Cambodian Food

I had a lovely dinner of traditional Cambodian food.  I don't really know what most of it was, but the meal was presented with each dish in its own banana leaf bowl. 

Cambodian Royal Palace

After touring the temples of Angkor Wat at Siem Reap, I hopped a bus to the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.  Situated along a riverside, Phnom Penh is actually a nice-looking city. 

I toured the Cambodian Royal Palace which is actually several buildings serving various functions, surrounded by immaculately maintained gardens.

Royal Gate

I think this building is the Meeting Hall.

The large building on the left is like a giant ball room. Huge chrystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling which is painted with Hindi lore from The Upanishads.  Unfortunately, this and other building forbade picture taking inside, but a lovely veranda stretches around the ball room offering nicely elevated views of the grounds.

 

The building being restored is in the style of the Italian Renaissance. 

A monk's travel accessories: Lonely Planet guide and cellphone.  Who says the modern monk most forsake all wordly possessions?

This painted wall goes all the way around one large section of the grounds.

Small shrine

Little temples like these are outside every house in Cambodia in about the same spot where an American house has a mailbox.

Large, colorless pillars on the grounds commemorate the dead. 

After a day in Cambodia, I hopped a night bus back to Vietnam for a two-day boat tour of the Mekong Delta...

Ta Phrom

After touring Angkor Thom, I tuk-tuk even deeper into the jungle to the best temple yet. Ta Phrom is entered via a half-mile walk through the jungle. It, too, is a smaller temple than Angkor Wat. What is truly impressive about Ta Phrom is that it is becoming overgrown with encroaching jungle. So, giant tree roots twist around crumbling stone ruins.  Around every corner is an amazing view.

I met another little boy at this temple. He work by selling woven wicker bracelets to tourists at the pitiful price of $1 for 10 bracelets. I watched him as I ate my lunch in front of the temple. He tried to sell to tourists who swatted at him like a bug, or shooed the dirty little brown boy from there own shiny, pink, affluent children. Shameful! When he wasn't selling, he was just like any little boy, playing on bits of the temple as if it were a jungle gym. He gobbled up the fruit I gave him with a huge smile.

One last thing: Can anyone give me advice on international adoption? Seriously.

Angkor Thom

The intense and humid heat nearly overcoming my senses, I continue from Angkor Wat by tuk-tuk down a monkey-inhabited dirt road to another temple, Angkor Thom. This temple was much smaller but more beautiful. The multi-towered structure featured giant stone Buddha/Brahman (?) faces on each tower.  (When I say giant, I mean that the faces alone were 12-15 feet tall, without considering the rest of the tower.)  Having cruised through this temple and being quite happy with the amount of decent photos taken, I crossed the road to another, smaller temple with an impressively long stone bridge, an elephant wall, and little boys who made their living collecting empty plastic water bottles (sorry, no pics of the boys).

Bridge to Thom

The smaller temple and bridge

Elephant Trunk Wall

Elephant Wall

 See another temple from this trip on my next post...

Angkor Wat

I spent one day in Siem Reap, Cambodia touring the various temples.  The first temple I visited, Angkor Wat, took hours to tour, and I still didn't see the whole thing..  It is the the largest religious structure in the world.  The walls are covered in stone carvings depicting ancient religious stories.  Angkor Wat is a strange combination of Buddhist and Hindu symbolism, having been used by both religions at different points in history.  Aside from being really ancient and beautiful, I met some cute little local boys there.  I gave them stickers, and they taught me to use their whirly toy. 

Some makeshift temples with offerings.