Day 66 – Angkor

Nov 2nd

Angkor Wat at sunrise.
After a four hour sleep, we woke up early for a sunrise viewing of Angkor Wat. Somehow the music that sounded like a little child was trying to be annoying was still blasting from the nearby bar. Regardless, I stumbled downstairs and into the van before passing out again on the way there. The sunrise tour was just as beautiful as the sunset. I wandered the area a little more to explore the pound in front of the temple, the ancient libraries in front and the entrance hall. Then we headed back to the Borei Angkor for breakfast. I had a big cup of coffee and the most delicious omelet. After I finished I remembered there is a serious melamine outbreak in Asia. It is especially important NOT to eat eggs or milk since Asian companies and been found to taint their food with the substance. When we are in Hong Kong, we are really NOT supposed to drink baby formula, since it has killed a bunch of babies so far. According to the Bangkok Post, my favorite Chinese snack the Lotte Koala biscuits (a wonderful koala-shaped biscuit with chocolate inside) is on the ‘Top Nine’ list of things tainted. : (

Angkor
After filling up an possible tainted omelets, we drove back to Angkor to explore more of the ruins. Here is the rundown of what we saw:
- Bayon Temple. This complex is an edifice of 54 towers each carved with four enigmatic faces of the Bodhisatta Avalokitesvara and bas-relief events.
- Baphuon. Located to the northwest of the Bayon, is one of the largest and grandest structures in Angkor with a giant reclining Buddha carved into its western face.
- Elephant Terrance. Leads to the Baphoun and has a large selection of elephants carved into the staircases and platform that it has.
- Ta Prohm. Built during the time of king Jayavarman VII and is best known as the temple where trees have been left intertwined with the stonework, much as it was uncovered from the jungle. It has a strange beauty in the marvelous strangler fig trees which spring up between the stone work of the temple. Pop culture fans may recognize a few scenes from Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider.
In order to recuperate from the heat of the sun, Nicole and I split a juicy, fresh mango which was eat using skewers that the vendor gave us. We still ended up making a mess, but we desperately needed the energy seeing as Cambodia is deathly hot in the middle of the day. Angkor is one of the top tourist-killing destinations in the world, because people pass out from heat exhaustion or fall off the remarkably steep temple steps. I was surprised at how much liberty we were given to wander around the areas. There were no restricted zones really, so we could climb and touch almost any of the ancient ruins.

Angkor Borei for lunch
We recovered form the heat back at the hotel to have some lunch, which was make your own noodles! We mixed in tons of veggies and sauce to make the most delicious custom noodle dish. I also found the business center and spent a good deal of free internet time on Facebook reconnecting with the other half of the world. I even managed to be authentic and take a Cambodian siesta by the pool for a little while.

Angkor some more
We headed back to Angkor so just a few more temples and sites before heading to the airport. My favorite sight during this round was Banteay Kdei, which is a sprawling monastic complex in the style of Ta Prohm. Nicole and I explored the whole area with its steep steps that climb up to an expansive second story. Up there was passed the time coming up with creative options for our photo shoot. Two German tourists passed the time re-enacting all the pictures that we were taking. We ended up seeing them again at other temples, and they would again copy our exact poses. We thought it was hilarious… and so did they apparently. (I think they spoke English, but we never actually spoke to them.) When we found an isolated temple high-rise, we knew we had to climb to the top. Since I was wearing a long, cotton skirt, I tucked the back of my skirt into the front to create make-shift shorts. (I really didn’t want to be a tourist casualty.) As I began my ascent to the top, a Chinese tour group was walking by and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw me. Even the tour guide stopped talking to stare at me! It was brutally quiet and I didn’t know what to do. I just kept climbing, since you can really do whatever you want in Cambodia. When I made it to the top, Nicole and I resumed my photo shot as “Queen of the castle” to the bewilderment of the gawking Chinese. I just tried to smile and shrug it off, hoping I wasn’t offending anyone.

Night in Ho Chi Minh
We took a late afternoon flight back to Ho Chi Minh Airport, before heading back to the ship. I regrouped with Christina and Becca as we made our way to Rex hotel for drinks on their roof patio. (I had my very first motorcycle ride for a dollar, and it was the most exhilarating experience.) Over a bottle of wine, we shared our recent adventures and watched over the lights and noise of central Ho Chi Minh. More and more familiar faces started to show up, so we gathered Barbara and friends and headed to Go2 to feed Batu, who was staring for some cheap food. Go2 was the most hilariously-awful dining experience. After ordering a bottle, Barbara received a yellow-dinged glass of water. When we asked what it was, they said tea water. (Most places serve this water instead of just purified kinds.) Batu ordered bbq chicken, but when it came out it looked more like curdled milk in suce. Batu reassured us he wasn’t trying it till the waitress did, but then she explained that she would cook it at the table. While she was lighting the stove on the table, a enormous flame erupted between my legs. I wish they could have gotten my face on tape. I freaked out, jumped backward and actually thought my dress was on fire. Luckily, there were no burn marks and I still had my “Cu Chi Tunnels,” as Christina would say, in tact. (The Cu Chi Tunnels are a tourist attraction in the area where you get to crawl in the underground network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong to hide from American troops.) After Batu wolfed down the barely cooked chicken, Gabby found a huge rat next to her foot and we decided it was time to leave. We literally fell out of that place laughing so hard. Then, we took motorcycles back to the boat to recover from the meal.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was showing Chinese tourists how “crazy” Americans really are. My “low” was I’m on a world tour of Angelina Jolie’s life.