Angkor Wat
Well we have spent the last two days exploring the temples around Angkor Wat. To be honest, I didn't have huge expectations, after seeing so many ruins and temples in Thailand I kind of thought I would see the first two sites and then lose interest all together. But the whole thing was magnificent! I dont even know how many places we visited in the end, probably 7 or 8 on the first day and 5 or 6 on the second. The temples were incredible, it was like stepping into another world! It's funny because the whole place is CRAWLING with tourists, every temple we went to had at least a hundred other people with cameras attached to their faces, but for some reason, even with all those other people around you can sit on a fallen stone, a piece of wall or something and feel completely isolated from the world. A lot of times you can't even hear anyone else around.. It's incredibly surreal!
Angkor Wat is the largest of the temples and is in the best shape as well, I guess it's the main drawcard of the area so a lot of money has been spent on restoration. The parts of the temple that they have had to reconstruct have all been done in plain concrete so you are able to see the original parts and the new parts, which is good. The building is only three levels but is about ten stories high and to get to the highest tower you have to climb these stone steps. The staircase is around fifteen metres high and is incredibly steep.. so much so that when you are at the top you can't see any of the stairs.. it just looks like the ground falls away beneath your feet. Getting up wasnt too bad but getting down was really scary! I am not usually scared of heights but I was shaking and really nervous about it. The scariest part is that there is no hand rail or anything to hold onto except the steps above you so there is nothing to steady yourself on.. and nothing to grab hold of if you fall!!! Oh! and because the steps are a thousand years old, there are places where they have worn away or chipped off so sometimes there is nowhere to put your foot beneath you and you have shuffle along the step you are on until it is safe to keep going down. It was scary for me, but can you imagine being someone who built the building, climbing up those stairs with another huge slab of stone on your back? just thinking about it makes me nauseous!
It was amazing to be able to sit up there though, with the sunlight streaming through the windows and highlighting all the carvings in the stone. We actually found out that when they built the buildings the stones werent carved. they actually do that AFTER the building is complete! Its hard to imagine! Especially when the temples are so high. Some of them had three levels and then a stone statue on top, at least another story high. Each carving is so intricate as well, it must have taken so many years to get it all carved! Some columns have huge inscriptions, beautiful cambodian script from roof to floor. The writing is so fine as well, almost like someone typed it out, you have to keep reminding yourself that someone sat there with a chisel and shaped each indent in the stone.
I dont remember the names of all the places we went to but the range was incredible! After Angkor Wat we went to a place called the Bayon which had not yet had any restoration work done to it at all so we were climbing through the rubble to look around, so much fun. My favourite place though (which I dont remember the name of) was a temple that was in the middle of the forest. Like the secret garden if it had been abandoned for a thousand years. The place was crawling with vegetation, flowers poking through the cracks in these huge stones and the trees! Massive, ancient trees, their trunks as big as a house, growing up through and around and over the buildings, their roots like vines snaking down over doorways or walls and the actually tree growing on the roof of the building. It was stunning!
We took loads of photos - of course! But at the moment we are using a dial up connection so we are going to wait until we get to Phnom Pehn before we upload them.
After the first day we were EXHAUSTED!! And when we woke up for our second day of exploring our whole body groaned with the effort of getting out of bed.. legs especially.. those steps were a killer!
The second day wasnt as good as the first but it was still pretty spectacular, we saw another jungle infested ruin and some pink sandstone structures. And lots more steps which we grudgingly climbed, whimpering all the way! The further we got from Siem Reap, the less beautiful the temples were, some of them had been built but not carved so they were just blank stone. Or they would be very plain, just a couple of rooms. Every one of them still had this incredible feeling about them. Calm and other worldly but the temples we visited on the first day were by far the most inspiring!
Mau, our driver, was great! Always telling us the names of the temples and the names of the men who built them as he dropped us off at each entrance. And - after our morning at Angkor Wat when we couldnt find him in the crowd of tuk tuk's and were accosted by kids for half an hour - he was always very good about getting us in and out of the temple without too much hassle from the hawkers.
