Ta Prohm was one of my favorite temples, not for the temple itself, but for the trees that have made Ta Prohm their home. The trees add such an amazing element to Ta Prohm, sad as it may be. When the trees grow they eventually become support for the structure grown, but when the trees die or fall from a storm they the structure collapses. As a result, there is much construction going on at Ta Prohm right now.
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Boy 2's teacher ask me to do a presentation on Cambodia for his class. I struggled with what to talk about for these 15 minutes with a bunch of 4th graders. First we talked about where Cambodia is....many of the children have been to Thailand or Vietnam so they were easily able to visualize where Cambodia is. I then mentioned to them that many Cambodian homes do not have running water or electricity, which immediately grabbed their attention and one boy (in shock) said "that means they don't have Xbox!" After talking about the many things that require electricity one child raise her hand and said "Mrs. Trish, you said they don't have running water - where do they go to the bathroom?" In the end I need WAY more than 15 minutes with these kids! Here are a few things I shared with them: - The average income for a Cambodian family is $1 USD PER DAY. Yes, you read that correctly, PER DAY. (In Phnom Penh it is triple that, but overall this is the average income - can you imagine?) - By 5 years of age older children in the family are expected to help with the younger children. - By age 10 girls are expected to help with basic household chores (washing clothes in the river or body of water as there are very few washing machines), doing dishes, waking up early to cook. - By age 10 boys are expected to be able to take care of the livestock and the family farm. - During the teen years boys often become monks. - Marriage - girls marry between the ages of 16 & 22, men marry between the ages of 19 & 25. Parents and matchmakers pick whom you marry. - If you do not wake before sunrise you are considered lazy. - Children go to school very early and are done by 10 or 11AM - after school they go to work. The picture below is of a young boy getting his bathwater. He took a bath right there with me taking pictures and all. PALM SUGAR It starts with this: They crack the palms open drain the juice out and cook it over a VERY HOT fire. I have no idea how long they cook it. But at some point they take it off the fire and start stirring... ...and stirring.... ...and stirring... ...until it gets to the right consistency. When it is just right they put it in jars or these little molds to dry: And then they put it on their table to sale. They sell them for next to nothing, and for tourist they raise the price. If you don't haggle with them they giggle. Little do they know I am more than happy to pay $2 for a jar of fresh Palm Sugar and more than happy to give them a little more money than they think their product is worth so they can have a little extra this month. Leftover dried bits - yum. A sweet baby girl I fell in love with. I bought a basket from her Momma just because she was so stinkin' cute.
I found this awesome little sign in a bathroom somewhere along the way. I thought you guys might enjoy it. For those that need help: 1- No smoking 2 - This is a western toilet, please don't squat on the toilet. 3 - I'm really not sure what this is all about....maybe don't wash your feet with the hose (In Asian bathrooms they have a hose with a spray nozzle on it, you know like the old school ones we have in kitchen sinks in America) 4 - Don't use the hose to take a shower Srah Srang - a small landing/terrace type place where you can go and sit, relax and be close to nature (or gods if you are Hindu or Buddhist - or any other religion I suppose.) This little landing is under construction right now so I didn't take too many pictures. I do love this one though - the water you see in the picture has been here for more than 9 centuries without drying up! Pretty cool because it really isn't that big. Banteay Kdei - right across the street from Srah Srang. On the way there we were accosted by children selling things. Like I have said before they are good sales people. Just a word to the wise: if you don't plan to buy from these children don't give them hope and say "Maybe on the way out". They REMEMBER and they look for you. "Hey lady, I remember you, you buy from me." And you are screwed and will end up with more bracelets and ornaments for your Christmas tree than you will know what to do with. Banteay Kdei was built in the late 12th to early 13th Century. This is an image that will always come to mind when thinking of Cambodia. Walking his cows in front of the temple. We saw this in many of the temples - Buddha dressed and decorated. You can put money in the box and get a bracelet tied around your wrist, light and incense and pray to Buddha here. I know for many this has meaning, but to me it took away from the beauty of the temple.....just my opinion. I was kind of afraid to walk under this....doesn't it look like it could crumble at any moment? So old and so cool.... I love the natural beauty of how the trees just grew where ever they wanted.... I'm a lucky girl in so many ways.
