so, we've made it to siem reap to visit the angkor temples. the angkor temples are one of the reasons i was most excited to come to cambodia. they were everything they promised to be and more. built between 800-1100 bce; they are some of the biggest temples/temple complexes on the planet. so amazing. we read that you could go out there after 5 pm get a pass, watch the sunset there and that would still allow the pass to be good for the next day. so we went, we missed sunset per se, but it was still light and we walked around angkor wat for a bit, marvelling. that night we went out with this british girl we had meet at Dany's in sihnoukville, it's a small world, we had seen her on the streets of siem reap earlier that day and said that we'd give her a ride to the temples for sunset, so she didn't have to pay a tuk tuk to take her.
we did meet up with a cool tuk tuk driver that night, chin, and had him take us to some local hangouts. we told him we didn't want to go to pop street, which i guess is where all the white people hangout. so, he took us to a khmer beer garden. it was way cool, we got a tube of beer and had some fried shrimp, chilling and talking with him. i ended up walking around a bit speaking with some locals, practicing the few words of khmer i knew and ended up dancing with some people on the way out. the people love it when you can speak khmer, even if it's just, no thank you, which we've ended up using a lot to say no thanks to the tuk tuk drivers, they also love it that we've got motorbikes and travel like them. chin took us to a few places to drink and then to hangout with his friends; he wanted to take us out to the khmer dance club but since we had to get up for sunrise, we declined. gotta get that beauty sleep, ya know.
so, we did get up for sunrise. it was amazing, really cool, beautiful, awe-inspiring, surreal, ethereal, and everything else. i must have taken twenty pictures of the sunrise, just like every minute, i was like, oh, it's different colors now, gotta take a pic. most look the same. it was still cool. we wandered around angkor wat for a bit til checking out the different rooms, the massive bas-relief carvings of ancient hindu wars, and just reeling from the immensity of it all. we got some breakfast after that as we were pretty hungry by then, just running on coffee and tired from the night before. charlie and michelle were off to take a nap as it was like 9 in the morning by then; but becky (the british girl) and i had it in our heads that we would power through. so we split, deciding to meet back up for lunch. becky and i headed off to the jungle temple that had been used in Tomb Raider, the Angelina Jolie move about the video game of the same name. it was way cool. the temples had been taken over by these massive trees. trees just growing on top of them with huge roots all over the place. it was really cool, but small than angkor wat and more packed with tourists. we went outside back to the parking area, had an ice cream, a red bull, and then a nap in some hammocks that were out there. back to meet charlie and michelle for lunch, then explore angkor wat a little more after breaking off from michelle and charlie again as they were gonna head over to the jungle temple. we tried to go to the top, the bakan (i believe) but becky wasn't allowed as she had only shorts not pants and i decided not to go and hold that over her head for the rest of time. hahahah. next, we drove around to a few other temples, checking them out and marvelling at the size and area of angkor. the place and the temples are so massive, covering miles, and so intricate it's incredible. built in squares that on the bas-reliefs are carved to match these battle scenes from the ramayama (again, i think). i kept wondering about the artists who did it, i mean it seems that most of these types of structures are built by slaves, but these most have been some seriously good artist/slaves or something, i don't know. we ended up driving around and checking out the temples for hours. the place was seriously big. we didn't stay for sunset as we had it in our minds to go do some yoga that night at a hostel in town. i ended the day doing yoga and then having some indian dinner with becky. it was a good end to a great day.
on another note, i've started reading, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. what a time to be reading this book. it's basically about how the hitmen, go into developing nations and make a deal for US companies, hahahah, i just finished working for one of them, to upgrade their infrastructure on loans from the IMF, World Bank to modernize their country; but leaving them with exorbitant loans that they have to default on. Leaving their government/leaders no choice but to open up their boarders to the US for natural resources, military bases, and whatever else we want; pushing our neo-colonial/global domination agenda. i'm not sure if we ever have done this in cambodia, but i was just in one of the places it failed, vietnam and know that's it's failed in iraq and afghanistan; which is why the military had to be brought in. this basically only benefits the US corporations, our military/industrial complex, and a few priviledged individuals; usually making the poor even more poor when all is said and done. anyway, it's seems like an auspicious time for me to be reading it. i know india just opened it's doors to giant supermarket conglomerates and seeing the disparity between the rich and the poor here. anyway, this isn't a political blog; so i'll stop there. it's just a great read, very informative and should be checked out.
later,
nick
p.s. i'm trying to post pics to google+ but it's taking hours.
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