The Temples

At 5:30 my driver picked me up and took me to the national park. I bought a 1 day pass and had my pic taken. They gave me a pass with my photo on it I handed to staff at most temples.

Angkor Wat at sunrise. Pretty cool, but instead of sitting with the unwashed masses waiting to get a perfect picture if the sun coming up over the temple, I went around the backside and took pics of the walls getting hit by the first rays of sun. It was a full half hour before the sun was visible on the other side. I snapped on my iPod and had The Doors cracking away as I explored the ancient halls.

For the next 8 hours I climbed stone stairs that were almost vertical, snapped pictures of statues, carvings, releifs, pillars and stone. I mingled amongst crowds from around the world.

Women and children lie in wait as you approach each structure. Desperately they try to hawk their shirts, table runners, scarves, books and cold drinks.

They'll offer one thing, and switch to another. They will then just repeat the price over and over. You'll often be swarmed by three or four at a time. saying no means nothing. You just get the price again. They will walk with you the entire stretch between the parking lot and the entrance of whatever temple you're ar. Prices get cheaper as you get farther into the park I found out. I got a couple of t shirts and a book about the temples.

I visited about 9 temples built by kings, devoted to religious sects moslrlltly forgotten. The sheer feats of engineering to construct these offerings of stone in a time before cranes, winches or the block and tackle is impressive. The level of detail and complexity in the reliefs is inspiring. Tales of wars and triumphs, visions of dancers, elephants, horses and demons, and giant serene faces gazing endlessly at the four corners beyond the horizon adorn almost every free space.

The temples are amazing but after 8 and a half hours in the blazing sun I was done.  Back to the guest house for a nap.

Chance encounter at Bayon

Thanks for taking this pic Helen!

Ran into a former co worker yesterday and his lovely companion at a temple called Bayon. They were celebrating 25 years together on this trip. We chatted for ten or fifteen and he gave me his card.
Later that day I got an email from him asking if I'd like to meet for a drink. They met me at the Temple Club and we had beer and chatted for a few hours. It was great catching up. Really nice guy and he's been around the world dozens of times and has great insight into traveling.  He's put me in touch with another co worker who is living in Bangkok, so I'll try to hook up with him after my flight this afternoon.

This morning in Phnom Penh, a town 300 kms away, I drove by them in a Tuk Tuk on the way to the airport as I was leaving lunch. We all just waved and laughed.

Wat pho, birthplace of Thai massage and giant buddhas

i look rediculous in these pics

The architecture in the temple is amazing. Everything covered in tiles of every colour imaginable. Spires several stories high have strained for centuries to touch the sky.  Creatures and warriors of all types man both sides of every walkway and staircase. Gold adorns every effigy of Buddha, every door and every archway.

The reclining Buddha is massive. Its really unimaginable how big this thing is until you see it.
 I finally got my massage. If you've never had a Thai massage it's not like the standard local massage. There's no long luxurious kneading of any particular muscle. It's starts with me trading me pants in for a pair that are like doctors scrubs. I put them on backwards and had to go back. She had me lay down and commenced jamming her thumbs into various nerve bundles around my body. It actually felt really good, but every once in a while she'd dug into one of those spots that douche bag martial artists will tell you, unprovoked, that they can use to disable an attacker. I know cause I was one of those guys back when I was taking ju jitsu.  I grew out of it. Not ju jitsu, being a douche...

At one point she had one foot inside my thigh, pulled on my arms for leverage and drove her heal into my hamstring. Another time she was behind me with my arm over her leg using her elbow to grind my tricep into my humorous, and down wards.  I almost tapped.

Feel like a million bucks now. Relaxed, loose, ready for a night on the town .