Whoops, I’m at a 4-Star

So my taxi driver was really impressed when I said the name of the hotel, which I totally butchered and had to repeat 3 times before he could figure out what I’d been saying. I’m at the Samodevi Angkor, a nice new place just off the main drag. My room is good sized, with a big balcony over-looking the huge pool below. The bathroom is all marble with both a shower and bath/shower. The place costs $45 bucks a night with the internet deal but normally runs $120. There are 80 TV stations, although only 15 or so are in English. However, the best part about the whole place (at least for me) was the buffet breakfast I have included in my room rate. There was six different kinds of juices, omelets made to order, different meats, rice dishes, lots of pastries and breads, lots of fruits, waffles and french toast (1st time on trip), and hash browns (also a first). The problem with being in a 4-star hotel is that everything you have to pay for costs through the roof. Internet is 4 dollars an hour, water runs $2 a bottle, and I’m afraid to ask about anything else.
At around 9:30am my driver and I headed out to the Angkor Wat National Park area. While Angkor Wat with its five spires is the famous site, there are actually dozens of temples and sites to see spread out over 38 square miles. My guide called it the Disneyland of Buddhist temples and I would agree. Besides the massive size of many of the structures, the most impressive aspect was the intricate carvings that run throughout many of the buildings. They depict scenes from history and famous events in the life of the Buddhist and Hindu gods.
Angkor Wat itself was an adventure. I picked up two young teenagers who served as my defacto guides throughout. They did a descent job and had surprisingly good English. I learned that the mote was filled with crocodiles and cobras to keep people from attacking, this whole, massive structure was only used to pray, and they had big libraries to keep records back in the day. Honestly, other than Japan and former British areas, what the crap happened to Asia the last 800 years? These civilizations have amazing history and former power, but have been basket-cases and shadows of their former selves for hundreds of years. Western civilization picked a good time to peak at (at least for my sake and most people I know). On the way out the younger of the two brothers showed up and I was like, how much do I pay these guys? The only money I had on my was a $20US and 1000 Thai Baht (about $25US) plus 2 one dollar bills. I wasn’t willing to part with either of the big bills (I was paying my driver $25 dollars for the whole day) for their hour of work. However, they weren’t happy with $2 so eventually I got some change and paid them $7. It was way more than they should have gotten and I should have set a rate when they first showed up but such is life I guess.
The next stop was Angkor Thom, an even bigger compound with two well-known temples and a couple famous terraces. First I visited the Bayon temple which was one of my favorites. It has lots of towers with four heads on each, one facing each cardinal direction. Many are damaged or defaced, but some are still in quite good condition. I guess Tomb Raider was filmed around here. I took an hour or so to sit in some shade and drink a bunch of water while reading my Book of Mormon. Since I wanted to stay at the park until sunset I wasn’t in any hurry and enjoyed a few quiet moments without people swarming me trying to sell post cards, buddhas, and other things. My next stops were the Terrance of the Leper King and Terrace of the Elephants. Both were nice and reminded me how amazing it was that they had chiseled these beautiful images into huge stones. Most of the stones in all the temples were hauled from a mountain 60kms away on elephants. I felt sorry for the animals as I could only image how much weight they had transferred over 200 years of construction. The last temple in Angkor Thom was Baphuon. This one is slowly being rebuilt to give tourists a flavor of temple building so you can’t walk through it.
Ta Keo was my next attraction. This temple is unique because it was never finished in the sense that it doesn’t have any carvings or elaborate finishing. I guess lightning struck the temple or through some other means the gods signaled they didn’t like this one. The locals took that as a sign to leave behind their massive piles of rocks and start another one. This is amazing because they left behind years of effort. The picture with me being the speck of “John Deer Green” (my t-shirt and a classic country song) is Ta Keo. To get this photo I had to ask some Polish tourist who spoke little English to take a picture of me from the ground 3 minutes away the whole time thinking in my mind, “I hope she doesn’t run off with my camera and I hope I don’t fall and kill myself” (such positive thoughts I know, effect of no iPod I guess). The idea of moving all this stone and then deciding the temple didn’t meet favor with the gods so we need to abandon it would be tough to take if you had worked on it. One thing I did like about visiting all the temples is how genuine and rustic they still are. The stairs are straight up and down and about three inches wide. You have to be very careful when getting around, but it is fun and adventurous as you can go almost anywhere and jump all over the rocks and structures. At times, I felt like Indiana Jones as I made my way around obstacles, through crevices, shimmied walls/overhangs, and scaled roofs, all while wearing my brown hat. The temples and entire park would be in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act as you couldn’t get 5 feet in a wheelchair.
My final stop was Ta Prohm. This temple is unique because it is the one that they decided to not completely reclaim from the jungle. Huge trees rise up from the ground and climb 100+ feet into the sky, all the while straddling massive walls, having roots run perpendicular to the ground at times and cutting through thousands of pounds of rock in other places. The trees here really apply the phrase, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” They grow over, around, and through everything, including tunnels, walls, and buildings. I guess when you give nature 600 years to overtake something without any interference she will take her course. After seeing this entire area I am amazed that this wonder completely disappeared for 500 years. Some French naturalist stumbled upon it in 1863 and it has been looted much since then, but what remains is still amazing.
On our way back out of the park, I stopped the local mountain to get some pictures and a panoramic view of the area. It was nice, but made me want to get a better picture of Angkor Wat since all my photos from the morning had the sun at my back. We drove back to Angkor Wat (it is weird sitting in the back seat and having a driver at your beck and call) and I ran inside to get the famous picture of the spires with me in it. I found the perfect spot but couldn’t find another tourist to take the photo for me so I had to ask a Buddhist monk in training. He was a great kid named Sam who didn’t really know how to work a camera but tried hard. We chatted for a few minutes afterwards and I even took a photo of him which I promised to send him if he emailed me (we’ll see if that ever happens but he does have my address). Dad, look at that, if monks in Cambodia can do email, you can too!!!
Finally we drove back to the hotel around 6:30 and I’ve been here ever since. The day was humid, hot, and sweaty, but just reminded me of summers spent in cotton fields as a teenager. I really enjoyed the sights and was happy I rearranged the trip to make it here. While I’m not into archaeology and such enough to spend four days here, another one or two with a real guide would have come in handy. One of the benefits of my nice hotel is StarSports. Last night I got to watch the French Open women’s final live and now I’m enjoying Federer-Nadal got at it. This is the one tennis match I’ve really wanted to watch since the Australian Open in January when I had to wake up at 2am on a Thursday to catch Federer-Roddick (Ian totally flaked on me, I wonder why?). They split the first two sets, but Nadal is up a break in the third, we’ll see how it goes. Go Federer!!!