Angkor Wat - first impressions

Due to technical difficulties involved with Caren's visa for reentry into Vietnam, we aren't able to download any pictures. The hardware (my SD card reader) is on the plane to HCMC. So...pictures will follow when we meet up with our luggage somewhere and edit this blog at a later time.

UPDATE: See below about our exit (finally) from Cambodia and here are a few pics of the temples.

This A.M. (before the visa problems and before most of the Korean and Japanese tourists crowded the place), we visited Angkor Wat (the biggie). It is huge, but not the oldest or most ornate. It is known because of its size and architecture. Basically, it is the Versailles Palace of the Khmer empire from back in the 1300s. It is the largest religious temple in the world. There is a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu influence throughout the temple since traders from India came thru here on their way to China back in the old days. And Buddhists came here from China and what is now Burma and Thailand.

















We climbed to the highest levels of the temple on a 70 degree staircase in 100 degree heat. (I'm panting just writing this.) The steps are about 6 inches wide. Actually, going up wasn't too hard. Climbing down was the challenging part - not because of the stairs, but because of the lines of Korean and Japanese tourists pushing their way forward to get down.

A family of tourists from Phnom Penh was very excited to take Jordan's picture. They see very few Americans and even fewer bald ones. They thought it was real funny to take a group photo with Jordan.

If we don't resolve Caren's visa problem, we could become friendly with a lot of Cambodians as we'll have to apply for legal resident status. We hope you all enjoy visiting us in our new vacation home here in Cambodia should that come to pass.

Most Americans think that Angkor Wat is the only temple here. That is far from correct. There are dozens of temples throughout the area and various foreign countries are working to restore and preserve them. This entire area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

During the Cambodia-Vietnam war and the American War, it was agreed to by all sides that this area was to be protected from bombing and destruction. Therefore, various armies stationed themselves in the temples for protection.

One thing we didn't get to do is visit Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It is only about 20 kilometers from Siem Reap. There are dozens of floating villages on the lake. One couple from our group went there very early this A.M. We'd visited the floating villages in Myanmar, so we decided to sleep in.

During the rainy season (which lasts for 5-6 months), the flow of the Mekong River is so large that the delta south of Saigon acts like a cork in a bottle. The Mekong River flow backs up into the river from Cambodia and fills Tonle Sap. The lake grows in size by 300%-400% and rises 10 meters or more in depth. Hence the floating villages, otherwise people would have to relocate every change of season.

UPDATE: We made it out of Cambodia! Caren got her "Get Out of Cambodia for Not So Free" card and we got on the plane back to HCMC. She won't have to spend the night in a refugee camp. Back to the comfort of the Caravelle Hotel and the tumultuous motorbike traffic of HCMC.



Ahhhh...out of Cambodia and back to Vietnam. Maybe it's cooler in HCMC. I doubt it.