Friday, January 25, 2013
5:20am, Angkor Wat Permit Station…dozens of buses and tuk
tuks cram the parking lot and tired tourists stumble about in the dark to get
the photo id passes for entry into Angkor Wat. I immediately regret not having
gone to the ATM last night as this $20 permit leaves me with only $25 in my
pocket – and breakfast, lunch, and elephant ride still awaiting me in Angkor
Wat. (Fortunately, $25 USD goes a long ways in Cambodia.) My tuk tuk driver, an
affable man named Pov, drops off at a place in the dark and points in a general
direction (it is still dark) and says that I should walk that distance, wait
for sunrise, and then walk around the temple; then come find him in this area
again. I follow the darting flashlight beams of tour guides and tourists with
cell phones. A young man carrying two books starts walking with me. He is
trying to sell me the books and we begin bargaining on price even though the
only thing I ever say is, “No, thank you.” He comes down from $28 to $20, then
to the other book – starting at $5. Intermingled in the price negotiation is
the sentence, “I am a student.” That line must have worked at some point and it
did on me too. After several hundred meters walking together and a dozen “no,
thank yous” I finally consent and buy the second book for $3. Now I am down to
$22 in my pocket. The crowd ends up in a field in front of the temple. It is
dark.
6:00am, the light is beginning to rise behind Angkor Wat and
it reveals the shapes of the temple structure as well as the trees that
surround the temple. I hear monkeys calling out to one another and there is an
excited buzz in the crowd of maybe a couple thousand who have gathered on the
lawn. There is a pond in the middle of the field and across the pond some
drummers begin playing; steady, rhythmic beats. Flashbulbs are going off and it
is like being in a field of fireflies.
6:20am, the sun still hasn’t arose over Angkor Wat, the
drummers stopped playing a while ago. Many from the crowd have apparently given
up that there will be a sunrise and choose to head to the temple.
6:30am, the sky behind the temple is changing colors
rapidly. Light is streaming down through the clouds in a pink beam, the clouds
turn pink and purple setting the forefront to windows of blue sky. Behind one
of the spires to the right we can see the bright orb of the sun begin to peek
over. The drummers start playing again, people settle in with their cameras
poised and it really wasn’t all that spectacular of a sunrise, but it was still
pretty good. Now I can hear elephants chattering in the background and it makes
me excited for what is ahead.
8:00am, I return to the Tuk Tuk parking area having done a
walk-through of some parts of the temple. I will disclose this now (before
getting to descriptions about the other temples I also saw today) I do not feel
a deep connection to Buddhist temples. They do not move me spiritually. In
fact, it is kind of the opposite. While I am there I feel a spiritual tension.
I do admire the impressive detail and immensity of human labor (even devotion) that
went into constructing these temples, but there is nothing that man can make,
which I think impresses God or means as much to Him as that we would choose to
love Him and to love one another. What we construct in our hearts lasts forever
and these structures are now ruins. So, that is my bias on this. When I
returned at 8:00 I called Pov and he said “Already?”. I asked him what he said
and he embarrassingly said “I mean, where are you?”
From the temple at Angkor Wat we went to ride an elephant. I
quickly realized that this is a very touristy thing to do and even felt sorry
for the elephants, but I did it and it is probably the only chance in my
lifetime I will have to ride an elephant. When Pov dropped me off at the
elephant stand he showed me on a map where I would be dropped off and told me
to walk through the royal palace, the leper king, and then to Tep Pranam. He
said that this would take three hours and so to call him when I got to Tep
Pranam. It was at this point that I realized Pov probably was not really very
available as my tuk tuk driver today. The elephant ride ended back where we
started, not where Pov told me and so I had
longer walk and not only that – it only took me one hour to walk through
everything and get to Tep Pranum. I called Pov. No answer. I called him again
and he apologetically said that he was no longer in the park. He had gone to
pick up his girls from school and so would not be able to get back for at least
an hour.
When Pov returned we went to the final destination for the
day: Ta Prohm. It is known for the amazing trees that have a lot of
above-ground roots. Pov was trying to convince me to see more temples and to go
back out tomorrow to see more, but I am now done with temple viewing in Siem
Reap. My bottom line for the day is that I am glad that I saw this, but between
seeing this and being with the people at Daughters and SHE I would choose the
latter any day of the week. In fact, in writing this entry I reflected on how
different this vacation would be if the majority of my trip was doing these
kinds of things instead of what I am so blessed to do with Daughters. It would have
been a completely different trip and I probably would have been ready to go
home about 10 days ago. Probably the best part of this trip for me so far: The
hotel I am staying at upgraded me to a balcony suite and I feel like I am on
vacation (well, actually I am on vacation!). There is a tv in the room and I
haven’t seen tv in two weeks. I even have a real shower, not a hand held one.
So, yes I am living like royalty this weekend and after I post this I am going
to go for a swim in the hotel pool.
Inside the temple at Angkor Wat
South gate
At Bayon
Leper king
Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm
Royal Crown hotel - 1 of 2 pools
No comments:
Post a Comment