Saw what I came here to see today – the big guns . . . . . Angkor Wat. It was amazing in the same way that Chichen Itza in Mexico is amazing, but it didn’t blow my socks off like seeing the Grand Canyon did. Maybe it’s because the Grand Canyon was so unexpected for me. It was not someplace I had even put on my wish list, but Angkor Wat . . . . this was on my list. I guess it is all a matter of expectations.
Not to say I wasn’t interested and impressed and amazed. I have over 200 pictures to prove that I was quite interested (don’t worry I’m not going to post them all or make you watch a slide show when I get back). There are actually numerous temples around Angkor Wat (angkor means city), and then a number of other groups of temples. We went to 3 main ones on the tour that I took today. There were 3 people on the tour (including me), so it was a nice intimate group and the couple from Ireland were quite nice. They were in the middle of their 40 day trip. 2 ½ weeks exploring SE Asia (which included getting engaged in Vietnam), and then they were going to spend 2 ½ weeks in Australia with friends.
I’m glad I took the tour to learn some of the interesting things about the site, but I don’t think I could go with a tour guide again tomorrow. By the end of the tour it was so hot and we had seen so many temples, that they all started to blend into one another and I couldn’t focus on what he was telling us. I hope I haven’t got “temple-itis” already. I got the 3 day pass, so I have arranged for a tuk-tuk to take me around to different places tomorrow. Hopefully going at my own pace will help.
In the evening I went to a free cello concert at a hospital. Not something you would have expected me to do I bet. The hospital is for children and the cellist is actually a Swiss doctor who helped to build the hospital. He was a doctor in Phnom Penh during the war (1975) and was eventually forced to leave. In 1991 he went back to help with the reconstruction of the hospital he had worked at back in 1975. He intended to stay for 2 years. He is still here. In the meantime, he has built 4 other hospital sites for children where all of the services are free (including medications), and a training facility is a part of the hospitals. So, in Siem Reap, he began with about 50% of the staff from Cambodia & 50% foreign staff. Now there are only 2 foreign staff at this hospital. He is very much in charge of fundraising for these hospitals, so one of the things he does is hold these concerts for tourists where he alternates between playing and just talking about the hospitals. It’s a pretty interesting story and he has some pretty interesting views on health care in general.
Here’s to day 2 in Cambodia!
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| I made it! |
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| The big guns. |
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| Around the temples |
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| Bayon Temple – composed of 54 towers with faces on each side . |
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| Eskimo kiss. |
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| The sites are in varying degrees of disrepair or restoration |
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| The different temples are based on either the Hindu religion or Buddhism based on what the king practiced at the time. This one was originally Buddhist, but then a Hindu king took over and the Buddha images were scratched out |
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| This was originally a Buddha transformed into a Hindu by adding a beard and a third eye.
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| When the temples were looted, the heads always seemed to be the first to go. |
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| Lunch is here! |
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| chicken and beef curries |
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| Where the Cello concert was held |
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| Dr. Beat Richner – a very informative evening |
