Ta Phrom

The last temple we visited was Ta Phrom. It is a few miles from Angkor Wat. According to the guidebook I bought, Ta Phrom "was chosen by the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient to be left in its 'natural state', as an example of how most of Angkor looked on its discovery in the 19th century."

If you ever saw the Tomb Raider movie, then some of these pictures might look familiar.

The entryway

A silk-cotton tree at the entrance.
Gus said it looks like it's melting.

Ruins

Shrine

This is a strangler fig tree. Rather appropriate name, I think!

Moss-covered wall

Lots of roots. These trees are enormous!

Probably the most well-known tree at Ta Phrom.

Bayon and Banteay Kdei

After Angkor Wat, we visited three other temples in the area.

Bayon:

The bridge to the entry way. Note all the sentinels along the bridge!

Bayon from the north.

Bayon is covered in stone faces.
There are 37 stone towers, each with two to four faces carved on them.

A video view of Bayon.

Face.

I like the vine growing out of his nose. :)

Gus and one of the many faces of Bayon.

Bayon has its fair share of dancing girls, too.

Some are less demure than others!

Banteay Kdei:
A couple miles from Bayon lies Banteay Kdei.

These girls are merchants who sell guidebooks, postcards, etc, outside the temples. The girl in the pink shirt sold me a book.

East entrance to Banteay Kdei, seen from the inside.

One wing of the temple.

Columns and missing rooftops.

A very solid-looking stone door.
How did they open this thing??

Next post: Ta Phrom (I'm saving the best for last!)

Angkor Wat

In Siem Reap, we spent parts of two days exploring Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Phrom, and Banteay Kdei. These are all 900+ year old temples, in various states of disrepair.

First, Angkor Wat:

The walkway across the moat.

The first structure seen on the other side of the moat is the entryway and enclosure that completely surrounded this "island", which is nearly one mile square. In the far distance, the towers of the wat itself can be seen.

Gus just inside the entryway, checking out the dancing girls!
There are almost 2,000 of them carved into the walls at Angkor Wat.

Once you pass through the entrance gate, there is a nearly 400-yard causeway that leads to the main temple.

Monks walking along the causeway

Midway from the entrance to the wat, there are two smaller shrines.
This horse was hanging out in front of one of them.
He was very friendly! I petted him for a few minutes.

Angkor Wat

A slightly closer view

After walking the length of the causeway, one comes to the wall surrounding the wat itself. This wall is lined with columns on the outside, and decorated with vast stretches (650 yards) of intricate carvings. The carvings detail Hindu religious stories and conquests of the kings who built Angkor Wat.

Columns

Carvings

Carvings close-up

The temple itself is a pyramid with five towers: one on each corner and one in the center. The central tower is about 150' tall.

Inside the main enclosure, with the pyramid and northwest tower on the left.

I was standing in the northwest corner of the enclosure when I took this brief video. The southwest, northwest, and northeast towers are visible. At the end of the video, Gus can be seen in the center of the frame at the base of the tower (wearing a white shirt and brown shorts).

Next post: More old buildings!

Cambodia: Phnom Penh

On October 9, we left Chiang Mai and flew to Bangkok. That was our one and only stop in the capital city, which - after our visit - we considered sufficient. Bangkok was hot, polluted, and crowded, but the sky train was convenient to use and Sukhumvit Road was interesting. We had planned to visit the Grand Palace, but upon our arrival to our hotel, the check-in clerk handed us a welcome letter that said the Grand Palace was closed, due to violent protests in the area.

After two nights in Bangkok, we flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The contrast between the capital cities of these neighboring countries was breathtaking. Bangkok is thoroughly modern with 8.1 million residents, a subway, skytrain, massive traffic jams, huge (HUGE) shopping complexes (with Gucci, Armani, Prada, Maserati, Lamborghini...), world-class 5-star hotels, and every chain store known to man. Thailand's per-capita GDP is $8,000. Phnom Penh, in contrast, has 1 million people. Perhaps 30% of the roads in the city are paved. Many people live in small shacks made of corrugated aluminum. The apartment complexes all look run-down and in various states of disrepair. Cambodia's per-capita GDP is $1,900. And food costs in Phnom Penh were at least twice what they were in Bangkok.

