5 August 2007 · Comment [7]
A million billion pictures!
Oh man, I spent six hours uploading all these pictures on Cambodia’s freaking slow internet, so you better believe I’m gonna talk about all of them. Sorry if it takes another six hours to load them all, but it’s my site so I do what I want! Cackle.
Okay, this one was actually taken in Australia, but it marks the first time I’ve looked attractive in a picture on this entire trip, so it’s getting posted. Those rocks in the background are called The Three Sisters and there’s a cute little aboriginal legend about how they were formed that our park guide told us but it’ll probably just be boring if I try to retell it.
A bird! Check out that creepy yellow eye. Also Nick made a big deal about what kind of bird it is because sometimes they attack cats and people, but I’ve forgotten it now. Something like a Magpie or a Macaque or something but not those.
A temple! How awesome. This particular temple is at the top of Phnom Bakheng, where I watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat, which is the main reason why I went to Cambodia but it actually wasn’t my favorite temple, the tree-covered one was. More on that one later.
More of that temple! I guess there’s not a whole lot to say about most of these temple pictures. On an unrelated note, this random guy just passed me and said “Smile!” and high-fived me because I guess I looked all concentratey. Thailand is so freaking awesome. Also more on that later.
Some stairs! They look like they’re in Cambodia but they’re really in Australia, in the Blue Mountain Park where we saw wild kangaroos a-roamin’ free but I couldn’t get any good pictures but whatever, still adorable.
Angkor Wat! The big momma of all temples. This was taken at sunrise from Phnom Bakheng, which means I had to climb a small mountain in pitch blackness with naught but my tiny flashlite and the completely awesome tuk tuk driver’s cell phone because he was awesome enough to walk up with me and make sure I didn’t get mugged in the dark. Heart heart heart.
Ta Prohm! O I love it. I think this tree was in the Tomb Raider movie, which helped skyrocket Ta Prohm to popularity with the tourists so now “real travelers” turn their noses up at it but it’s so pretty! So basically their opinion is wrong.
Sunset over rice paddies near Phnom Khrom. I for one am flabbergasted that I remember all these places’ names.
This kid came up to us and showed us his huge beetle on a leash! So awesome. He made it fly like a kite and it looked none too pleased.
A hole in a tree! How neat. This is actually in Australia, too. They uploaded all funny because the internet in Cambodia was so freaking slow that I put them up in these weird chunks and now they’re all out of order ;..(
The dreaded Spung Tree! Um yeah, that’s it. I’m a child. Oh also this is one of the trees growing out of Ta Prohm.
A carving from Angkor Wat. Yup, neat.
Another carving from Angkor Wat. This one I can tell you stuff about, because it’s one of the things the guide told us about like sixteen times until I wanted to stab myself. She’s an apsara dancer, which was a type of dancing that was supposed to be godlike and it used to be reserved for just royalty but nowadays it gets shown to everyone so that the artform can be preserved. Knowledge is power!
Oh man, I know it’s wrong to think this is funny because I certainly could never write “Do not climb on the structure” in Khmer, but still! Do not clumbing! I wanted to tell them it should be “Do not clumb on the structure” but then I was like “No, get ahold of yourself, you’re acting like a nine-year-old again.”
Tee hee, clumbing.
Oh curses, on closer inspection this one is blurry and I think I deleted all my other attempts to free up memory. I still kind of like it a lot. It was taken inside the Ta Prohm main temple.
More from Ta Prohm! What an awesome temple. To see this, you have to sort of climb (“clumb”, if you will) under some rubble and it’s kind of scary. Oh man, update! The high five guy came back and gave me a free little chakra-opening massage and I feel so ridiculously great now. Wow, this is just absurd. And this is awkward, but he blew into my nose and now my head feels like a million times better and not at all like I’ve been living out of a backpack for the past five weeks! Definitely going to his shop after I’m done with the internet.
This was in Angkor Wat. It’s some walls and the jungle. Yep.
This is also in Angkor Wat. It’s some rocks. Yup.
The gate to Angkor Thom! Score one more for remembering the names of places. Those statues on the sides are gods on the left and demons on the right. They’re holding Naga the many-headed snake’s body. They also did this to churn the Ocean of Milk in order to distill it into the Elixir of Life, which the gods made sure the demons didn’t get by sending apsara dancers to distract them. Yay, facts! I begrudgingly guess that it’s good that the guide told us these facts like fifteen million times because now I remember them.
Another one of the gate to Angkor Thom. Taken through my sunglasses because I wish I could put lenses on my camera but I guess they’d be too much to carry anyway.
A temple in Angkor Thom! Called the Bayon. With huge faces staring out into the jungle. Me likey.
This is Banteay Srei, which is also called the Pink Temple because its stone has a slightly pinkish hue. Some consider it to be the jewel in the crown of Angkor because it’s the most intricately carved. These facts courtesy of Lonely Planet Cambodia, so I guess you don’t need to suffer through an agonizingly hot and slow day with a tour guide to learn facts. Ha!
I think this is more of the temple on top of Phnom Bakheng at sunrise. Way to be pretty, temples!
Jono shows his excitement at being at the Dead Fish Cafe, where we had our first meal in Cambodia that was both delicious and filling. Then the next day we discovered the Blue Pumpkin and had lunch there for the next three days because it was so awesomely tastey and air-conditioned and vegetabley.
A duck! At the Dead Fish Cafe. They had three running free and they follow you around whenever you get near them.
A crocodile inside the cafe! It’s called the Dead Fish Cafe because you get to feed dead fish to their crocodiles for fifty cents. It was awesome. That’s when one of them tried to eat another one’s head, as discussed in the last entry.
