soo-a s'day (hello!) from Cambodia!!! we made it cross the border! we're not held hostage yet... what a busy and informative past few days it has been! sunday we were up and out to drive the long 8hr drive to Siem Reap, one of Cambodia's largest cities. I love this city! (much more than i liked bangkok... in fact, i really didn't like bangkok... is that bad??) but siem reap it is kinda like a savannah, but in cambodia! ha! (but no live oaks with moss, nor central squares) cams, you should come here to confirm :)
when we arrived we took a walk around the town to see the royal gardens, pagodas (with praying monks and nuns) and just the downtown. of course my experience would not be complete without a taste of some street food: fried cricket to be exact! it tasted pretty salty and like soy sauce, which wasn't bad, if i hadn't been hyper aware of the fact that i had just bitten off the head in my first bite! i held myself back from trying the cockroach, as enticing as it looked (larger than the ones in NYC! ughhhh)! from there we walked along a river to this downtown "market"area where there were tons of stalls and restaurants and which feels a bit like new orleans with the double story restaurants with balconies and ceiling fans (greatfully)!
we went to dinner at this restaurant that has native apsara dancing, which is a type of dancing that women do in the palace for the king. their dances tell stories and offer prayers. its kind of a meditative, slow dance, sometimes performed with other men (actually, we think they were all teenagers). there are tuk-tuks and bicycles everywhere. i just love it here!
as promised, yesterday was an early -- 5am-- start to go to angkor wat to see the sunrise. i won't bore you with the details of each temple we saw yesterday (we saw four "monuments"-- they actually aren't all temples, some were monasteries and cities, and places to house the concubines-- all 2,000 of them!) but i will say that the monuments and ruins have all been fascinating and we have learned SO much history of the Khmer empire and even just daily rural life from our guide. we are also learning so much about Hinduism and Buddhism. for more information you will have to read my journal :) (it is quite extensive --i wrote 16pages just this morning about yesterday's adventures-- but i have, of course, even more photos to document this trip!!) i will say, though, that the sunrise was beautiful, and my pictures pretty stellar (it's hard with that subject matter to NOT have great pics) and i loved Ta Prohm (the jungle temple) which has banyan roots weaving in and out of the stone blocks. it really is amazing that these temples are SO old and some of them are continually being discovered (i was just sharing a national geographic article -- courtesy of mom and dad, thanks!-- with bridget, that describes the discovery of this temple farther north of here that is in the throes of being looted. this is CURRENT history taking place.)
in that vein, one of our experiences yesterday was a stop at this Land Mine Museum which is a small operation (museum makes it sound formal and fancy!) run by this cambodian man who became a child warrior for the Khmer Rouge at age 10 and then changed to the opposition party, and later the vietnamese army to overthrow the khmer rouge. he is now one of the leading efforts to rid the country of land mines, which continue to kill and maim about 26,000 people annually because so many land mines are left un-detonated in fields and jungles. you see a ton of people (even children) with missing limbs due to injuries sustained from land mines-- even recently, not just from during the war. go figure, though, the other man helping to run the museum was from acton, ma and then california (but palm springs). he now lives in siem reap with his wife to run the museum and orphanage that shelters, feeds, and educates children that have been victims of mines.
oh and i have lied to yall; sorry! not only am i modern, but i am UBER modern, for it is not just feb 23rd 2010, a day ahead, but it is actually 2553! (in the buddhist calendar) yall better keep up! and i also lied to you about angkor wat: it is a hindu temple not buddhist (the country has flip-flopped from hindu to buddhist over many reigns, but now they are a buddhist country).
gosh, so much more to say, yet i don't want this to be too long for you! but let me add that bridget and i (in case you were concerned) will have good karma for the rest of our lives (and our parents will, too, according to belief!-- you're welcome!!)! this morning, even though we have a "free morning", we "slept in" until 6am (ha! well, we went to bed at 10 and the roosters were calling at like 5am) but so we walked to the market and had an early breakfast, sitting in an outdoor cafe and watching the city arise, and wrote in our journals. during that time a monk passed on his walk to get his morning alms (they only eat twice a day and the food is provided through donations during those morning walks). so this monk (robed in the traditional orange cloth) passed our restaurant and i was like "BRIDGET!!! give him your banana bread!!!"and she was like "you do it!!"so i took the plate and ran after him (he had just passed) and bowed, told him hello, and offered bridget's/our breakfast! so we're set for our next life!!! woohooo!!! which means i'm clear to be devious ;) nice...!