Angkor What

Climbing to the top of Angkor wat, up the steep steps, is all part of the experience. Apparently they made the steps steep so that people couldn’t ascend upright, but rather, had to scramble upwards so that they would enter the temple with their head bowed. A way of making sure they showed enough respect. And as steep as it looked from the bottom looking up, it was nothing compared to how steep it looked from the top looking down. The final level is the one with the spires at the top and the view out over the temple and moat was amazing and well worth the climb. As you can see there are areas off limits to climbing, and places to sit for those who would rather sit and read than make the ascent, and new steps with handrails for the less adventuresome. Angkor wat is listed in most books as one of the places that you must see before you die, or is that great places to see where you might die while visiting just trying to get up and down the stairs.

Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623829548796/

Lore

After crossing the moat the first thing that strikes you is the ornate detail carved onto the walls and pillars. Discovered in 1860 and while one level of the temple once housed over 1,000 statues and images of Buddha, nearly all of the carvings tell Hindu stories of flying monks, three headed elephants, giant turtles, monkey warriors led by their monkey generals, stories of 7 headed serpents, great battles, the creation of the universe and other Hindu legends, lore and symbolism. And now that I think about it there may even have been a story of a dog and a lion guarding a mountain or a river or something....

Big river

We rented a tuk tuk for the day for $12 to drive us to Angkor Wat. Turning a corner and driving along a wide river we got our first glimpse of the famous image of Angkor with the 3 spires rising into the sky. The feeling of approaching such a well preserved and important temple, that is at least 1,000 years old, made me wish I had been taught more of the history of this part of the world. A culture that was thriving artistically and spiritually while Europe wallowed in the dark ages. We enjoyed the walk across the bridge being guarded by ancient broken lion like creature and a sleeping dog. Neither the dog nor the lion stirred as we crossed over to Angkor Wat. When I climbed to the top of the central tower I was astonished as it turns out this ‘big river’ is in fact just a moat around Angkor Wat. The moat is 200 metres wide and certainly makes any of the moats we saw in Europe seem pretty insignificant. While I had been impressed with the moat in the Czech republic that had bears in it. This moat was impressive as well for it was said to have been populated with crocodiles. I am glad that the crocodiles are gone and only a sleepy dog and an ancient lion are all that are left guarding the place from unwanted visitors. The crossing of the amazing moat seemed the perfect way to approach this ornately detailed temple.

Cambodia

When we flew into Siem Reap Cambodia, the city closest to Angkor wat, we met a friend we had made in Ireland, Michael. It was great to see a new old friend in this old part of the world. The first thing we did was buy a 3 day pass to see the temples, as that was the minimum that guidebooks or people we’d met had recommended. I thought it would be a bit of overkill because, we have been to the largest temples and cathedrals in Europe and who’d want to spend 3 days wandering around even a big temple here in Cambodia? But I had completely underestimated the size and scale of these ancient monuments. Angkor wat may be the main temple location, however this area is filled with a series of over 500 temples and cities. In the 12th century, when this area was the capital of Cambodia, it was home to over 1 million people (compare that to London which at the time had a population of about 18000).

Eggsalent ideas

Roe and Caviar are edible eggs, produced by fish, that have found their own special place in the food of the rich and famous..... however, when we came across this stand at a market selling small fried quail eggs I thought 'now here is a cute idea' for the not so rich and not so famous... my brother's son Tee quite likes downing a dozen eggs for a snack.... I can see these small egg stands catching on even better than the gourmet egg market like those for those selling fish eggs.

Egg stands

Move aside Quail, Roe and Caviar because in Thailand the gourmet egg stands are already cracking. A dozen quail eggs are nothing compared to a few thousand fried squid eggs available at these squid egg franchise stands..... of course if it catches on it will be copied by the big market chains.... then we will see KFS stores and McSquid everywhere..... but until then remember where you saw it first.

Panda's in Thailand?

Everyone knows that panda's are China's thing not Thailands. Thailand is about elephants and crocodiles. But when the panda at the Bangkok zoo gave birth there was a large outpouring of interest and attention for the baby panda. Not to be outdone by the panda the elephants and crocodiles tried to figure out how to capitalize on the panda craze..... I for one like the elepandas and crocapandas.