This 'little' temple was AWESOME! Everywhere you looked there were carving. It was more decorated than any of the other temples. I took over 200 pictures here - don't worry I've narrowed it down to about 30 for you. The temple's name, Banteay Srei means "Citadel of the Women" or perhaps "Citadel of Beauty". The actual name of the temple was Tribhuvanamahesvara (try saying that 3 times fast!) which meant "Great Lord of the Threefold World". I have no idea why they changed the name to Banteay Srei except that it is easier to say. :o) Srei was not a royal temple unlike the other temples I have showed you. If you will notice this temple is tiny. Everything about it is small. OH, and this temple is a bit off the beaten path, so it wasn't discovered until 1914! It was believed to have been built between the years of 967-1000! HOLY OLD. One of the oldest temples we visited. East entrance Notice Indra on his three headed elephant mount (below)? 32 boundary stones line the causeway. Not the best picture but the only one I took of the tilting wall. (I think after 1,100 years or so I would be tilting too!) Narasimha about to take a bite out of Hiranyakasipu. OUCH! My handsome peering out a window. Again....lots of the columns I love... A very cool double gopura (entrance, gateway). Isn't the detail amazing? Remember we talked about the lotus flower? Not only were they etched in the temples, they were growing in the water all around the temples as well. As Cambodia went from Hindu to Buddhist many of the heads were removed from the temples, as you can see in the bottom of this picture. Most of the guardian's in the next few pictures are copies and all are damaged. Thieves could not tell the difference between the copies and the real thing so they continued to steal from the temple. The original statues are in the National Museum in Phnom Penh. All of these guardians have human bodies but the heads vary.
No words are need for this post, but who are we kidding. I can't not talk - I need tell you what is going on or how I am feeling at the time...so I will try to keep my words to a minimum. I become very sad and humbled when thinking of this market..... As we were walking through I heard a baby crying, I looked over and saw his Mom holding him. I looked closer and noticed he was hooked up to an IV. As I looked even closer I notice this was a clinic or hospital of sorts. There were many sick people, some had curtains around them, some had cots, some just had plastic chairs. The clinic looked very much like this store. Dirt floor, no electicity, flies everywhere and the temperature is in the 90's. It was at this is the moment I decided I want to come back to Cambodia on some sort of mission trip. I don’t know what I can do to help, but I am sure there is something. I would really like to hear your feedback...Are you enjoying this trip to Cambodia? Did any of the pictures strike you, pull at your heartstrings or did you whiz right past them? What was your favorite? Do you want to see more pictures of daily life in Cambodia?
On our way to the temples today this is a little of what we saw: Every morning we went out I couldn't get over how surreal everything seems to me. My heart aches for the people of Cambodia, even though (as I have mentioned before) they are happy. Before entering Banteay Samre we checked out the causeway and cruciform terrace. This is something many tourists miss because they go directly into Banteay Samre. I'm so glad we didn't miss this part. It was beautiful! The terrace is believed to have been added many years after Banteay Samre was built. Banteay Samre was believed to have been built during the first half of the 12th century and the terrace was added in the 13th century. SIDE NOTE: even though the weather looks beautiful, it was SCORCHING HOT!! We always had fans out and we were drinking water constantly. Banteay Samre: Even though this temple was smaller than many of the others it was one of my favorite. You will see the lotus flower in many of the temples. Many (if not all) of these temples were built as Hindu temples. In the Hindu faith the lotus flower stand for beauty, fertility, prosperity, spirituality, and eternity. Then over the years Cambodia switch to Buddhist country and the lotus flower for Buddhist represents purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness. Every time Hubby and I travel we try to buy a print from a local artist. Today we bought from this man. The picture we bought is the one closest to you. It is of the floating village. He says he only paints from his mind, not from photographs. :o) Next we stopped at another little store along the roadside. This one was more upscale than the average roadside shop. I was shocked to see how well dressed and groomed this young lady is. She told