yesterday we took the bikes and rode into town, stopping for emergency souvenirs, then moving on at 1 SpM that's store per minute. i decided to go alone to see stuff and found a couple of more unseen communal places and learned how to distinguish between pure silk and the kind they sell and has a 100% silk label on it but it is not. if you cannot trust a label, what can you trust. well you burn it, silk smells like hair and leaves only dark residue. what i dint ask is how i can burn a scarf when offered one by the vendors. and also, how does she know how burnt hair smells like?
after a few shopping productive minutes , we all met and boarded the small boat for a river cruise. the slow moving boat took us on the river and some side canals, we got close to a fishing boat and had an offer to learn how to throw the fishing nets, it didn't seem as an attractive proposition. the enjoyable ride in the nice breeze , passed fishing from boat, fisherman walking the river looking for shells and nice scenic views. when we got off we had an hour of shopping/ returning to the hotel and i used it to obtain my trade mark photo.
we ate lunch at the hotel and got on the shuttle to da nang, and a few waiting hours later we got on a propeller plane to cambodia. and Vietnam becomes country # 56, a beautiful country and very friendly people.
from the air, Cambodia , looks like borderline jungle, forested areas next to fields. the airport from 1st glance looks like a Cambodian temple. we fill the arrival card, departure card, custom deceleration and a health deceleration. 4 forms to enter passport number and all details. i say that i am coughing in the health declaration and wonder what they will do, but the guy doesn't even look at the form. we pay the visa and get in, rent a tok tuk and reach the hotel in 30 minutes.
we leave for dinner and notice that this is a holiday, the Khmer new year! what a perfect times. hoards and hoards of locals are filling the center. after a good dinner at a local fancy bbq place, we join the hoards.
the fun thing here is the usage of talc powder. they buy large bottles of the powder and fill you with it, then put it on their hand and rub on your face. they also shoot you with water guns. after a few minutes i was left alone to go in to the denser sections, since the rest prefer dry land over fun wetness. i was hit with so much talc powder and had my face rubbed, but its fun, since they all scream happy new year at you and laugh with joy. they love when tourists join the fun and i was definitively participating.
after an hour of crowding, i went back for a de-talcing shower and night night.
next morning, after great banana bread at breakfast, we got on a tuk tuk and drove to the temples. there is a short route including the famous Angkor vat and the long one. since every cambodian is going to the temple, the 1st hour was filled with traffic, but when we reach the long route, no more traffic and very few tourist. we did seven or eight temples, if you ask other people on this trip the opinion will differ, but from my perspective, each of these temples is amazing. they are in similar style, some small some large, with may carvings of Buddha, Vishnu and many other gods. temple guardians in the form of elephant, tigers and soldiers. these temples are filled with symmetrical gates, from one end you can see the other end, really interesting. and many of the towers contains a shrine in the middle and the roofs have holes, at the right time of day sun light comes in hit the shrine, i didn't find the right one that opens the temple of doom, but i will keep on looking. huge ficus trees are reclaiming this jungle area and in some places they grow from within these abandoned temples and large roots break the stone.
local vendors, kids mostly are also here selling stuff, but not as many as in Vietnam
i take lots and lots of photos and enjoy this super hot day. we stop for lunch and keep tempelling then return to the hotel which is where i am now.
soon we will meet for dinner and re join the crowd since new khmer year celebration end tonight.
tomorrow we do the short route with Angkor vat itself.
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