The day is not done. It was approaching the hot noon day sun & I was baking in my shirt. Thankfully for the delicately graceful art of fanning that my nanny taught me when I was growing up, having my plastic citrus-shaped fan with me was a real blessing. Forget about delicacy, I was madly fanning myself in the scorching sun. How can the rainy season in Khmer be so hot?!?!? What about the dry season?? I’d be cooked! *Pengsan….* Talk about going on mission trips, I had better get used to this heat……*fan! fan! fan!* We apprehended the passing ice-cream man. The Khmer version of ‘ais krim potong’ (tubular cut lollies) was out of this world. We had two coconut ice stick each just to satisfy my sugar-levels in the blazing heat reflected from the laterite & sandstones of Angkor Thom.
It’s an enormous complex of elevated towers, covered galleries, decorated frontons, courtyards, gopuras, stairways & of course, exquisite carvings. A large pool to the left presented us with a magnificent view of all five sanctuary towers reflected in the water & after exploring this gigantic structure (check out the size comparison of the human being in the pictures……the one of me standing against the middle tower with the desire to climb but could not because they’ve cordoned off the place for restoration works!!!) we stopped at a refreshment stand close by to gobble up the contents of a coconut, water & all.
There were tourists all over the place & I had to strategically position myself to take shots WITHOUT them in my frame or set up my Manfrotto Modo on a 12 seconds’ timer to give myself lots of room to dash in front of the camera for candid poses & such. And I was having the time of my life because Angkor Wat is so BIG & SPACIOUS.
By the time we decided to go, the thought of walking the entire stretch of the courtyard (300metres or so) was enough to make me go jelly from the day’s journey. I was ready to kick my Timberlands off & jump into any pool of water even with frogs. I was so hot. Well, there is a moat outside which had crocodiles in the days of old before…..
That night, we had my first taste of Cambodian food at the Khmer Kitchen near Pub Street. I’ve fallen in love with Khmer Grilled Mackerel at first bite. I also got my Lemon Grass Tea. Apart from great food, we were serenaded by a band of buskers who are victims of land mines. I was then, totally emersed with the Khmer culture at last.
Next, the scenic route of Day Three…..
Wow. It’s huge! And beautiful. How many days do you need to cover this place? Must visit before the place falls apart. Is Cambodian food very different from Vietnamese?
Six days is barely enough to do everything as three days had been assigned to make the Temple Passes worth its money. You need to go shopping. Tell wifey to go to Old Market. So cheap, she will freak out. Wait till I tell you about the silk factory & more Cambodian ice cream. Want primitive definition? Wait for Tonle Sap…… 😀
Tonle Sap? Sounds like something that’ll help with the marriage; wife’ll be pleased. :p