Inside Angkor Wat. To get to this part you have to climb these frighteningly steep and narrow steps which have killed multiple people because getting to the gods’ realm shouldn’t be easy. This fact courtesy of Lonely Planet.
Colgate! Awesome.
Oh great, I’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for a new pair of adadases! The adidas logo gets abused soooo much here. Earlier today I saw one that said “sdisas”. I’m thinking it’s like white people getting “Asian” tattoos.
A window in Angkor Wat. This was taken right before I was so captivated by the sunset that I tripped over some uneven stone and ate it and bloodied myself up but good. And of course the next day was when I had to climb Phnom Bakheng and basically now my knees hate me.
Angkor Wat right after it rained. Rain was crazy in Cambodia because the sky would open up in a matter of seconds but the deluge would only last for like five minutes. It was a pretty nice system because the rain really calmed down the brutal heat.
A lion in Angkor Wat! It’s missing most of its face. Oh and while we’re on the subject of proper apostrophe usage, apparently that is not a subject they teach in Australia because there were signs all over the place for “PIE’S!” and “MENS POLO SHIRT’S!” It was ridiculous. Wish I’d taken a million pictures.
Angkor Wat! The picture that you’re required to take when you go there. Except mine might be crooked? I don’t know, I blame the heatstroke.
More Angkor Wat! I like it. Those green tarps are for reconstruction. There’s some cool technique they use to reconstruct broken down carvings really accurately and I don’t understand it but I wish I did. Someday I’ll google that junk.
A gloriously intricate caving in Banteay Srei! Way to go, ancient Cambodia.
This tree is growing out of the top of Ta Prohm. Awesomepants.
And that’s the end of the pictures! A quick story on the magicality of Thailand: today I wanted to go to the Chatuchak weekend market (sooo huge and awesome and worth it), but I had no freaking idea how to get to the Skytrain to get there. So one guy in the hotel (who incidentally was really good at speaking English, as are a ton of people here, which is humbling because I’m having a hard time just figuring out how to pronounce “thank you” in Thai) drew me a map but of course I got lost and then I asked a European couple on the street and they helped as much as they could but then! This awesome Thai guy came up to me and told me exactly how to get to the Skytrain and then it turned out he was going to the weekend market too and offered to take me there. So at first I was like “I’m a girl alone in Bangkok and this is super dangerous, ack!” but he was finishing his lunch at a restaurant and all the staff seemed to know him and think he was a good guy and we talked for a while and I didn’t get any serial killer vibe from him, which I know didn’t stop John Wayne Gacy or anything, but I still had a good feeling because he was so friendly and telling me all about himself and even bought me an awesome Thai iced tea, so he seemed like good people! And then he showed me around the gorgeous hotel he’s going to open up in a week or so and all the workers seemed really friendly and not at all like they worked for a serial killer and then he drove me to the weekend market and it was such an unexpected kindness and it really warmed my withered little distrustful heart! How rad.
Now I’m going to get some pad thai and a delicious chocolate and banana crepe for a DOLLAR and get some new sneakers! Because I left my too-small ones for someone in Cambodia and it’s strangely unnerving to go through life with nothing but sandals. So yeah, Bangkok is amazing. We’re thinking about spending all week here but I’d still like to go to a beach for a few days because Thailand’s beaches are supposed to be perfect. Also, it’s great to hear that so many of you got your postcards, let me know if anyone else wants one. Later, dudes!
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oops. Totally got the postcard. Mount DOOM! Curses! Who will go to third world temples with me now?
— Dudanne · Aug 5, 02:57 PM · #
Love the pictures and the commentary, but we could have waited until you got home to hear about your ride to the Chatuchak Market. Thanks for sharing this fantastic experience with all of us! We love you and miss you.
— Mom & Dad · Aug 6, 04:36 AM · #
Hey, SB. Your pictures are beautiful! I’m glad to see that you’re meeting nice people and hopefully learning Apsaras dancing so you can distract evil demons.
I can’t wait to see your pictures from Japan. I think the internet there is like a million times faster.— Chris G. · Aug 6, 02:38 PM · #
The pictures are incredible! Especially the giant beetle on the leash. Props for calling those folks out on their orthographic tomfoolery.
I’d request a postcard, but don’t know which address to give you for the moment, so I think I shall wait for Eastern Europe.
— Nate · Aug 7, 02:05 AM · #
On the note of the Spung tree, are you thinking of “Space Cases”? Because that’s certainly what I’m thinking of. Thinking of green lizard people jumping out of trees, mmmhmmmmm…
— Catie · Aug 7, 02:21 PM · #
Suzanne, I’ll totally go to all the third world temples with you! Let’s go in the winter though so we don’t want to collapse from heat stroke every day. Ah miss choo!
Sorry for getting you worried that I’m giong to die, Mom and Dad! I’m being really safe, I promise you. And I also promise no more getting in cars with strangers.
Chris, I totally mastered Apsara dancing while I was in Cambodia. I’ll have to show you next time we get together. It looks surprisingly like when you eat a monkey brain.
Thanks for the compliment, Nathar! I miss you and hope you’re having a fantastic time at Microsoft. I’ll be sure to send you a ton of postcards from Eastern Europe.
Catie, I KNEW Spung sounded familiar! Woo, Space Cases!
— Sarah Beth · Aug 8, 06:21 AM · #
my heeeero! what an amazing time! thanks for all the pictures! I’m in Carmel Valley drooling, but not dying of heat stroke though so I guess I should count my blessings! haha
— Jovanna · Aug 13, 02:56 PM · #