I didn't take any photos in Bangkok. However, I did take several in Phnom Penh.

Homes along the Mekong River

The city, viewed from the top of a shopping complex.
The Mekong can be seen in the distance.

The Central Market

Inside the Russian Market

On our first (and only) full day in Phnom Penh, we hired a driver to take us to the Choeung Ek Memorial (killing field) near Phnom Penh and Tuol Sleng genocide museum. According to our guide book, this particular killing field "is the site of the brutal executions of more than 17,000 men, women, and children, most of whom suffered through interrogation, torture, and deprivation of the S-21 Prison (Toul Sleng) in Phnom Penh." [If you don't know or need a refresher on what happened in Cambodia, see this memorial page.]

Most of the buildings at Choeung Ek are gone now, but the mass graves remain. While many of the graves have been unearthed and the bodies removed, a number of them have yet to be excavated. While walking along the paths between the graves, we could see - in the dirt of the paths - bones that were being gradually exposed as the dirt was worn away by visitors' feet.

In the center of the field, the Cambodian people have built a memoral tower. The tower is filled with the skulls of those whose remains were found here.


After visiting Choeun Ek, our driver took us to Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. Tuol Sleng was originally a high school, but the Khmer Rouge converted it into a prison. It was used mainly as a stop-over for those on their way to be executed. In fact, according to the website I linked to above, "Of the approximately 20,000 people who were imprisoned at S-21, there were only seven known survivors."

Since I did not consider photography to be appropriate at these sites of so much brutality, the photo above is the only one I took.

Our driver told us that he was just six years old at the time the Khmer Rouge seized power. He said that people were fed only one bowl of watery rice porridge each day. Because he was starving, one day he took a duck's egg that he had found. A KR soldier saw that he was hiding something in his hand, and threw him in prison for three days, with no food or water. When she finally released him, he could hardly stand. He tried to walk home, but collapsed on the side of the road. Fortunately, someone who knew his family found him and carried him home.

We saw so many people who were missing a limb or limbs, whose hands, arms, or faces were scarred or melted. Nearly every Cambodian family lost someone to the Khmer Rouge. They are a very poor, downtrodden, and disadvantaged people, but they are unfailingly friendly, helpful, and kind.

Monkeys and tigers and snakes! Oh my!

We finally did something worth writing home about! Today Gus, Sally (other teacher), and I went to the Chiang Mai Monkey Centre, Snake Farm, and Tiger Park & Restaurant. Pictures and commentary below:

Monkey on a tricycle

Monkey on Gus!

While the monkeys were very cute and playful (and well-trained), I mostly felt bad for them, being caged or chained to trees.

Angela and monkey

Sally and a monkey

Sad monkey :(

Next, we went to the Chiang Mai Snake Farm for some slithery fun.

A snake charmer with three snakes.
Yes, one is in his mouth!

Another snake charmer,
this one with a cobra, my favorite of all snakes!

Snake Charmer #2 caught a Burmese Python underwater.
(Though it sort of looks like the snake caught HIM!)

Angela befriending a Big-Eyed Snake. He was so cute!

Thank you to whomever invented chicken-wire.
It was all that stood between me and a python with anger-management issues.

Finally, the highlight of our day, Tiger Kingdom! This is a park and restaurant. They own 21 tigers - 2 adults and 19 others ranging in age from 5 to 23 months. The younger tigers are pretty tame and socialized. Then, at age 2, the tigers are sent to the Bangkok zoo.

At Tiger Kingdom, they are free to roam in a large grassy paddock, which has trees, shady areas, and a pool. Along the side of the paddock, there are also several cages/huts (perhaps for night-time?); since the day was hot, the tigers spent a lot of time lying on the cement in the shade of the cages. While we were there, we petted (yes, petted!) four of the larger tigers, who are aged 11 - 18 months.

The following pictures were taken by an employee of TK. He took well over 100 photos and burned them onto a CD for us, all for B200 (about $6.50).

Gus' new pillow!

Big, lazy cat!

These were very tolerant tigers. Fortunately.

At one point, this one rolled over and we rubbed his belly!

It was awesome!! (There are 107 more pictures like these, but we won't force you to look at them all!)