As for the morning at Angkor Wat, we had come out of the temple (after two hours we had to DRAG ourselves out) and we couldn't find Mau, there were probably 150 tuk tuks in the car park, he hadn't seen us because he was asleep in the back of his tuk tuk and we had instantly been swarmed by kids, one boy who had remembered me from the day before because I had bought postcards off his friend and not off him who stared up at me with his bottom lip quivering. Luke's young girl from the day before had recognised him from the day before (he bought postcards as promised). When we arrived at Angkor Wat a boy had come over to us and made us promise to buy water from him when we came out of the temple, we had agreed and he said his name was spiderman. Anyway when we came out a bunch of kids had come over asking us to buy some water from them and we had said no (waiting for spiderman) but when he came over finally and we bought a drink of him all the other kids got really offended because they thought they had asked first and it wasn't fair. Each kid who came over to talk to us would chat and then follow us as we walked around so by the time we finally found Mau we had about thirty kids following us around. We climbed into the tuk tuk and only then did we start handing out our lollipops (before then I had been worried that more kids would see and come running and we wouldnt have enough).
At the next temple we ran into the same thing but in the middle of the temple (where there was no mau to save us) we had sat down to drink a coke and they started streaming out of the trees. We bought an Angkor Wat tshirt each and a bracelet (we had also bought the cokes off one) and still they werent happy, I tried to explain that I couldn't buy from everyone and that I was sorry but they just looked sad and dirty.. it was awful! There was one girl who was particularly persistant and who sat with us for the whole time we sat drinking our cokes. we chatted with her for a long time (her english was amazing!) and I was feeling really bad about not buying from but then I asked her 'where does the money go?' thinking she would tell me her family or something like that and then I could justify myself being a weak sucker and buying more stuff.. but instead she glanced at me, looked away and then asked me a completely unrelated question. I asked her again and the same thing happened. After asking about four times over the course of ten minutes or so I realised she wasnt going to answer.
Stella asked me if I got desensitised to the kids. Well Stella, my answer is no. I cant pretend they dont exist (like so many other people seem able to do) but this little conversation made it much easier to say no to them. After that I was happy to hand out lollies instead of money. I started noticing that only the cutest kids are the ones out selling stuff and I don't know how that can be.. is there a recruitment drive at their schools? Where the cutest kids get handpicked by some rich man? The sad thing is that she could have lied and I would have believed her, in fact I wanted to hear the lie. But she didnt, or couldnt...
We still looked at every kid, saw all of them, still smiled when we said no them (which usually meant a much longer saying no process!) we handed out our lollies and some pens or coloured paper (and secretly a few Reil notes). My rubber bracelets, of which I used to have thirty odd, are now numbered at 8. (Mel, your 'make poverty history' bracelet was the favourite, every kid asked for it but I wouldnt give it up!).
There was one temple where we spoke to an older boy by the name of Phalla who was going to a special school in Siem Reap run by Australians. When he heard us telling another kid where we were from he came rushing over to us to chat. We spent almost an hour with him standing in the shade talking about all sorts of things. He was the happiest kid I have ever met, so excited about the future.. at the moment he has an american sponsor who is paying for his schooling. He wants to go to university. I so hope that his american sponsor sticks around, without her I dont think he has much in his future to be excited about. It makes me so sad. Anyway in the end we got his email address and promised to email him about our trip. Hopefully that way if his American sponsor does for some reason stop being his sponsor maybe he will tell us and we can help out.
The hardest thing about seeing all these kids, so beautiful and so hopeless, is that as much as I want to help, I know that there isnt an answer. Money wont help, they will take it home and give it to the boss of the postcard racket or to their parents and tomorrow they will still be wearing the same clothes with the same shoes falling off their feet. Most of them will never get to school and those who do will most likely end up back in their parents house living the same way after school is done with. Maybe there is a way. But I havent thought of one yet. Short of stealing a bunch of kids and bringing them home with me! And even then we will have a bunch of distraught parents here in Cambodia and a bunch of displaced kids in Australia.. I have been searching my brain for the solution... I'll let you know when the results are in!
