Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, Cambodia *EDITED*

The Cambodian side of the Laos/Cambodia border.

We traveled with an Estonian, who bought deep-fried whole birds...

...and proceeded to try and eat the little guys like chicken (I think the locals would pop them in whole).

Siem Reap's Pub Street. 

A couple of the people we drank with. She's a German/Russian musician who carries around an Iranian Satar. He is a Canadian record producer living in Los Angeles but building clean water wells in the Rift Valley.

Fish foot massage.

We decided to follow the crowd, and booked the tourist bus from 4 thousand islands, Laos, all the way to Siem Reap, Cambodia. A journey that would take 15 hours, hotel to hotel. We got suckered into the $30 deal to have the bus company get us our visa at the border. Turned out to be the right move: the travelers who decided to take care of it themselves were hit with so many $1 to $5 "fees", we only paid an extra $2 with a lot fewer headaches. As the other foreigners got off at various stops along the way, it got down to one Estonian guy and us, left in a desolate bus stop, waiting for the bus to take us the last leg of our journey.

Arriving in Siem Reap we found a tuk tuk driver who agreed to call our hotel to get directions (and not take us to the hotel of his choosing, this is a bit of a feat here). We dropped our stuff in the room and set out for a late dinner and a drink. I'm not sure if it was the 15 hour trip, the lack of sleep or food or what, but I was pretty taken aback by the full-on party we arrived into. I should have expected it I guess (it is called Pub Street...) but I was thinking about visiting ancient religious ruins, not parties 'til sunrise and sex tourism.

We were also a little surprised at the aggressiveness of some of the vendors and beggars. As the third dirty kid with a baby on their hip came up and assured me they didn't want money, "just milk from the store for the baby", and I denied them as their nimble fingers felt across my pockets, the child left us with a "fuck you, lady". I knew we were not in Laos anymore. I recognize that anytime extreme poverty meets with hoards of tourist dollars they have every right to get as much of it they can. It was just more jarring I think than Thailand or Laos or even India.

We were warned by our hotel owner not to trust our tuk tuk driver, and he encouraged us to arrange a tour with him. We were warned by our tuk tuk driver that the hotel owner bad mouths drivers, and then he set up his teenaged cousin/brother to drive us instead of him. Our young driver in the end complained of how his cousin didn't pay him anything, and asked for more tip. The Cambodians we came across who were not actively involved in relieving us of our money were incredibly warm and friendly and seemed happy to have us there (yes, maybe because their family and friends were making their living off us). I know that we (the oft-mentioned hoards) and our dollars (the ATMs only give USD!?!) brought all this on ourselves, it's just hard to suffer personally for the transgressions of the masses.

Angkor Wat is the big draw in Siem Reap, and, is its main redeeming feature. The whole site (30+ open temples and other structures) really do live up to the hype. I will admit we've been a little "templed out" for months now, but we were able to easily fill our 3 days, and wish we had more time. Unfortunately, our sunrise and sunset experiences did not blow us away, we were plagued with unimpressive weather, over-zealous guards wanting to kick us out as soon as the ball of fire hit the horizon (just as the good stuff gets started!) and an over-sleeping teenage driver. Still, the rare occasions when we stumbled across small paths and followed them to deserted and over-grown ruins were enough to satisfy our intrepid explorer fantasies.

(this was left off the original post, sorry!)

Next time, (and there will be a next time as Matt has more time-lapse to do than 3 days allow) we might stay away from town, and pack our own lunch (lunch at Angkor cost more than the veggie Khmer feast, with beer, we had for dinner). We will not go see the sunrise at 5am, and then tour temples, after coming home from Angkor What? the dance club at 3. We will also try to stay longer and combine bike riding with taking a tuk tuk for the farther sites. Finally, we will have to visit more of Cambodia, to get away from the isolated areas of concentrated tourists.

All in all we had a fabulous, albeit complicated, time there.


- Bree

And now a bunch of photos of Angkor:

Our hostel owner with us as we leave Siem Reap. After this photo was taken, he said "I run now." and he ran away.

Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, India

Another overnight train took us out of Rajasthan, through Gujarat and into Maharashtra. We arrived in Jalgaon, another dusty transit town, and negotiated for an auto rickshaw to take us to Fardapur. The driver insisted he would be faster than the bus, and he was definitely cheaper than a car. The trip took about 2hrs, and the junction towns we passed were dusty and full of fumes. At the hotel "tourist resort" we chatted with a guy who had a gem store near the caves, and could give us a lift to the lookout in the morning. We knew this was a long-sell deal, all to get us in his shop, but we decided to take a chance. 

