Today we stumbled back to our guesthouse sleep-deprived, dirty, sweaty, exhausted, dehydrated but it was all worth it. In all my experience traveling, today found me blown away like no other... We spent the day walking amongst the ruins of the most stunning and diverse buildings in something you think you'd only see on the set 'Tomb Raider' or 'Indiana Jones', which is appropriate since 'Tomb Raider' was actually filmed in the ruins of one of the temples here. The temples of Angkor Wat.
Between the 9th and 13th century the Cambodian leaders strove to outdo and better their ancestors' temples in size, quality, design and detail. This "my temple is better than your temple" competition left hundreds of stone temples that still remain. It would take weeks to thoroughly explore the temples but we gave ourselves only one day so we paid our $20 entrance fee, got our fancy photo pass and had an 11-hr marathon temple-viewing day. For $17 we hired our v. own personal tuk-tuk driver that picked us up at 5 am so we could make like a proper tourist and make it to Angkor Wat for sunrise. The only problem with taking a tuk-tuk throughout the day is that everyone else did too; finding your specific tuk-tuk driver amongst the hundreds of tuk-tuks is a task worthy for any "Amazing Race" speed bump; needles in haystacks are easier to find.
Amazing, breath-taking temples and ruins aside, the best thing about Angkor Wat is the
accessibility of it all. If we were touring the same exact place in Europe or N. America we would be milling around the ruins on a carefully laid out sidewalk and would be forbidden to touch anything. Not so here where we were able to escape the massive crowds by roaming free through the temple ruins; free to explore, crawl, investigate and meander all throughout these crumbling giants.
The people we met while exploring are just as notable as the temples themselves. The life of the souvenir peddlers is long, hard and heartbreaking. Children as young as 4-5 yrs are already working and school-aged kids go to school in the morning, if at all, and then spend the rest of their day pushing postcards, bracelets, water etc to every tourist they see. They glom to you and once you lock eyes, you're done for. "Hello, where you from" is their intro and if you make the mistake of answering they respond by spewing facts about your country.
Example: "Ah, Canada! Capital: Ottawa, large city: Toronto, v. cold, 10 provinces..." Salesmen back home have things they could learn from these kids in regards to persistence. These kids will stay as long as it takes and say whatever it takes. They even usually know 4 languages so they can barter to all tourists. Our favorite selling line was from a little boy who was trying to sell Britt a bracelet for her boyfriend. When he found out that she doesn't, in fact, have a boyfriend he quipped, "that's because you don't my bracelet. You buy, then you find husband." Our second favorite was a little girl who said, "if you don't come back and buy from me... I'll cry!"
The peddlers were EVERYWHERE, even when we climbed 50 m up into a temple, there they were, at the top, just waiting for you. But I learned a trick at the end of the day. Respond to them in Spanish, that's one language they don't know at all. They get confused and move on. Hurrah!
But the best part of the day almost didn't happen. It was the middle of the afternoon and we were beat and ready to head back but our tuk-tuk driver had other plans and convinced us to take in just one more temple. Begrudgingly I trudged through the ruins of Baphuon, wishing I was back in my hotel, but then we saw him. A monk. In the picture-perfect temple ruins. It was a dream come true for a monk-obsessed tourist like me. I was like a star-struck groupie and quickly ran up to him to mumble a request for a picture.
Once again, I was surprised by a monk because not only did he agree but he whipped out a camera from some unseen robe pocket for his own photo request! His name was Richard and his traveling buddy was Ty (pronounced "Tea"); we had a photo shoot, swapped emails and walked away on cloud nine. It was a perfect ending to an amazing day.
I cannot believe that I've never heard of this amazing wonder before I travelled to South East Asia but if you are heading to South East Asia you cannot miss this. Put a big star next to Angkor Wat on your itinerary and you will not be disappointed.
XOXO
V
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