Cambodia

For

I think after my depressing bus ride story, it's time to show a bit of Angkor Wat, which is the whole reason we came here. True, we felt much better after arriving in Siem Riep and getting our free tuk tuk ride to our pleasant hotel,

Where they provided us with a welcome drink, and settled us in. They also do amazing things with lotus blossoms.

So when our driver dropped us off he also made sure he got our business for the next morning, like any good driver will try to do! At 8:30 am we were on our way to Angkor Wat. Then we lined up with the rest of the tourists to buy our 3 day tickets.

This brings me to another of my Travel Rules: most of those ethnic fashions will not translate well back home. Leave the pointy hats in Cambodia! I have seen an awful lot of travelers bringing these hats on the plane, though. Here's another SE Asia style that every third woman is wearing:

We laughed about them in Laos, but I have to confess that by the third day in Cambodia I caved and bought a pair because they looked so, well, comfortable! And they are. Jim paid me a compliment saying that I wear my elephant pants well. You will never see a photo of me in them, though. And I already know how goofy they would look in Portland!

But enough about fashion...

Jim does have more than one t shirt, but he likes to promote his band, Los Dos whenever we go to tour some famous relic. Oh that was an unintentional joke. This is us outside of Angkor Wat. Check this off the life list! 

Several of these temples had a combination of Hindu and Buddhist symbolism, as both religions were represented. The carving was amazingly intricate.

It's really fortunate that so many of these friezes remain in good condition. 

And some didn't. This was in a "reunification temple" to unify the two religions, but at some period, all of the Buddha images were chiseled off. 

I got it in my head that I wanted a photo of Jim with a monk, and low and behold this fellow came along with a group. I think eventually he was on to me! 

And he finally played along...

For one dalar anyone can get a quick snap with these guys. They pulled me in, posed my hands( rather roughly if I do say so) and that was that. Jim missed this fun because he finally got tired of me and the monk show. 

Ancient body, new head. Many figures in the long row across the river were grimacing, but I liked this guy's smile. 

On the way to the next temple we saw these guys next to the road.

I have seen a lot of monkeys ( these are actually gibbons) but I have never seen one drinking from a bottle! 

Hmm, rereading this post made me think that maybe I was more interested in things besides the ruins...

Not true, but by this point in the day I was on the verge of heat exhaustion...maybe it was all those elephants that convinced me to buy the puffy pants...

One more temple to go before we could head home, to see these trees that looked like they are about to melt into the ruins. Our son was here 15 years ago, and I was determined to see this iconic view, since he had taken an amazing photo ( with a monk) here or somewhere like it.

Was it worth the bus ride? Probably not. Am I glad we came? Without a doubt! And this brings me to an important point about travel, especially the kind we have done that is occasionally a bit off the beaten track. If you want to go, DO IT NOW! Every time I climb some temple steps, or hop on a boat, I feel extremely grateful that I can still do this, but I know there will be a time in the not too distant future when I won't be able to. And I'm pretty sure that a lot of these young backpackers wonder what we're doing on the bus. So , don't wait until you can afford it( that's never stopped us!) or until the stars align. Make that plan.