me she is 14 and this is what her family does for a business and they make good money. She is holding a traditional instrurment (we bought it) that sells for $8. This is the only picture I have of our driver, Mr. Tola. He is showing us how the instruments are played. Around the temples children are taught to sell things they make and they are taught to be persistent. The two most popular things they sell are ornaments for your Christmas tree and bracelets. I will forever remember children chanting "Hey lady, bracelets are 10 for one dallar..." (I intentionally spelt it dallar) and then they start counting in English. And then they tell you "Washington DC is you capital." Some kids were a little more creative and would say "Buy one get nine free!" And if you bought from one, had to buy from all because they just would not leave you alone. We gave money to these kids and it was amazing how many other children came out once they saw us passing out cash. Just a sweet girl taking her little brother somewhere.... (That is what is going on in my mind anyway.) I have pictures of one more temple we did this day but for the life of me I can't figure out which one it was!! I'll post about it tomorrow - it was really cool. Anyway, I'll end today with dinner - This is a green curry of some sort. I must say Cambodian food was NOT my favorite. It is Thai inspired, but it just doesn't match up to Thai - Cambodian food is much more bland. Although I was a fan of the prices in Cambodia: Mango shake + Banana shake + 4 beers + 2 meals = $9 USD. Remember in Cambodia you pay in US dollars. Unless the price is less than $1 USD, then you use Cambodian Riels:
Day 1 continued: All the temples, gates and terraces I will write about are a part of Angkor Wat. We visited 14 in all - they all vary in size, so hang on tight for the next few days we will race through the temples of Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom dates back to the late 12th century. There are 5 gates in all. We entered Angkor Thom through the South Gate as it is the gate that has been restored the most. To get to the gate you must cross a moat and it is lined by an avenue of statues. There are statues on either side carrying the body of a giant serpent - a seven headed naga. It is believed that the purpose of the naga was to guard the city's royal wealth and to link the world of men (outside the temple) to the world of the gods. On the left side the figures are gods: On the right side you will find asuras (demons). The naga, seven headed serpent: The south gate. The gates are 23m high and have a triple tower carved with four faces. The base of the gate on either side is a three headed elephant, Airavata, it is plucking lotus flowers with its trunk. A view of the entrance to the South gate - from this view asuras are on the left and gods on the right. (Isn't this amazing?!) Just a super cool tree. The trunk and branches were silver. These trees were all over Cambodia. On the road to Bayon: People on their way to work - I found it very interesting that people cut through the grounds of Angkor Wat to get to work, many people actually work on the grounds; children are selling anything they can get their hands on from fruit, to bracelets, to paper ornaments they make, to water and some just beg. I tried to get the picture before they started getting off the motorbike. That is right, 5 people on that motorbike! Do you see what I see? That's right, free roaming MONKEYS!! We bought bananas from children to feed the monkeys. These little boogers were SCARY!! Hubby handed the bananas to the monkeys; I didn't want them to get too close to me so I just tossed them. Bayon - Construction was believed to have begun around the turn of the 13th century, about the year 1200. 1200! Over 800 years ago! Woozer! Bayon is like a maze. You can enter at multiple points - it has narrow chambers, corridors and stairways. You can spend hours roaming around this amazing temple. Bayon was HUGE and there were stories being told on all the walls. Can you believe these were HAND carved over 800 years ago? I'm amazed. I also feel very blessed to have visited at this time; we can walk right in, climb through the temple touch the walls and just be up close and personal with the temples. Face towers: It is believed that there were originally 49 towers - today only 37 are standing. Isn't it amazing? How did they get them up there so many years ago? Elephant Terrace & Leper King Terrace - Elephant Terrace is on the far end of this picture & Leper King Terrace is closer to you. Elephant Terrace was built first in the late 12th century and Leper King Terrace was added later in the early 13th century. The Terraces were the foundation for royal receptions. And this concludes today's tour....see you all tomorrow!
