Week of Antiquity (Part 2)

After Hue we went to Siem Reap, Cambodia, which is where Angkor Wat and a lot of the other ancient temples of the Angkor people are. The first day we went to 4 different temples which were in varying conditions today, some were in pristine condition and others in almost total ruin, overtaken by trees and plants. A lot of the temples had these intricite carvings on them, sometimes along a whole wall in sort of a mosaic that told a Hindu epic story. My favorite story was about some woman god who was angry and stole all the treasure of the people and hid it at the bottom of a sea of milk. So the gods and demons tug on opposite ends of a huge snake to churn the sea of milk for 1000 years trying to get the treasure. Then after 1000 years (after all that tugging) the snake vomits poison all over the sea. Then Shiva, the God of Destruction, drinks the milky poison so that they can get back their treasure and all these dancing ladies popped out of the sea. Seriously??

This is me kissing a God.

We went to another temple which the guide was super excited to tell us was the temple that was used in the film Tomb Raider with Anjelina Jolie. He probably told us about her 10 or 12 times. He pointed out the exact tree that is in the movie and told us all about how she and Brad Pitt adopted a Cambodian orphan. I never saw the movie but the site was certainly film-worthy.

The last day we went on a boat ride on the Tonle Sap lake. The lake is enormous, and from one side you can't see the other. Apparently though, during the dry season the lake is only a quarter of the size it is now. It creates this unique environment where there are underwater forests. During the dry season the trees and plants are in the earth, above water, and in the wet season they are completely underwater. We were there in the middle, so we saw half-trees exposed. On the lake we went birdwatching and went to a floating village. There is no land near the village so everything has its own boat: houses, gardens, community centers, schools, shops. To get from one place to another you have to row yourself there. Everyone who lived there seemed to have incredible balance.

I would say one of my favorite parts about Cambodia is the Khmer food. It's way spicier and more flavorful than Vietnamese food, which is a lot of rice or noodles with garlicky green vegetables (for a vegetarian at least). For breakfast I tried a Khmer rice porridge which is basically rice soup: rice in broth with onions and scallions and chilles andother veggies. Meals in general are heavy on curries with rice: lemongrass, pineapple, sweet basil, chiles, green mangos, papaya and peanuts are all big ingredients. Yum.