Phew! ok.. well, that enough rambling from me for now. We are catching a bus to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning so the photos should be up in the next couple of days.
Oh, and despite my rambling about the kids and how sad it all was Angkor Wat really is superb. If any of you get the chance to come and see it, please do! You wont regret it!!
Angkor Wat is the largest of the temples and is in the best shape as well, I guess it's the main drawcard of the area so a lot of money has been spent on restoration. The parts of the temple that they have had to reconstruct have all been done in plain concrete so you are able to see the original parts and the new parts, which is good. The building is only three levels but is about ten stories high and to get to the highest tower you have to climb these stone steps. The staircase is around fifteen metres high and is incredibly steep.. so much so that when you are at the top you can't see any of the stairs.. it just looks like the ground falls away beneath your feet. Getting up wasnt too bad but getting down was really scary! I am not usually scared of heights but I was shaking and really nervous about it. The scariest part is that there is no hand rail or anything to hold onto except the steps above you so there is nothing to steady yourself on.. and nothing to grab hold of if you fall!!! Oh! and because the steps are a thousand years old, there are places where they have worn away or chipped off so sometimes there is nowhere to put your foot beneath you and you have shuffle along the step you are on until it is safe to keep going down. It was scary for me, but can you imagine being someone who built the building, climbing up those stairs with another huge slab of stone on your back? just thinking about it makes me nauseous!
It was amazing to be able to sit up there though, with the sunlight streaming through the windows and highlighting all the carvings in the stone. We actually found out that when they built the buildings the stones werent carved. they actually do that AFTER the building is complete! Its hard to imagine! Especially when the temples are so high. Some of them had three levels and then a stone statue on top, at least another story high. Each carving is so intricate as well, it must have taken so many years to get it all carved! Some columns have huge inscriptions, beautiful cambodian script from roof to floor. The writing is so fine as well, almost like someone typed it out, you have to keep reminding yourself that someone sat there with a chisel and shaped each indent in the stone.
I dont remember the names of all the places we went to but the range was incredible! After Angkor Wat we went to a place called the Bayon which had not yet had any restoration work done to it at all so we were climbing through the rubble to look around, so much fun. My favourite place though (which I dont remember the name of) was a temple that was in the middle of the forest. Like the secret garden if it had been abandoned for a thousand years. The place was crawling with vegetation, flowers poking through the cracks in these huge stones and the trees! Massive, ancient trees, their trunks as big as a house, growing up through and around and over the buildings, their roots like vines snaking down over doorways or walls and the actually tree growing on the roof of the building. It was stunning!
We took loads of photos - of course! But at the moment we are using a dial up connection so we are going to wait until we get to Phnom Pehn before we upload them.
After the first day we were EXHAUSTED!! And when we woke up for our second day of exploring our whole body groaned with the effort of getting out of bed.. legs especially.. those steps were a killer!
The second day wasnt as good as the first but it was still pretty spectacular, we saw another jungle infested ruin and some pink sandstone structures. And lots more steps which we grudgingly climbed, whimpering all the way! The further we got from Siem Reap, the less beautiful the temples were, some of them had been built but not carved so they were just blank stone. Or they would be very plain, just a couple of rooms. Every one of them still had this incredible feeling about them. Calm and other worldly but the temples we visited on the first day were by far the most inspiring!
Mau, our driver, was great! Always telling us the names of the temples and the names of the men who built them as he dropped us off at each entrance. And - after our morning at Angkor Wat when we couldnt find him in the crowd of tuk tuk's and were accosted by kids for half an hour - he was always very good about getting us in and out of the temple without too much hassle from the hawkers.
