Temples and Floating Villages

I was given the opportunity to spend the weekend at Siem Reap - the major tourist destination in Cambodia... and for good reason. I started the day at 5AM with my sleepy tuk tuk driver to catch the sunrise over Angkor Wat - the most famous and best maintained Hindu / Buddhist temple in Cambodia. 








Architecturally behind their European counterparts, 12th century Cambodian builders used narrow arches with flat stones on the top (as apposed to the flying buttress and key stone) which give the temples the unique feeling of discovery with every corner. 














This temple has over 2,000 statues of the Aspara - a mythical temple nymph. Hindu sagas often depict the Aspara aiding the khmer in defeating the demons.

 Many monks from all over the world frequent the Angkor temples.

These depictions of Buddha at the Banyon at Angkor Thom are on every tower, around every corner, always watching over the city temple. 

 This mountaintop temple was allegedly the first in Cambodia. This is Siem Reap's premier sunset spot, and would have been, if it wasn't for the lightning storm that chased me off before sunset.

 

Ancient trees, determined to reclaim the jungle, struggle against the heavy stones. Ta Prahm was left by the early French explorers to show what Angkor looked like at the time of their discover. This was featured in the recent movie Tomb Raider.  

 In order to get this photo without any tourists in it, I had to take 40 smaller snapshots of the area and use a computer program to splice them together without any people in it!













  

 

On Sunday I took a motorcycle to Tonle Sap Lake, the largest lake in South Asia. It is home to reportedly hundreds of small villages. This village, most accessible to Siem Reap, is the most commonly visited by tourists. They will take your $25 and shuttle you onto a small boat for a 1.5 hour tour. Only about 10% of this money ever makes it to inhabitants of the villages, constantly fighting starvation, poverty, and poor education. 

 Children are kept on the family boat until the are able to swim. Once then can demonstrate water safety, they are allowed to go to school - on average age 5 to 6. This village has a floating basketball court, pig farm, 2 grocery stores, gas station, and floating medical clinic.

In Poipet - I am likely the only American for literally likely over 100km that I know of. My nurse partner and aspiring interpreter stays with friends in town. As such, I get the change to explore the streets of Poipet looking for places to eat. Around 6pm the sky turns dark, the clouds overtake the sky, and it opens up with a furry of water, lightening and thunder. Because nobody else can speak English, and I don't speak Khmer... I plugged in my tunes and watched the light show to some of my favorite music.