere within the temple. Two things needed to be found: the tree that played a special role in Tomb Raider, and the stegosaurus.
We found the dinosaur first. Someone said it was a rhinoceros, not a dinosaur, but I've never seen a rhinoceros that looks so dinosaur-ish.
We finished up the day by getting fish massages with Dr. Hyer, Joel, and Rob.
Day of many firsts, I'd say.
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