Angkor Wat

When the red shirts broke out in violent and destructive protests, we had to pack our bags and prepare to leave if it became necessary, my number one regret about leaving Thailand was that I’d miss the chance to go to Angkor Wat. I read about it in the National Geographic when I was 8 and I’ve wanted to visit ever since. It’s the largest religious complex in the world and dates back to 1300 (which is actually really young when you’re used to the dates of the Middle East and the wonders of the ancient world). We arrived as the sun was setting and it was truly a beautiful sight. The sun was setting over Angkor Wat as lightning was striking behind the clouds and then a rainbow appeared in the far sky out of nowhere and this white horse was grazing just out in front of the temple like it belonged there. It looked like one of those ridiculous paintings in folk art stores that you don’t buy because it’s too busy to be real. That or a Lisa Frank folder.

We spent two days touring the various temples in the Angkor complex. Angkor Wat is the main one, and the image that kind of represents the whole complex, but it’s so big you actually have to take a bus or a tuk tuk (little motorcycle taxi) to be able to see all (or even a little) of what it has to offer. A guy in our group stayed home from seeing Angkor Wat to watch S. Korea play Greece in the world cup. *RIDICULOUS* He missed out. Also, I’m pretty sure S. Korea lost that game anyway.

Cambodian dancers just hanging out on the temple ruins. One of the Wats on the Angkor complex is covered in strangler figs (location where they filmed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) These things were massive and looking at them, I felt a General Conference talk metaphor coming on. All told Cambodia boasts much more interesting foliage than we’ve seen so far in Thailand. In fact, looking at some of it I thought “Oh Kampuchea (their word for their own country), almost thou persuadest me to be a horticulturalist.”

Also, we were given much more time than the heat would permit us to stay interested at each location, so I was sitting at the base of one of the bigger stranglers just thinking and this European man walked by and said “Ah! You must be Vishnu.” That’s a new one. I’ve been called many things, but never the supreme form of Hindu deity before. This complex used to be Hindu, but then they made it Buddhist. Part of the reason Cambodian/Thai relations are so bad is because the Thais sacked the Angkor civilization in 1431. Get over it.--too soon?