Indiana Polansky

Day Eleven: 2/22 – Siem Reap (Angkor Temples) Day Two
Title: Indiana Polansky

Today Dad decided that he wanted to spend our free day exploring more of the Angkor temples. The one he was most interested in visiting was roughly an hour car ride from our hotel. I have my computer and my iPod with me in the car (that’s where I am as I write this), so I don’t really care how much time we spend in the car. It is actually nice to have a chance to blog today before midnight ;~>

It is clear based on the roads that there is great business potential for the Papé Group in Cambodia. I think Uncle Randy should come here immediately and start selling steamrollers. The hindquarters of millions of tourists a year would appreciate it. There are some paved roads but of course what dad wanted to see wasn’t on them ;~> It got so rough that I had to put puter away. Typing was just too difficult and the violent bouncing seemed to be disagreeing with my screen.

The first temple we saw today was Banteay Srei. This is a temple made for little people. It is seriously a miniature version of a temple. Cambodian lore suggests it was likely built BY women because of its exquisite detail. It is also thought that it may have been built FOR women because of its small size. More specifically, some of the doors are only three and half feet tall. It was fun to wander around the place and feel like a giant. (I’ve always wanted to be taller ;~) The details in the sand stone carving are absolutely incredible. Like the Palace in Bangkok, it is mind boggling to imagine how long it must have taken to hand make each detail. I would be shocked if anyone lived long enough to see the project through from start to finish. The pictures will certainly demonstrate this better than my words ever could. One other differentiating thing about this temple is that it was built with red (as opposed to a grayish color) sand stone. This detail causes many to believe Banteay Srei is “the most beautiful temple”.

Our second stop of the day was The Cambodian Landmine Museum. What a sad place. As I am sure most of you know Cambodia has historically been very war torn. Much of the fighting was territorial in nature and land mines were often a weapon of choice. One of the first signs I read was very poignant in describing a sad truth of land mines. They are designed to maim, not to kill. The philosophy behind this is that a wounded soldier is more strenuous on an opposing army’s resources than a dead one. Sadly in terms of battle strategy I think this makes a lot of sense.

Initially when landmines were used in wars they were mapped so that when fighting ceased they could be removed or the areas containing them could be avoided. Unfortunately over time that practice was discontinued, creating unknown mine fields all over rural Cambodia (and many other countries). Children throughout the world are inherently inquisitive. They like to run, play, dig and see what they can find. Cambodian children are no different. Unfortunately for them this has often resulted in lost eyes, hands, feet, legs and arms.

An amazing man named Aki Ra started the Cambodian Landmine Museum. I encourage you to read this brief background on him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ra. The museum has grown from its humble beginnings to the point that it now includes a school and residences for children effected by landmines. All of you should add Aki to your list of prayers. He certainly has a heart of gold and is undoubtedly doing a GREAT work.

The Banteay Samre temple was our third stop of the day. This may be my favorite temple of the trip thus far. I think I probably enjoyed it more because there were very few tourists. There were also much fewer restrictions on where we could tromp around. We climbed up ledges, walked on narrow paths, hung in windows and jumped off walls. I felt like Indiana Polansky in this place. And I liked it ;~> Today’s attached photo was shot in this temple.

We concluded our two days of touring Angkor by viewing West Baray. This is the biggest fricken manmade reservoir you have ever seen. It is rectangular in shape and roughly 8 by 2.1 kilometers. That’s roughly 5 by 1.3 miles for those of you scoring at home. According to Tim it is more then 20 feet deep in most places. Imaging digging that sucker by hand!