Early the next morning the gem guy showed up to let us know it was his brother who would be taking us. We probably should have expected this, but I think we were both a little surprised when he led us to his motorcycle. The three of us climbed on, the brother, then Matt, then me with the camera bag, all without helmets, and took off to the lookout. The kid was probably taking it easy for us, but at one point did take Matt's arms and pull them around him so Matt could grab the handlebars. We made it to the lookout, where, in 1819 John Smith and the rest of his British hunting party spotted the caves after 1200 years of obscurity. I have a feeling that the villagers nearby probably knew the caves were there, just didn't bother to tell anyone. A local guide probably even pointed them out to John Smith, but he's the one who gets credit (and even graffitied his name on a column). 

The caves are all Buddhist monasteries and assembly halls dating from the 2nd century BC to 6th century AD. What is even more remarkable than the carvings, is that some of the cave paintings remain. People say that the color has faded noticeably even in the last 10 years, and there are efforts to reduce further damage. The place was crawling with school groups, Indian families and Chinese tour groups. Many tourists took advantage of the hardworking porters who carried people up and down the stairs on palanquin chairs, but we opted for the traditional walking method. 

I was astounded at the size of the spaces and intricacy of carvings, but more so that someone would be wandering through the valley, look up, and say "Hey, I could carve that, why not?"  An interesting fact is that the Ajanta caves were essentially abandoned once Ellora was started, I guess even in 600 everyone was into the hot new thing. 

- Bree

The river gorge leading towards the caves, would be nice in monsoon season. 

The gorge as John Smith may have seen it (if he had a telescope, and with less vegetation and more toursits)

Caves 25-28

Looking across the horseshoe gorge at caves 15-28

A battle scene

Reclining Buddha

Lhasa, Tibet

The Potala Palace seen from the Jokhang Temple.

View from the roof of Jokhang Temple.

Lhasa, with the Sera Monastery at the foot of the mountains and a hermitage (yellow building) seen half way up.

Wooden printing blocks in the printing house of the Sera Monastery.

Student monks debate the philosophies of Buddhism.

Prayer flags after the sunset.

The iconic Potala Palace.

Hits of oxygen about 3 dollars at our hotel. We fortunately were fine with the altitude change.

Momos! Tibetan dumplings.

One of the many 'auspicious' peaks of the mountains that surround Lhasa (note the prayer flags).

The Potala Palace dominates the skyline at night.

We really are having a wonderful time in Lhasa. Our Tibetan guide and Tibetan tour organizer have made the experience really valuable.

Our first full day we visited the Jokhang temple in the morning. The devotion of the pilgrims prostrating themselves outside the temple (some of whom have made the 30 day trip from their village in this fashion) is moving. The temple was built 1300 years ago by the popular King Songsten Gampo. Originally it was built to house an image of Buddha brought to Tibet by the king's Nepalese wife, but it is actually the Jowa Sakyamuni (sacred statue of Buddha brought by the Chinese wife) that makes this temple the spiritual heart of Tibet.

In the afternoon we went to the Sera monastery, where pilgrims stand in line for hours to be blessed with health and longevity. Also, the young monks here spend their afternoons in active and lively debate about logic and philosophy (with lots of claps and stomps, I think to emphasize their points).

Today we visited Potala palace, which is a marvel in any century. Most notably it is the former residence of the Dalai Lama(s). It was also both the spiritual and governmental center of Tibet. Deep within the palace there are two chapels that remain from the original 7th century structure. The rest of the palace was built between the 17th and 20th century. It contains a thousand rooms, over 200,000 statues, and the tombs of 8 former Dalai Lamas (5, 7-13). There are a series of tunnels built throughout the palace in case the need arose to make a hasty exit. And there were, at one time, rumored to be hidden rooms that contained enough wealth to built the palace again. 

Later we wandered through the Tibetan and Muslim parts of town. People have been so much friendlier than we are used to, and are quick to smile back at us and thank us for using our poorly pronounced Tibetan greetings. It is low season, and it was particularly hard to get permits to visit the past few months, so other than a handful of Chinese tourists, and the pilgrims, we're it. We haven't seen any other foreigners, and we are the only guests in our hotel. 

- Bree