I woke early and headed out to Angkor Wat at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise. Just my luck-too many clouds so it was anti-climatic. Nonetheless Angkor Wat is a stunning and breathtaking vision. I couldn't count how many stairs (and steep ones) I climbed today. It gets stiffling hot so my tour lasted about 3.5 hours and my camera battery died so I did not want to see Ta Prohm without taking photos. Ta Prohm is best known for being the backdrop in the Angelina Jolie movie-Laura Croft Tomb Raider and has massive fig and silk-cotton trees growing from the towers and corridors. I will see Ta Prohm and a few others tomorrow. It almost gets overwhelming how many temples there are. Cambodian children (the ones selling stuff) are quite funny-they know the capital of every state and country and ask you if they tell you what the capital is of where you are from will you buy something from them.)
My guide's name is Mr. Riem Bunrath. He is very nice and apparently at one time was training to be a monk. He pointed out bullet holes in the temple walls - a permanent memory left by the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. Banruth's father was killed in the genocide. I have never watched the movie The Killing Fields so it will be on my list to watch when I get back home. In my meeting up with Susan and her boyfriend David last night, they shared with me the helicopter tour they took of Angkor Wat. They said you could still see the bomb markings around the temples.
Bunrath took me to the Cambodian Cultural Village which gives a glance of Cambodia's history. They have 11 different villages which have distinctive cultural dance performances. One of the villages is called the Millionaire House which is an ancient style of Khmer construction and where a traditional Khmer Wedding is performed. I was asked to participate and be the groom's mother (not sure if I should be honored by the gesture or not...) but it was fun.
I have noticed that the Cambodian people are not as friendly as the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese love saying hello and how are you and having their photo taken. Cambodian's are a little more reserved and could careless if you take a photo and show it to them. Siem Reap is really easy to get around in the sense they use US dollars for everything - stores, markets, ATM's, restaurants, etc. Very convenient.
I took a lot of photos so I will have to add photos later. Off to bed.
My guide's name is Mr. Riem Bunrath. He is very nice and apparently at one time was training to be a monk. He pointed out bullet holes in the temple walls - a permanent memory left by the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. Banruth's father was killed in the genocide. I have never watched the movie The Killing Fields so it will be on my list to watch when I get back home. In my meeting up with Susan and her boyfriend David last night, they shared with me the helicopter tour they took of Angkor Wat. They said you could still see the bomb markings around the temples.
Bunrath took me to the Cambodian Cultural Village which gives a glance of Cambodia's history. They have 11 different villages which have distinctive cultural dance performances. One of the villages is called the Millionaire House which is an ancient style of Khmer construction and where a traditional Khmer Wedding is performed. I was asked to participate and be the groom's mother (not sure if I should be honored by the gesture or not...) but it was fun.
I have noticed that the Cambodian people are not as friendly as the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese love saying hello and how are you and having their photo taken. Cambodian's are a little more reserved and could careless if you take a photo and show it to them. Siem Reap is really easy to get around in the sense they use US dollars for everything - stores, markets, ATM's, restaurants, etc. Very convenient.
I took a lot of photos so I will have to add photos later. Off to bed.
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