Day one in Siem Reap we slept late and didn't make it to breakfast until a little after 8AM. Cambodian Fact: If you sleep past sun rise you are considered lazy. Trish & Hubby Fact: We were lazy for most of our trip. The top thing I wanted to do in Cambodia was the Floating Village (Yeah, it beat out Angkor Wat for me....I know, call me crazy) so after our lazy morning we met our personal tuk-tuk driver for the week, Mr. Tola and headed out to for our first adventure. Cambodian Fact: The driving in Cambodia is CRAZY. It appears that most people drive on the right side of the road - unless they don't want to, then they don't. I can't tell you how many times it looked like we were going to have a head on collision. There was only 1 traffic light in Siem Reap. Most roads were dirt with the exception of the few going into the main part of town. Cambodian Fact - In Cambodia they use the US dollar for anything over $1. If the price is under $1 they use Cambodian Riel. After driving by tuk-tuk for about 45 minutes we arrived safely at our destination. To travel to Kompong Phluk Village you must take a boat (duhhh). We paid $15 USD per person and traveled on our own personal long boat. Our driver was an 18 year old young man who spoke a little English. Life on the river: How to get from here to there: Very young children were out in boats, alone or with friends/siblings. These two boys stole my heart. I had so much fun photographing them. They were so cute and didn't have a care in the world. They were playing and just having a good time...life is hard for these boys but they don't know it, so maybe it really isn't that hard. I tried to imagine my boys being out there - I would FREAK out - I need to know where they are ALL the time. I could never trust Boys 2 & 3 on a boat. Are you kidding me? They would have flipped the boat and started fighting over the oars. I wish I knew how to get this picture to their Mommas. When we arrived at the village there were more boats with women and children in them waiting to give tours through the village and in the mangroves. We opted to take one at $8 per person. This is our tour guide, a young lady that I would guess to be about 15 years old. She wasn't feeling well, but she worked through it and gave us our tour. Hubby and I felt really bad and wanted to take over the rowing, but out little boat was SO SMALL we were afraid to move as we were afraid it would tip over. Even though my heart was breaking at every turn the one thing I noticed was that people seemed happy and there was so much LAUGHTER. The laughter in Cambodia is contagious. Giggling and laughter is something I will always think of when thinking of Cambodia. The little guy on the edge of the boat yelled at me to take his picture - he was about to do a backflip and wanted to make sure I saw. :o) If you will notice there are no power lines or lines of any kind in this village. They were doing some sort of welding on this boat. I thought this little old lady was precious. I wonder what she has seen in her lifetime. I wish I could have sat down and talked with her about her life. I wonder how many people she lost to Khmer Rouge. Did she have children that they took away? What about her parents? Were they killed? Was she forced to work in the fields? How did she make it out alive? I bet she has an amazing story to tell. This was another very emotional day for me. I was on the verge of tears many times. But I'm starting to see that the people of Cambodia aren't sad. They are happy with what they have. After our tour through the village and the mangroves we were ready for a little lunch so we stopped at this little touristy restaurant. I was totally psyched to get the crispy and spicy frog, but as it turns out they were fresh out....however they did have fried water snake! YUM-O, bring it on!! Hubby wanted to try the Black Panther Beer, a true Cambodian beer. In the end we imagined it tasted kind of like Panther Piss. True story. Cambodian Fact: Cambodian's don't do beer well. Oh YUM, our lunch is here! Fried snake and as a special treat they threw in the snake eggs. Are we lucky or what?! Next up: SNAKE EGGS. I'll admit it, I'm scared. The snake eggs were a little squishy so I knew they were not cooked all the way through. I was prepared with beer in hand just in case I couldn't handle it. Ready, set, go.... OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH...as I bit into the egg it squirted in my mouth!!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!!! Look....you can see the white milky substance slipping out of my mouth. Thank God I had a BIG bear handy! Hubby tried them AFTER I did. He actually tasted it without freaking out and said it tasted kind of buttery, but when it came down to it he said he would rather drink Panther Piss (the beer, not really Panther Piss) than eat snake eggs. Not me...give me snake eggs over Panther Piss any day. Check out the way they transport ice around here: After lunch we headed back by boat to where our tuk-tuk was waiting for us. When we arrived there were tons of tour buses and a few cattle hanging out. Cambodian Fact: Cattle roam free in this country. On the trip back to our hotel we had to wait for the cattle to get out of our way. They were in no hurry. Tomorrow's highlights:
