Thursday, January 30, 2020

Cambodia, part 3: Ride through rural area on oxcart and ride to see villages on the river

Thursday morning, the 20th of November and  our last day in Cambodia,  we had a busy day!  We drove out of town on a bumpy dirt road to go for an ox cart ride through a rural area and then go by covered  motor boat to see floating fishing villages on the river.

Our first stop along the the way was to see a man standing in a canal next to the river, fishing with a net. 


 He was catching snakehead fish and other small fish that can survive a bit on land. The snakehead fish breathes air through its gills, so it can migrate short distances over land. They are invasive, and although they are native to Asia, especially China, some have made it to the southern US. 



Then we headed out for an ox cart ride. Notice the baby buffalo by its mom in the cart behind us.






Our driver was definitely one of the older ones and very smiley...but probably just in his 40s.


We passed by many rice fields, such as the one below where people were working in the fields.




Most of the houses were on stilts with the bottom area empty because of flooding during the rainy season.  This was an average house along the way.

A nicer home below with chickens too.

We passed the secondary school and also the community health center.



Our driver smiling for his photo.  His clothing was tattered and he definitely appreciated the tip we gave him.

On our way to the river, we made a bathroom stop where a family ran three "happy rooms."  The kids had fun with us (before asking for dollars--the unofficial currency of Cambodia), and I got a great picture of them.

The sign below was at a local restaurant we stopped at -- a regular toilet and not an outhouse/port-a-potty.

Then we headed up the river in a large motor boat to see a small fishing village of about 200 people. 

Along the way we stopped to see lots of lotus flowers in bloom. Thanks to Jimmy for some of the great close ups of the flowers.





Niwat demonstrating how parts of the lotus can be used:

The lotus leaves can be worn as protection from the sun.

Here is the bus below that the 29 of us plus guides Niwat and Khan (from Vietnam)  traveled on in Cambodia, 

And here is the motor boat we took down the river. 

On the boat.  It was a bit dusty at the beginning (so some wore masks)  and noisy.



Over 3,000,000 of Cambodia's 16,000,000 people live in such villages and work catching fish.  (Before the Kymer genocide, there were 8 million people in Cambodia.  About two million died, others fled, and amazingly there are now sixteen million in the country.)

When we headed out from our dock, the river was very muddy as it was quite shallow.  The dock used the previous week was no longer in use because the river is almost non-existent at that spot at this time of year.


The plants below would soon be in dry land, but they can survive in both on dry land and in the river, often totally covered.

A shrine on the river, still in a somewhat muddy area.

When we got close to the village we were to visit, we found that in the past few days, most had taken the half-day journey two miles upriver.



In the rainy season about July, they move up river.  And  as the water recedes and gets dangerously low, making it hard to catch fish, they move down river where  the water is deeper at the end of November.  Since we were there on November, 20, it was just about the time for them to move.

Look at how much wider the river became as we moved up river to the deeper part.

Getting close to the new mooring site.

  The houses are on pontoons of styrofoam or of empty petrol cans and are anchored in such a way as to stay in place.. 

Below, a woman is selling cooked food from the front of her home to passersbys.


It takes a half day for a house to be pulled the two miles by a motor boat.  The house sometimes has an attached garden which also needs to be pulled.  The house below has a garden in the middle, and probably a few chickens in the structure on the left.



A nicer garden below

The plastic covered area is the "happy room."  There are plants in the water that disinfect it from the wastes of humans and animals.  Note the empty oil cans under the house to keep it afloat..




Children boat to and from their tiny local primary school for first through six grades. Sometimes they paddle themselves and other times family members take them in motor boats. 



 Many do not study more as the next level school is far away and they would have to board.  Even if they could afford the cost, most do not want their young children to be separated from them during the week. 

The children also have a floating covered basketball court in the neighborhood.  Children boat over there to play and get exercise.


Some of us crawled to and sat on the bow of the boat and had our pictures taken by Niwat.  A few brave souls went up from there to the roof above.


A woman going from  home to home selling a variety of goods:


See the cell phone tower below.

A storefront below

Homes spread out in the new site below.


After lunch, we stopped briefly at the Ankhor National museum.  The highlight was to see the room with a thousand Buddhas.  Unfortunately for us we could not take pictures of the statues to protect them.  Many smaller ones were in cases.  .

Angkor Wat, "The Heaven on Earth," is highlighted in Gallery D, one of eight galleries.  It is the most significant example of the earthly paradise.  Its unique architecture still astonishes engineering specialists today.  

We went into Gallery A, which highlighted the origin and development of the Khmer Civilization/Emperor..  Unfortunately because we were running late and had to catch a plane, we could not see more. Gallery B focused on Khmer's Religion and Beliefs, and Gallery C focused on the four Great Khmer Kings, the great inventors.  Gallery G was a shame to miss--the Fascination of apsara and ancient costumes. 