As for the morning at Angkor Wat, we had come out of the temple (after two hours we had to DRAG ourselves out) and we couldn't find Mau, there were probably 150 tuk tuks in the car park, he hadn't seen us because he was asleep in the back of his tuk tuk and we had instantly been swarmed by kids, one boy who had remembered me from the day before because I had bought postcards off his friend and not off him who stared up at me with his bottom lip quivering. Luke's young girl from the day before had recognised him from the day before (he bought postcards as promised). When we arrived at Angkor Wat a boy had come over to us and made us promise to buy water from him when we came out of the temple, we had agreed and he said his name was spiderman. Anyway when we came out a bunch of kids had come over asking us to buy some water from them and we had said no (waiting for spiderman) but when he came over finally and we bought a drink of him all the other kids got really offended because they thought they had asked first and it wasn't fair. Each kid who came over to talk to us would chat and then follow us as we walked around so by the time we finally found Mau we had about thirty kids following us around. We climbed into the tuk tuk and only then did we start handing out our lollipops (before then I had been worried that more kids would see and come running and we wouldnt have enough).
At the next temple we ran into the same thing but in the middle of the temple (where there was no mau to save us) we had sat down to drink a coke and they started streaming out of the trees. We bought an Angkor Wat tshirt each and a bracelet (we had also bought the cokes off one) and still they werent happy, I tried to explain that I couldn't buy from everyone and that I was sorry but they just looked sad and dirty.. it was awful! There was one girl who was particularly persistant and who sat with us for the whole time we sat drinking our cokes. we chatted with her for a long time (her english was amazing!) and I was feeling really bad about not buying from but then I asked her 'where does the money go?' thinking she would tell me her family or something like that and then I could justify myself being a weak sucker and buying more stuff.. but instead she glanced at me, looked away and then asked me a completely unrelated question. I asked her again and the same thing happened. After asking about four times over the course of ten minutes or so I realised she wasnt going to answer.
Stella asked me if I got desensitised to the kids. Well Stella, my answer is no. I cant pretend they dont exist (like so many other people seem able to do) but this little conversation made it much easier to say no to them. After that I was happy to hand out lollies instead of money. I started noticing that only the cutest kids are the ones out selling stuff and I don't know how that can be.. is there a recruitment drive at their schools? Where the cutest kids get handpicked by some rich man? The sad thing is that she could have lied and I would have believed her, in fact I wanted to hear the lie. But she didnt, or couldnt...
We still looked at every kid, saw all of them, still smiled when we said no them (which usually meant a much longer saying no process!) we handed out our lollies and some pens or coloured paper (and secretly a few Reil notes). My rubber bracelets, of which I used to have thirty odd, are now numbered at 8. (Mel, your 'make poverty history' bracelet was the favourite, every kid asked for it but I wouldnt give it up!).
There was one temple where we spoke to an older boy by the name of Phalla who was going to a special school in Siem Reap run by Australians. When he heard us telling another kid where we were from he came rushing over to us to chat. We spent almost an hour with him standing in the shade talking about all sorts of things. He was the happiest kid I have ever met, so excited about the future.. at the moment he has an american sponsor who is paying for his schooling. He wants to go to university. I so hope that his american sponsor sticks around, without her I dont think he has much in his future to be excited about. It makes me so sad. Anyway in the end we got his email address and promised to email him about our trip. Hopefully that way if his American sponsor does for some reason stop being his sponsor maybe he will tell us and we can help out.
The hardest thing about seeing all these kids, so beautiful and so hopeless, is that as much as I want to help, I know that there isnt an answer. Money wont help, they will take it home and give it to the boss of the postcard racket or to their parents and tomorrow they will still be wearing the same clothes with the same shoes falling off their feet. Most of them will never get to school and those who do will most likely end up back in their parents house living the same way after school is done with. Maybe there is a way. But I havent thought of one yet. Short of stealing a bunch of kids and bringing them home with me! And even then we will have a bunch of distraught parents here in Cambodia and a bunch of displaced kids in Australia.. I have been searching my brain for the solution... I'll let you know when the results are in!
Phew! ok.. well, that enough rambling from me for now. We are catching a bus to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning so the photos should be up in the next couple of days.
Oh, and despite my rambling about the kids and how sad it all was Angkor Wat really is superb. If any of you get the chance to come and see it, please do! You wont regret it!!