Track Tuesday with Love from Cambodia

Yes you read that correctly. I did a track workout today. Why? Because it is Tuesday of course. The guy at the desk helped me find a 1 km loop around the river. "I have seen people like you with the big watches before."

"You're late." Said Mehuang?? My tuk tuk driver at 4:47 this morning (I was supposed to meet him at 4:45am). He then laughed at me and off we went to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. 

Nothing I could ever say would prepare you for this place, really any of these places. They are somewhere between unfathomable and pure fantasy. Here is the quick and dirty as I understand it:

Even with all of these majestic structures and a vast population there are very few written records therefore angkorian history is considered somewhat hypothetical. 

Angkor wat ("City of Temples") was begun somewhere around 1150 and is thought to have taken around 30 years to complete. It purpose worship vs funerary is questioned. Since its heyday it has been rediscovered multiple and finally in 1864 the diaries of a botanist and explorer who had stumbled upon Angkor accidentally were published posthumously and the world was suddenly excited.

Angkor wat is as intricate as it is imposing.

It is the largest religious monument in the world. Originally a Hindu temple it was transformed into a Buddhist temple by the end of the 12th century. It has over 700m of bas relief carvings that were intended to impress citizens as well as religiously educate them. It also has guys that attempt to hand you incense to put in front of Buddha statues and then charge you ten dollars.

Angkor Wat full impossibly steep and narrow steps that are everywhere. one of the guides explained this: "The steps are smaller than the feet bc people need to respect. it is not easy to get to heaven."

Be warned to enter the 1st enclosure like a king or a high priest you must have knees and shoulders covered and here they will not let you use a scarf to cover yourself it has to be real clothes. 

Following Angkor Wat I saw 8 more temples. One of them, Preah Kahn, served as a temple, monastery and university employing 97,840 staff. For part of its food services it received 10 tons of rice a day. It is thought to be collapsing as a result of "faulty construction". 

In the midst of all of this, I ran out of snack food and was starving. My driver took me to the nearest roadside restaurant (picture a tent and some plastic chairs). Curiously every item on the menu was the same price.  Bowl of soup $7, curry dish $7, pancakes $7, bowl of fruit $7. I got up to leave mostly because the pictures of the food was frightening and it was expensive. She then knocked it down to 5 (still absurdly expensive) but I was hungry and there were more temples to see, so I stayed. I was far from Siem Reap and by this I mean probably under 5 miles away, however in tuk tuk land this is an immeasurable distance (kind of like going to Arlington when you live in DC). I ordered chicken curry and was served tiny bits of chicken surrounded by a tremendous amount of potatoes. In the end this was ok because throughout my meal baby chicks clucked around my feet. 

Off and away to see Prasat Kravan, Pre Rup, East Mebon (where I met a German guy who for 5 months is biking around Southeast Asia) Neak Pean (water temple), and Bantaray Srei (the carvings you see above and below). All spectacular with unique features. 

As the last templing of the day we stopped through Angkor Thom to see a more of it. It is huge (the wall around it is 5 miles long). Baphuon is a 50 year and 14 million dollar restoration project that was much complicated by the Khmer Rouge's destruction of the plans for the temple. This restoration was being conducted via Anastylosis which is completely dismantling a structure and then putting it back together again. After the destruction of the plans, conservators were faced with a 300,000 stones with no picture. There are still many stones lying around the complex that remain unidentified. 

On the way home I delved into the land of Cambodian street food in the form of groan, a sticky bean rice cooked in a bamboo. 

Then Immediately after returning I did the track workout afraid that sitting down in the AC would equal not moving for the rest of the day.  (of note if you are ever here and need a 1 km loop where you don't interact with motor bikes along the river towards the botanical garden is your place) 

This was followed by a traditional Khmer massage which was interesting in a good way. I was massaged through standard issue very baggy but way too short for me pajamas. It involved a fair amount of slapping and the woman repeatedly placing me in what i think a relaxing judo holds would feel like. 

For dinner I pondered Viva! "the best Mexican in Asia" mostly bc some people I met suggested it but after a plate drive by and thinking about the food in San Diego I just couldn't do it. Instead I went to a Khmer restaurant and had a delicious lemongrass fish soup.