On-the-Road Tales

In the morning we headed off to the Tomb Raider temple, Ta Prohm. So named for the movies that was filmed there with Angelina Jolie aka Lara Croft. Transport in town is easy – you hire a tuktuk driver for the day for between 10-12 dollars he will take you where you want to go, tell you what you are supposed to see and lounge for hours in his carriage while you explore ancient cities. I could hardly go 2 zones in DC for that. The carts cost about 600$ new and the motorbikes that tow them about 1200$. If the driver gets hooked up with a hotel and gets a constant flow of tourism, they can do quite well. This probably accounts for the proliferation of drivers who bombard you with “Lady tuktuk?”up and down the street. There is a local paper currency called Riel in Cambodia but they primarily use US Dollars. Convinent for us but everyone else has to change money!

Nancy and I arrived early at this temple and a guy in a police uniform stepped us over the No entry sign and into the ruins. I figured with the state of the place, it was necessary to be escorted and I asked him and he said yes. Soon I started seeing people wondering about and asked a guide who told us no – he was scamming us and there was no need to be with someone and he would want money. Ergg. Can not believe I fell for the uniform. Classic scam – got rid of him. We later realized he had actually taken us in the wrong way – hence why we saw noone else. This temple was wicked, we got to see how the jungle was growing right through the ruins with enormous tree roots jutting everywhere. There were piles of stones where walls has collapsed and various reinforcements giving the illusion another would not fall on your head. It was raining that morning, our first encounter with the rainy season but it added a bit to the mystique. We watched heaps of chameleons dart in and out of the rubble licking up dragonflies in a single tongue sweep. While parts of it had been restored, the nature was left to take over and it showed how forceful the vegetation can be.

We lunched while it poured outside and bought bracelets form little children selling at our table. We asked their ages since they looked 6 or 8 and they replied they were 11 and 13! amazing the difference in size and stature when nutrition and basic food groups are not part of the daily diet. The children in Cambodia are just precious. As you pass the villages you see mothers rocking babies in their hammocks. Toddlers run about naked until they reach a few years. Yu forget diapers are a luxury and many in the world can not afford them. The older siblings are often decked out in their white shirts and navy bottoms riding a bike to or from school.

We went on to the next complex and spent several hours checking out hidden terraces of freizes, levels, statues etc. in the Terrace of elephants, leper kings. We walked over to Banyon where hundreds of faces peered out from towers. They are said to resemble a former king and have a strange way of following you around as you climb and tour the ruins.

We went to dinner at Temple Bar. They had some traditional Apsara khmer dancing and an amazing buffet featuring a Khmer speciality Amok, a fish in coconut milk. The dancing had to be reintroduced to the country from those who fled and they are making an effort at promoting it.

Tags: Travel

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