Because I'm the most incredible person who's ever existed, I woke up and got up at 4:30 a.m. this morning, just to see the damn sunrise over Angkor Wat. Everyone told me "Oh- it's incredible- all reds and oranges," and "I'm really not a morning person, but it was awesome and totally worth it." Everyone lies. It was okay once I got to the right spot, the sun did look kind of cool half yellow and half red, but it didn't illuminate the clouds or sky around it with any color and it was not even remotely, slightly worth waking up that early for.
A bit annoyed, I headed out for the other temples I wanted to see. First I went into the huge Angkor Thom complex. This is the gate I passed through:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan
Past the South Gate, I rode on to Bayon, a large temple. When I got there there was one tourist couple taking photographs but it was otherwise empty. They left shortly after and from about 6:30 to 7, I only had to share the temple with a man praying in front of Buddha. This was even more exciting because this is one of the important "must-see" temples and I was worried it would be overrun with tourists. It was also awesome; walls of four to five foot faces looked down at me with empty eyes and smiles crooked from centuries of abandonment and vandalism.
Eventually, the hoards of tourists did come to Bayon so I left to see the next temple, Baphoun. It's been described as the world's largest jigsaw puzzle because when they rediscovered Baphoun, it was mostly in pieces and it's still under serious construction today. Around the back, once I could actually figure out where it was, a giant reclining Buddha was built as one of the walls of the temple, which was kind of cool to see.
From there, I went to the Terrace of the Elephants, which was just adorable.
Then the Terrace of the Leper King (great name, no real story):
Then Phimeanakas, which was not particularly interesting and full of rude Western European tourists.
I was starting to get really grouchy and exhausted and decided that I really needed something to eat and drink so I looked at the nearby tents and didn't see any set up as restaurants and was just about to give up when one of the several people shouting "Cold Drink?" at me, added in "Something to Eat?" I stopped and looked again at her tent area. There was no kitchen or restaurant and definitely no menu. She offered noodles and I asked for rice, upon which she offered to make fried rice. She only had beef, not chicken, but it was good enough.
After I'd eaten most of it and downed a Coke Light and half of a giant water, she started asking me questions. I gave a few basic answers and she started telling me about her life. She had seven brothers and sisters, was married with one year old son and was 23. One of her brothers had died and her mother had died three months later. I asked her if she thought that her mother had died of a broken heart, hoping that she'd understand that I didn't mean it literally. She did, and nodded. She told me all about the upcoming Khmer New Year and what people did for that: esentially ate a lot and spent a bunch of time with family and friends. Unfortunately, as she explained to me, it was a big holiday, but a private one (like Christmas or Thanksgiving) so I probably wouldn't see much. Later she told me about Khmer weddings; she said that they were very colorful and lasted at least two days. I can't remember everything now, I can't even remember her name, but she was very interesting to talk to.
In my former bad mood, I'd considered skipping Preah Khan, a temple that was supposed to be very interesting, but was somewhat far away, and in the opposite direction of town and the way I wanted to go. Now refreshed, I decided I could do it so I set off. As I said previously, I didn't feel hot when I was actually on the bike so it was a lovely ride out.
On my way to Preah Khan, I passed South Kleang, North Kleang, Tep Pranam and the Preah Pithu Group but just rode up to or by them without stopping or taking any pictures because they just weren't that exciting.
Preah Khan was another huge complex but it was originally set up as more of a village with a temple inside and a sort of minor fortress wall around. It was cool, though the only really interesting thing about it was its size. But wait, actually, there was one other really cool thing about it and that it had a double storied library (I think?). Many of the temples are tiered but this was the only one I saw with two usable floors. Anyway, there was a ladder on the ground next to it- just a simple, metal construction ladder, but it looked good enough for me so even though I knew it was foolish, I propped it up against the second level and went up and walked around the old columns.
Baksei Chamkrong was another of those random temples that isn't supposed to be anything special, but just happens to be on the way to/from something else. It was nearly noon by this time so most of the tourists were gone for the time being because it was just too hot for them and no one was at this particular temple. It had a ton of steps to climb up to the top, which I always like because it makes me feel adventerous and like I'm doing something cool and different, even though I realize I'm actually not. I found a slightly shady spot at the top and sat there for a while. I meditated briefly, mostly because I felt like my intuition hadn't been as strong as usual lately and meditation is supposed to help. It was okay (the meditation, not the temple- which I thought was really neat).
The last temple I wanted to see was Phnom Bakheng, which has a great view of the city and some of the other temples and is supposed to be a great spot to watch the sunset, but you have to walk up a very steep 2-3 km hill/mini-mountain. At sunset they have elephants available to rent to take you up there which I would've done but they weren't there at the time so I had to walk/climb. At 12:30, it was so freaking hot I almost died, and I was sweating like crazy- it was hard work, though I did better than I would've expected, especially since I haven't been running or exercising as much as I usually do. Once I finally got up the mountain, I had to climb a series of steep stairs, though the view and the complete lack of tourists made it worth it.
I stopped and got a coconut milkshake and it was so good that I had another. Enjoying my bicycle ride on the way back into town, I passed these kids and I just had to take a picture because even though it's hard to see, that's the moat around Angkor Wat but they're just having fun splashing around.
That afternoon, I did a few errands and then went to Seeing Hands, an NGO supported massage parlor where the masseurs are blind, to get an hour-long massage for $5, plus a $2 tip for Souk, my masseuse and said I'd come back the next day.
P.S. I saw something today that was described as a "Stretchy Fur Preventing Nipple," What was it really?
A baby bottle top.
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