After 24 hours in transit from Bangkok to Tokyo to Atlanta, we are home safe and sound! Two weeks was just enough to see what we wanted to see, not feel rushed, and return just before we probably would have started to really miss the comforts of home. For a first trip to Thailand I think we spread it out just about right, spending the right amount of time in all of the various places we wanted to see. Were I to spend a month in Bangkok, I'd love to spend more time everywhere - it would be easy to chill out for a week at Ko Raya, snorkeling every day, and hitting the water and beaches before the tour boats arrive on Ko Phi Phi; and I'd love to do a Mahout training course in the northern country (Mahout's are the elephants' caretakers, and all the camps offer 1-2 week courses where you stay and liver there, and Enrique and I both said one day we think that would be awesome); and I'd love to see other parts of Cambodia - although for only having two and a half days there, I can't imagine I'd love anything throughout the country more than Angkor Wat, so I'm so glad we spent our time there exploring those temple ruins.
Speaking of Angkor Wat, which I never had a chance to post about... the temple complex is set in the middle of a jungle, complete with monkeys roaming around on the sides of the roads. When the temples were discovered in the 1800's, most of them were overrun with all sorts of jungle growth, expecially Sponge Trees, which have above-ground roots that drape and wrap over and around walls and monuments, eventually pulling sandstone blocks down and crumbling the structures, with the help of other forces, like time and monsoon season. Well one of the temples, which has a Cambodian name I can't recall and is also known as "The Jungle Temple" they left in tact with the sponge tree and their roots climbing the walls and draped around doorways and relics... and it is BEAUTIFUL. They have to be careful to cut back and remove any growth that puts the site in too much jeopardy, but what they are able to leave behind leaves plenty of opportunities for insane photos that look like they're from an Indiana Jones movie or an elaborate Disney ride. Actually, I think our tour guide mentioned that the movie "Tomb Raider" (the final scenes maybe??) were filmed in this temple (Angelina Jolie starred in it - I never saw it), which was no shock. The other two most famous temples in the complex are the actual "Angkor Wat" temple (which the entire area is named for), which is the one you see in most of the photos when you google the complex, because it is the largest by far and most well preserved. Centered with five towering hives, shaped to look like a closed Lotus bud, it reminded me on Kajuraho in India and no surprise, though Cambodia is mostly a Buddhist country today, this temple was built during the reign of a Hindu king almost 1000 years ago. All of the many temples ruins at Angkor Wat fluxed back and forth between Hindu and Buddhism, depending on the King at the time. That is why in many of them, Buddha's image and face has been meticulously destroyed (likewise many the Hindu symbols of God are also marred from the times of Buddhism)... but in the third most famous temple (along with the Jungle Temple and Angkor Wat), these huge faces of Buddha are remarkably preserved and it's amazing because they pop out at you from all over these towering structures and amongst all of these ruins, these faces still remain. Even though Angkor Wat itself was by far the largest and most well preserved, I loved the Jungle Temple and the Buddha face (my own name for it) temple more. We did go back to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise as well on our last morning in Cambodia, before we went to visit a water village about an hour outside of Siem Riep (the town where Angkor Wat is located)... and that was definitely a postcard moment.
Our driver took us about an hour outside of Siem Riep to see a local water village. We took a boat out on a huge lake that grows by miles and miles during monsoon season and recedes again during the dry season. Our guide pointed out on dry land where this collection of floating homes had been during rainy season... they all have to move their homes when the rains stop and the lake shrinks, to deeper water... they are almost all fishermen and so go with the water and the fish. A collection of about 100 one-two room houses floated together on bamboo docks in the middle of this lake, and we were lucky enough to see a group of school children (the lucky ones who go to a private school) in their uniforms going from their floating classroom back to their homes (or maybe to lunch?), and we took some really amazing pictures of these Cambodian children in their uniforms, rowing their longtail boats (sort of like we'd see students leaving school on their bikes!). They all loved to wave at us and say "Hello"!
Our guide told us rather than give money to the children we'd see at the village (some of the children around the temples areas would ask for money or try to sell us postcards, etc.) we could buy them candy, something that wouldn't encourage them to beg, but that they'd still love to receive... so for about $1 we bought an entire bucket of lollipops and candies. We passed them out to the children who just LINED UP and smiled at us like we were Santa and Mrs. Claus, when we arrived by boat at a local Buddhist temple on the lake. And we threw candy to the children close enough to us while we were in the boats as well. One little boy from his house boat even jumped right in the water to go after a piece that had fallen in. We made sure after that point to only throw it where we knew we wouldn't miss!!