We did see a few other things and a bit of history of Cambodian religion.
Floor plan of the museum
Below, a beautiful piece of Kantha art depicting woman in leisure and in religious practice. 

 Below, a lion sculpted of sandstone in the late 12th to 13th century during the Angkorian period, Bayon style.





Sunset at the Siem Reap airport as we fly out to Saigon/HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City)


Tuesday, January 28, 2020

On to Cambodia--Part 2: The Angkor Temples

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In the morning of our first full day in Cambodia, we went to the Angkor Thom Complex. 

It was in the NW part of the map of Cambodia below

 It was built later than  Angkor Wat, during the 37-year-reign of the god king Jayavaram VII from 1181--1218. He was a fervent Buddhist, which was unusual, as only one king before him was.  It was the last and most enduring capital of the Khmer empire, and the center of the king's massive building program.   When the king died, construction stopped. Angkor.means "city" and Thom means "big."  It is 12 square kilometers in area,4.6 square miles

After we got out of the bus, vendors abounded to sell us items.

We crossed a bridge over the river to get to the main gate. 



On each side of the bridge were guardian statues, apsaras (angels) on the left

 and demons on the right (below), to create a good guardian balance. 

 The previous style had been of birch, but here sandstone was used.  During the long wars with Thailand, the bridge walks and statues were used for target practice.  :There are bullet holes on the statues as well as arms and noses shot off.

The big gate beyond the bridge and moat, with an introduction to the multi-faced heads.



We saw and our guide Newat explained  a machine the Khymer used to raise the heavy stones and put them in place.  Newat was delightful, with a smooth baritone voice.  He grew up and lives in Siem Reap and saw the changes to the area as the country came out of the deadly Khymer Rouge rule and saw  this area opened and developed for tourism starting a bit over 20 years ago.  Note the holes in the stone blocks.  They were key in lifting the blocks into position.



With Albert from Vancouver, BC



More stones piled for future use--like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

The reconstruction in this area, especially the Bayon area, is being done by Japanese, officially Japanese-Apsara Safeguarding Angkor.project.   The Japanese after over 20 years working here may pull out in 2020.

From there, we reboarded the bus and  road closer to the Bayon, the center of  which was Jayavaram's state temple. There we saw 49 magnificent stone towers, each with four huge faces and five more around the king's palace. I remembered how magnificent these were from my previous trip almost 6 years ago.

This area and Angkor Wat were declared parts of a World Heritage site in 1992.  Just since 1998, it has become a popular and safer place to visit.

This king had cared greatly for his citizens and workers and built 200 rest houses and over 100 clinics here for the million people who lived here, maybe both inside the moat and walls and outside close by. This king was a moderate Hindu and included Buddha statues but his successor had all of them removed. We saw niches where some had been.







 So much more work needs to be done, but with the Japanese pulling out, it is not sure who will step up to take their place..

Lots of uneven stair climbing--careful Havazelet!


As we got higher and higher, we could see the amazing details of these heads.

Many members of our group had their picture taken here at this window.


We were lucky to get to the top level because in 2020 it will be closed for restoration and may not reopen to tourists in the future.

These were truly awesome!

Our guide Niwat took our pictures here, nose to nose.  Sam's was the best that I saw!





Outside of this area, we passed by several temples under construction and a huge wall called the Terrace of the Elephants  created centuries ago of discarded pieces of construction.  It  is part of the walled city of Angkor Thom, the last and most enduring capital of the Khimer empire.. The terrace was used by Angkor's king Jayavarman VII as a platform from which to view his victorious returning army..



At the western entrance of Angkor Wat stands a 5-meter-tall statue of Lord Vishnu, known locally as Ta Reach.  This standing stone statue has eight arms and the head of Buddha. When Angkor Wat became a Buddhist temple, the head of Lord Vishnu was replaced with the head of Buddha. (Closeup photo and information courtesy of Sam .)





Our ticket for  this whole  area was $37.  Entrance is free for Cambodians.





While walking in toward the Bayon area, we saw some  blind professional musicians, who lost their sight from landmines from the war in the country.  They were quite good.



Approaching the area of the  Bayon temple, and overgrown trees.













Then we climbed up higher.  Some of the stair cases had no railings. But the stairs in the picture directly below had been replaced by even, wooden steps.

The steps below were less even.

View looking down from the mid level.

View from higher up.  Several of us had a hard time here.

I eventually got dizzy, turned around and got a ride back with Deana.  Along the way we saw monkeys. 




Here is a statue of Naga in front of our Ramada Hotel in Siem Reap.