The flight over to Cambodia was uneventful, thank goodness, because the day we arrived became a day from hell for me. I discovered that I don’t bounce so well. That would be the fall that I took by the pool. Why people put slippery ‘marble’ tile around a pool is beyond me, but I slipped, fell down 3 cement steps, landed on my back on the stairs, mostly on my right side and that was that for 3 days. The girls, the desk clerk Rany and housekeeping Rane, quickly applied this mudlike poultice that they buy in the grocery story. Its pretty gross looking...they said pregnant women put this on their skin & it is a multi purpose thing like the Tiger Balm they rubbed in. Ever had a back rub as soon as you fall? Don’t. It adds more pain to injury. Then they got an empty rum bottle, filled it up with hot water (hence the hot water bottle) wrapped it in a towel & applied it to my back. There I laid for 3 days. The photo was taken on the 8th day of recovery.
On the 4th day, we were off to Siem Reap. The bus had Wifi, so as soon as everyone sat down, all heads assumed ‘the position’ and from then on no one looked out the window except for me. It was sad to see actually. So much to see and no one took any interest of the countryside. Unfortunately for me, I did not have a notebook to record everything I saw. I took a bunch of really cool photo’s but alas (Ena, you will laugh) I accidently deleted them. When we got to Siem Reap, other than Angkor Wat, a highlight was a buffet with traditional dancing. The hand/finger movements are an integral part of the storytelling and dance. There are 4 hand/finger movements: planting the seed (rice), tending the plant/leaves emerging; watching it grow and harvesting the mature plant. I have never seen anyone bend their fingers from the various joints in different directions. Really something to see. The musicians were but three and I only recognized the xylophone. The 1st one is the story of 2 peacocks fighting. The other stories told were of the young maiden accosted by the Demon who was trying to take her shining ball away in hopes to control her and the other was of the Monkey who was a trickster & tried to get her to fall in love with him. Now, those are our interpretations so they may not be correct exactly but it made for an interesting dance.
Cambodia is mostly Buddhist. The placement of hands in the prayer position is customary when greeting someone. There are 3 basic levels that accompany a slight bow in head. To greet someone who is a casual acquaintance/customer, the hands are pressed together & the finger tips are brought up to about the bottom of the chin. To greet someone of a bit more importance, like a good friend, the hands are brought up to the nose area, and to greet someone of most respect, like an official or parents, the hands are brought up to the eye area with a slight more bow in the upper body/head. One day we were arranging to do a tour so we had to approach the hotel staff several times, each time with this show of respect. After about the 15th time in about 20 mins, the hands & bow were becoming increasingly more haphazard but by the time we left, we had it down pact.
Crickets: holy cow are they ever loud. These make the cicadas sound like a whisper. These crickets are SO loud I had to plug my ears and pick up me walking speed to get past them. The locals call them the ‘tree cutters’ because their pitch sounds like a metal saw cutting down a tree or a train putting on the breaks as it screeches by. It is a high pitched metal sound and pierces your brain. Brutal. Never did see the critter but apparently it is no bigger than your thumb. We came across some on Phu Quoc but they were not as many, so not as loud but pretty brutal all the same. Even the deaf guy (Steve) could hear them.
Angkor Wat: Steve pretty much cover this subject, but I did want to add, that with all mythology that goes along with their Gods, there is only 1 Godess. Tep Apsara is the Guardian or custodian of the temple. She is seen with only 6 different hairstyles and is seen guarding each entryway. I thought she was pretty cool.
In this case, a tree has grown up around this Godess.
The following are photo’s of the locals waiting outside the gates for tourists.
The garbage cans at curb side. Believe me, they are not picked up & dumped; the garbage is picked up out of them. Yes, they are cement.
For all you motorcycle buffs out there..
A beehive
The artisans here are very skilled. Everytime I see things for sale now, I know they are not massed produced. Each one is made by hand..a whole new appreciation for what I was looking at. Sometimes one sees, but does not know what your looking at. When it comes to crafts done in this country, I know they are hand done because they do not have the factories to mass produce them.
The lazy Siem Reap River winds its way through town. There are several bridges across this river connecting both sides of town. At night, there are several lit displays that light it up. Very nice but hard to get a night photo, so here’s a day shot.