As with all tourist destinations the West Baray had a row of shops and lots of people pushing their wares. However, this area seemed a little bit more local oriented than most of the others. There was a barrage of food stalls cooking things that westerners would clearly not eat. One of the classic delicacies, cockroaches, was present. I tried to talk dad into eating one but he was having no part of it. We stopped to look at some fruit in front of one stand and the two girls behind it started giggling at me. This was the fist time I had my iPod on me outside of the van, so I thought their giggles may have had to do with that. I took my earphones out of my ears, smiled and said “huh”. They just giggled more. It was clear that they didn’t speak any English. Later Tim told me what they were laughing about was how much they wanted beautiful white skin like mine. Clearly my plans of getting a tan are not going well ;~>

On our way into town after the temple touring I spotted a great basketball hoop. I had been looking for one throughout our two plus hours of driving to no avail. Had I been looking for a volleyball court (I use that term loosely), I would have had no trouble. I was really surprised that more kids seemed to be playing volleyball than any other game, including “futball”. I am pleased that even though I didn’t get to sleep in today I did accomplish my goal of finding a Cambodian hoop.

Once we arrived in town we took Tim and the driver, whose name I finally learned is Oneway (at least phonetically ;~), to a late lunch. Tim picked the restaurant. We ate in a little a Chinese place with lots of flies but really good food. We had fun picking Tim’s brain one last time about Cambodian culture.

After lunch Tim took us back to the hotel. I took a nap and dad got another massage. He paid a lot this time… $22 for an hour and a half ;~>

We decided to explore the downtown with our last night in Siem Reap. The night market was the smallest we have seen on this trip. Interestingly enough, most of the shops were closed by nine and it is Friday night. I don’t know how that constitutes a night market… but whatever.

We had a great meal in a place called “The Warehouse”. Dad ate more Cambodian curry and I had a fabulous fruit and pork sandwich. The bread is surprisingly good here because of the historical French influence. For dessert we shared a crème brule and a fried banana dish. Fried bananas are uber popular in both Thailand and Cambodia. These were more fritter like and I think they were my favorite that we have sampled thus far.

There is a surprisingly happening alley filled with pubs. I was really pumped with one thing in particular that I saw on this street. There was a very attractive tall dark and handsome man walking with what appeared to be his mother down the road. Everyone please pray that they join us on the boat tomorrow!

We have had a GREAT trip thus far. I know you all think I am joking or crazy to be nervous about the start of the boat trip tomorrow… but I seriously am. The size of the cabin and ship are of particular concern, along with the age of the other passengers and the EIGHT day duration. I don’t care that much about the food because I still have a small army’s supply of Luna Bars that can get me through if necessary. I assuredly will keep you posted on the developments. It is my sincerest hope that I will be able to report my three-months of premeditated cabin fever were unfounded.

I am not sure how my Internet access will be the next eight days, so you may hear from me sparingly. I will continue to write about our adventures. In the event that I can’t send the blog throughout the duration of the cruise, you may want to schedule some free time for March 2. Undoubtedly I will have written a novel by then!

I’m going to close tonight with what seems to be one of the most popular segments of the blog: The Dr. P. fun fact of the day.

The first plane trip my dad ever took was in 1951. He was eight years old (yes now you can do the math on how old he is… in fact I will tell you… he turns 65 this week). He flew with his family (mom, dad and sister) from Philadelphia, PA to Seattle, WA. Not surprisingly it was on United Airlines (I think that is when his first love affair started ;~) It was United’s Main Line Service. The aircraft, or “equipment” as they call it in the biz, was a DC-6. He remembers it seating roughly 35 people. Flying at this time was a big deal. He and his dad wore suits and his mom wore a hat (evidently that was dressy then?) Planes didn’t have the long-haul capability that they do now, so they had to stop four times. Refueling stops were made in Detroit, Chicago, Denver and Portland. A meal was served on every segment and the drinks were free flowing. They sat two by two but faced each other. I am not sure who flew backwards. If I know my grandma, it was probably Barbara and dad. Fourteen hours after leaving Philadelphia they finally made it to Seattle. Thank goodness for the invention of the jet engine!

I’ll write again as the connections on the Mekong River Delta allow.

Be blessed,

Katy