Cambodia: More Temples

I'm baaaaack! Joe is in the kitchen mopping the floor. I can hear him scrubbing away and the sound is music to my ears. I am eating Digits, my favorite Korean cookies (basically a graham cracker with chocolate on the bottom), and trying to remember what happened to us after we visited Angkor Wat. Life is good. We leave for China Tuesday and will be back next Sunday. We are very excited to have the opportunity to visit Shanghai while the World Expo is going on. I am sure Joe will have numerous stories to entertain you with when we return. He has been talking nonstop about all of the different food he is going to eat while we are there!

Back to temples... Determining whether or not a temple is Hindu or Buddhist can get a little confusing in Cambodia. In ancient Cambodia religion was dictated by the head of state, so anytime there was a new leader there could potentially be a new religion. However, Bayon Temple, our next stop after Angkor Wat, is distinctly Buddhist. There are 216 different giant Buddha heads looking at you as you wander around the temple. There are also full-bodied Buddhist statues all over the place, many of them headless and defaced as a result of thieves. If you check out the museum in Siem Reap, it is full of Buddha heads that have been recovered from all over the world. In addition to the Buddha heads and statues, there are also several places you can make an offering to Buddha, always apparent by the strong smell of incense and the colored scarves placed around Buddha's shoulders. People usually leave money, both real and fake, and sometimes they leave a soda or some fruit for Buddha to eat.

Outside the gate to Bayon Temple. 

 Chilling with Buddha. Again mother, this was not Joe's idea. In fact, Joe refused to take a picture with Buddha. 

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Buddha, incense, headless statues.

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  I guess this Buddha needed a snack. 

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The Buddha with the biggest smile. 

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Outside Bayon Temple- so distinctly Cambodia.  

We made one final stop at Angkor Thom before heading back to town for dinner, but by that point I was ready to be done for the day, so I honestly don't remember anything from our final stop. Dinner was much more memorable, but then again, any meal with Joe is memorable. We decided to eat at a restaurant that had a view of downtown Siem Reap, and as we made our way toward the open air balcony, I noticed two things: 1) there was only one other couple in the restaurant and 2) over half of the tables had signs on them that said they were reserved (we never actually saw anyone with a so-called "reservation" come into the restaurant, so I am pretty sure these were a ploy to make the restaurant look more popular than it actually was). I started to get a little nervous, so as we ordered from the sizable menu, I went with the sweet and sour pork. Joe of course made some comment about how I always eat the same thing and I ignored him, as usual. Joe ordered the fatty pork stew- doesn't that sound appetizing? What was I thinking going with the sweet and sour pork when I could have had the fatty pork stew? Both of us ordered a Fanta to drink. I don't usually like orange soda, and I know I can get orange soda in Korea, but for some reason I really wanted to drink an orange soda in Cambodia that night. It was delicious, and I know Joe felt the same way because he ended up ordering a second one. Once our food arrived, I had to listen to Joe go on and on about how delicious his giant bites of pork fat were. He then tried to forced me to eat some of his pork fat, like usual, but I instead opted for a sip of the broth. It was tasty, but I was perfectly content with my own dinner. To this day, Joe talks about the fatty pork stew. We'll be watching Biggest Loser and all of the sudden Joe will start licking his lips and say, "I really just want some of that fatty pork stew." Sure he talks about pizza, burgers, cookies, ice cream, and a lot of other food too, but the fatty pork stew is referred to quite frequently in our home. 

Joe eating his beloved Fatty Pork Stew. 
(Joe's note: I think that I am licking my teeth and gums to either savor or rid of the thin layer of fat residue)

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An up close shot of the stew.  
(Joe's note: This Khmer Stew contained big chunks of pork, tofu and hard boiled egg. Those are three hearty proteins! Later, I crapped a shot put.)

Our final day in Cambodia we embarked on our second consecutive day of temple viewing. We had a new guide, who I understood a little bit better than the first one, and after purchasing our temple passes for the day, we headed to Ta Prohm. If you look through our pictures, it looks like we had the place to ourselves, but honestly that couldn't be further from the truth. The place was jam packed with tour groups. The Japanese and Korean tour groups seem to like dressing their tour members in matching outfits. There were multiple groups of 30-40 people all wearing the same thing. I nicknamed one group the carrots. They were wearing orange shirts, bright green shorts, and bright green baseball caps. Even more ridiculous than the matching tour groups were the women wearing high heels trying to navigate the uneven ground. You see this a lot in Asia. The women LOVE their heels. 

Ta Prohm was one of my favorite temples that we visited. It is where Tomb Raider (Angeline Jolie) was filmed, and the whole temple site has been overtaken by the jungle. Despite the hordes of Japanese/Korean tour groups taking cutesy photos in their matching outfits in almost every part of the temple, we did manage to get a few good pictures. 

The trees have pretty much taken over Ta Prohm. 

While en route to one of the next temples we visited, we came across a fairly long funeral procession. The van slowed to a crawl and we passed by waves of people both young and old. The elderly in Cambodia are always women. During our week-long stay I am unable to recall ever seeing a man over 40 or 50 years old. Considering that men were targeted heavily by the Khmer Rouge this should come as no surprise, but it is still a very eerie reality to contemplate. When we finally made it to our destination many members of our tour (including my husband) got out of the van to snap pictures of the processional. I stayed in the van and waited for the group to finish. I remember wondering what I would think if I was at a funeral and random tourists started snapping pictures of the casket and the grieving guests...But since we have the pictures, I guess I will post a few.

Bakong Temple was our final stop of the day. It is here that Joe and I learned two very important lessons that we will now heed anytime we travel. Lesson 1) Wait until you get home to wear the t-shirts you buy. At the entrance to the temple we heard children giggling and looked up to see fingers pointing our direction. The reason for the giggling was immediately apparent. I had decided to wear one of the t-shirts we bought from the orphanage we visited earlier in the week, and the children were wearing the same shirt. They had a table set up outside the entrance to the temple and they were asking for donations for the orphanage. The situation was made even more awkward when Joe insisted that I take a picture with the children, especially considering we didn't donate any money (we had already given them money earlier in the week). Lesson 2) Don't accept gifts of any sort from Cambodian children. Joe made the mistake of taking a leaf from a young Cambodian girl. The girl then proceeded to follow us around for 30 minutes saying softly, "One dolla, one dolla, one dolla..." She was relentless and followed us all the way to the van. I felt bad not giving her a dollar, but more often than not children are being exploited and forced to do this kind of work, and tourists are implored not to give in to these kinds of scams.

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The picture Joe forced me to take with the children from the orphanage. 

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Whatever you do, don't accept the leaf!

As the day came to a close, it was time to get ready to return to Korea. Tired, hot, and fighting a cold, I returned to the hotel room immediately after dinner to clean up and finish packing. Sometime during dinner Joe found out we hadn't spent all of the money we brought, so instead of joining me at the hotel, he set out to spend every last dollar (Cambodians want US dollars, so that is what most people use) we had. The pictures below chronicle his final adventure in Cambodia. 

Joe finishing up his second beer at dinner. 

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Ice cold beer. So refreshing. Must have one for the walk home.

Hmmm, I really don't feel like packing, so how about another massage?
 (Joe's note: no boner this time.)

Sweet! I have just enough money for a sandwich. 

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Aaaaah, so tasty, Hopefully this tides me over until they serve the meal on the plane... 

(Joe's note: This is a very common street food in Cambodia- a pate sandwich. A slathering of salty minced meat paste and a sweet honey garlic sauce, two hunks of a pressed, processed meat, a pickle and shaved onions on crispy french bread. God I want one.)