Ankor Thom, South Gate They Bayon Leper King Terrace Have a great day and be thankful for what you have. ~ Trish I apologize for taking so long to post about our trip to Cambodia. The fact of the matter is I have no idea how to write about it. There were so many feelings and so much going on inside my head I don't even know where to start and to top it off I came home from Cambodia sick as a dog - 2 antibiotics, several other meds, lots of liquids, 3 days in bed, several naps and 9 days later I am still feeling the effects of the chaos this is 3rd world country had on my body. However that does not mean I didn't love the time I spent in Cambodia. First I would like to give you guys a brief history as I know it (with lots of help from Hubby, my personal tour guide for this trip). - Cambodian language is Khmer, people of Cambodia are called Khmer People. - 1953 Cambodia gains freedom from France (I just had to include this little tidbit because I had NO IDEA Cambodia ever belonged to France. I really should have paid more attention in history class.) - 1975 Pol Pot (evil man) took over Cambodia and started wreaking havoc on the citizens of Cambodia. (NOTICE I SAID 1975?!?) - Once in power Pol Pot renamed the country Kampuchea. - Money becomes worthless. - Basic freedoms are taken away, religion is ban and the Khmer Rouge (communist party) coined the phrase "Year Zero" and made the statement that the country was about to be "purified". - Foreigners were killed or expelled from the country. - Foreign languages, newspapers, television, religion, radios, bicycles, and telephones were all ban. - Parental authority was revoked and children were taken away. - All businesses were shut down, education and health care were a thing of the past. - People that lived in the city were forcibly moved to the countryside to become agricultural workers. (Pol Pot had a 5 year plan which failed miserably.) - Hundreds of thousands of people were tortured and executed. Others starved or died for various reasons. - Cambodians had to work in the fields for 18 hours a day with only 2 breaks and very little food. If they were caught eating the crops they were shot to death or worse. - In 1979 Pol Pot's reign of terror in Cambodia came to an end. (Although it would not be until 1998 before he was arrested and had a heart attack and died, therefore never being brought to trial.) - It is estimated that 2-4 MILLON people were executed during this time of hell on earth. That was over 25% of the population of Cambodia. - Cambodia is still recovering as this ended only 33 years ago. Now I'll start from the moment I stepped off the airplane. Siem Reap is one of those little airports where you exit the airport onto the tarmac. The first thing I noticed was the steamy heat. It was 10PM at night and the temperature felt like it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The very next thing I noticed at almost the same time as the heat was the smell in the air. Oh my goodness, the sweet, sweet smell of Cambodia. The smell of fresh air mixed with honeysuckle (even though I never saw one honeysuckle) and forest. I wish I could turn that smell into those little wax thing I burn in my scentsy warmers. There wasn't an ounce of pollution in the air, or so it seemed. We had a driver pick us up from the airport to take us to our cozy little B&B which was about a 40 minute drive. He was very nice and talkative telling us about all the sights we could not see along the way. In Cambodia there are no street lights and in rural Cambodia, not much electricity. As were we driving we happened upon something going on,some sort of traffic jam, but it was only motorbikes - we were the only car. More motorbikes were on the way whizzing past us. Our driver said it looked like an accident. He turned around to go another way - we ended up on a dirt road beside the road where the accident was - when I looked over and saw a young man I would guess to be in his early twenties laying on the ground not moving. There was a police man standing over him saying something and many people gathered around him. No one was doing anything - they were just looking at him. It was eerie. I looked beyond him and saw his motorbike laid out on the ground - it looked to me like he had a blowout. The young man's face is engrained in my mind. I think of him often. I'm afraid he didn't make it, but I often find myself hoping that he was just knocked unconscious. Upon arriving at our B&B I already had so many mixed emotions. I was happy to see how nice and cozy our room was and that the air conditioner worked well. But after seeing just the tiny bit of Cambodia that I saw on the ride from the airport I was feeling a little guilty for such nice accommodations at this sweet little B&B, but then again I was happy to see so many things I have become accustom to (like running water and electricity). Signing off till tomorrow when I post more of our B&B, and the Floating Village.
- Trish Hubby and I are off on a much needed vacation! Check back next week to see where we went! :)
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“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou AuthorHi, I'm Trish, the writer, creator and photographer of this blog. I started this blog for 2 reasons, 1 - When I found out we were moving to Korea back in 2008 I was a little freaked out and started scouring the internet for information on Korea. At that time there wasn't much out there so I am doing my part in helping families across the world not be so freaked out when it comes time to move to Korea. The 2nd reason I started this blog was to help stay connected to family members back in the states. Today it is so much more that. Are you moving to Korea? Do you have questions, concerns? Are you freaking out? Freak out no further - click the button to ask a question. I'll do my best to answer open and honestly.
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