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Wednesday, Nov. 13, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Today we met our new Siem Reap tour guide, Borin - whose name, he informed us (with a small smile) was spelled B-O-R-I-N….. NO "G"! Borin was to be with us through Friday, guiding us through the Temples of Angkor, the epicenter of Cambodian (Khmer) civilization.
The temples were built during the Angkorian era, which lasted from 802 to 1432; through this period, the geographic area of the Angkorian empire peaked, at various times encompassing much of present day Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and, of course, Cambodia. The population, power, and culture of the area waxed and waned with the fortunes of the kings and their kingdoms. These powerful monarchs built ever larger and grander temples to honor Gods, ancestors, and on occasion themselves. The kings were Buddhist, Hindu, or sometimes both, and this is reflected in the construction and remodeling of the temples and other architecture; for example, many images of the Buddha's face have been removed from the earlier temple facades, as the latest king sought to promote his devotion to Hindu deities.
On our first temple day, we visited the earlier temples, including the brick temple Lolei, with its well-preserved sandstone carving and huge doors carved from a single piece of stone. Preah Ko followed, a pre-Angkorian temple with some stucco and paint still intact, and finally Bakong, a precursor "temple mountain" to the larger and better known Angkor Wat.
As we explored this last temple, I wandered into an area that was modern and actively inhabited. I came upon a sort of thatched, open air classroom, with a saffron-robed monk leading a class of girls in their school uniforms of navy skirts and white blouses who were seated on benches at long tables. Much to my surprise, as I approached with my camera, the monk asked in perfect if slightly accented English, where I was from? When I responded that I was from the US, he invited me to join the class - he was a university student who was tutoring the girls in English. After a brief conversation, I was joined by the rest of our group, who in our usual fashion added lots of encouragement to the girls to continue their education, study hard, go to university, etc. A few of our group joined the girls on the benches for a photo op. As I sat next to one of the students, I glanced down at her copy book - she had written some sentences in English which were perfect in spelling, punctuation, and grammar- a pretty amazing feat considering that Khmer and English don't even share the same alphabet!
Following our temple visits, we proceeded to the "Great Lake" of Cambodia, Tonle Sap. The Lake is linked to the Mekong River by a channel called the Tonle Sap River. During the rainy season (June to October), the Mekong backs up into the Tonle Sap River, which flows northwestward into the lake, raising the lake levels to cover about 10,000 to 16,000 sq km, with an average depth of about 10 M. As the dry season progresses, the Tonle Sap River reverses direction, draining into the Mekong in a southeast direction reducing the depth and area of the lake by a factor of 4 to 5.
After a bus drive through the countryside past rice paddies, houses on stilts with cows grazing in the front yards and chickens pecking about the foundation, we arrived at the Tonle Sap Lake, where we boarded a small boat to visit Kompong Pluk. As we set out, we were surrounded by water with the tops of bushes and trees peeking out. When we ventured out further into deeper water, the trees and bushes began to disappear, and were replaced by many structures on bamboo stilts - roofed platforms, usually one room in size, with open or semi-open walls. Some of the structures had porches or platforms for gardens, fishing nets, and other necessities; they almost certainly had at least one boat docked nearby. The residents of the floating village were very much in evidence, going about their tasks of laundry, caring for children, cooking, or gardening.
After our cruise, we returned to our hotel in Siem Reap, and later walked to Pub Street, a pedestrian only area of restaurants and bars, where we had dinner together ata table on the street at Le Tigre de Papier, choosing from delicious Italian, French and Khmer offerings. A tuktuk returned us safely back to our hotel to prepare for a very early departure to the temples on Thursday.
Stacy Yaniglos
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