Anyways, it's 10:45 and I'm going to try to get back to our EST time zone and sleep through the night. I only took a 2 hour nap this afternoon, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I'll post a few pix here and more on Facebook soon!!
Love to everyone - thanks for staying in touch via the blog, Facebook, and email - it made us feel very close to home while we were far away! Love, Meagan
Speaking of Angkor Wat, which I never had a chance to post about... the temple complex is set in the middle of a jungle, complete with monkeys roaming around on the sides of the roads. When the temples were discovered in the 1800's, most of them were overrun with all sorts of jungle growth, expecially Sponge Trees, which have above-ground roots that drape and wrap over and around walls and monuments, eventually pulling sandstone blocks down and crumbling the structures, with the help of other forces, like time and monsoon season. Well one of the temples, which has a Cambodian name I can't recall and is also known as "The Jungle Temple" they left in tact with the sponge tree and their roots climbing the walls and draped around doorways and relics... and it is BEAUTIFUL. They have to be careful to cut back and remove any growth that puts the site in too much jeopardy, but what they are able to leave behind leaves plenty of opportunities for insane photos that look like they're from an Indiana Jones movie or an elaborate Disney ride. Actually, I think our tour guide mentioned that the movie "Tomb Raider" (the final scenes maybe??) were filmed in this temple (Angelina Jolie starred in it - I never saw it), which was no shock. The other two most famous temples in the complex are the actual "Angkor Wat" temple (which the entire area is named for), which is the one you see in most of the photos when you google the complex, because it is the largest by far and most well preserved. Centered with five towering hives, shaped to look like a closed Lotus bud, it reminded me on Kajuraho in India and no surprise, though Cambodia is mostly a Buddhist country today, this temple was built during the reign of a Hindu king almost 1000 years ago. All of the many temples ruins at Angkor Wat fluxed back and forth between Hindu and Buddhism, depending on the King at the time. That is why in many of them, Buddha's image and face has been meticulously destroyed (likewise many the Hindu symbols of God are also marred from the times of Buddhism)... but in the third most famous temple (along with the Jungle Temple and Angkor Wat), these huge faces of Buddha are remarkably preserved and it's amazing because they pop out at you from all over these towering structures and amongst all of these ruins, these faces still remain. Even though Angkor Wat itself was by far the largest and most well preserved, I loved the Jungle Temple and the Buddha face (my own name for it) temple more. We did go back to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise as well on our last morning in Cambodia, before we went to visit a water village about an hour outside of Siem Riep (the town where Angkor Wat is located)... and that was definitely a postcard moment.
Our driver took us about an hour outside of Siem Riep to see a local water village. We took a boat out on a huge lake that grows by miles and miles during monsoon season and recedes again during the dry season. Our guide pointed out on dry land where this collection of floating homes had been during rainy season... they all have to move their homes when the rains stop and the lake shrinks, to deeper water... they are almost all fishermen and so go with the water and the fish. A collection of about 100 one-two room houses floated together on bamboo docks in the middle of this lake, and we were lucky enough to see a group of school children (the lucky ones who go to a private school) in their uniforms going from their floating classroom back to their homes (or maybe to lunch?), and we took some really amazing pictures of these Cambodian children in their uniforms, rowing their longtail boats (sort of like we'd see students leaving school on their bikes!). They all loved to wave at us and say "Hello"!
Our guide told us rather than give money to the children we'd see at the village (some of the children around the temples areas would ask for money or try to sell us postcards, etc.) we could buy them candy, something that wouldn't encourage them to beg, but that they'd still love to receive... so for about $1 we bought an entire bucket of lollipops and candies. We passed them out to the children who just LINED UP and smiled at us like we were Santa and Mrs. Claus, when we arrived by boat at a local Buddhist temple on the lake. And we threw candy to the children close enough to us while we were in the boats as well. One little boy from his house boat even jumped right in the water to go after a piece that had fallen in. We made sure after that point to only throw it where we knew we wouldn't miss!!
Anyways, it's 10:45 and I'm going to try to get back to our EST time zone and sleep through the night. I only took a 2 hour nap this afternoon, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I'll post a few pix here and more on Facebook soon!!
Love to everyone - thanks for staying in touch via the blog, Facebook, and email - it made us feel very close to home while we were far away! Love, Meagan
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