Cambodian Wedding Traditions; Angkor Wat Sunrise

 On my tour of the lake villages, the guide mentioned that in Cambodia it was traditional for the groom to bring rosy cow, pig and chicken to the affair ( kind of a reverse dowry).  I think this is an excellent idea and while too late for my kids, certainly this should become a requirement for all male Kaulbach descendant grandchildren (currently 9).  Living on a farm, the Prill boys will have leg up but no excuses for the rest  A young woman has a right to expect decent prospects  

Angkor Wat sunrise is a “must do” so I got up at 445 and slumped into the Tuk Tuk for the miserable affair- 

Somewhere Jim Gallagher is smiling  At least I got breakfast (Asian style) on my return this time-

Strangely, the boutique hotel I stayed at was as good a hotel as any I have ever stayed at anywhere   Just wonderful and so inexpensive- $62/ night including a robust breakfast  

That ends my short sojourn in Cambodia   A very friendly and kind people but a bit pitiable from my interactions, which I think is unsurprising given their history with the Khmer Rouge (who murdered approximately 1/4 of the population) and even recent events (border war with Thailand)  

Angkor Wat: Tom’s Wat and What is your favorite-?

 I flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap the 2nd largest city in Cambodia and the gateway to the world’s largest temple complex, Angkor Wat (the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum ), which is about 30 minutes outside of the city by Tuk Tuk, my now preferred mode of transport   I again felt immediately welcome- 

Though I got an extensive tour of Angkor Wat and associated temples, including one apparently named after my brother in law, Tom (Angkor Thom), I found it quite difficult to capture the size and grandeur of the site in pictures. 

These are just the best I could do on my visit-

It was originally founded as a Hindu temple in circa 1150 and still has some Hindu statutory vestiges remaining-

But since the 1500s has been a Buddhist temple. It was abandoned to the jungle around 1600 as the result of local wars until rediscovered by the French in 1867. 

Close to Angkor Wat is the “Tree Temple” famous apparently for providing the setting of the movie “Tomb Riders” with Angelina Jolie and for its temple bound roots- 

My guide insisted.i get photographed wherever A Jolie stood, tho I barely know who she is and have never seen the movie 

Siem Reap is a lively city with a street with my mane on it (renowned in Cambodia)- 

Happy Hour apparently had a strict shutdown between 2-3 am   Maybe Happy Day is more accurate? 

The next day I visited a lake village on stilts (to be above the monsoon floods in the rainy season) in the countryside on stilts with a tour- 

The lake was huge (you couldn’t see across and is the largest in SE Asia) and evidently is one of the most fish producing in the world- 

We visited a local school there where the kids were learning English. They wanted to practice it so we were encouraged to engage and I did. The 10 your old girls were ready with their questions- 

What is your favorite fish? Sport? Food?  Bird? Movie?  Animal?  Etc. Not to be outdone I fired back what is your favorite movie?  Sport?  Food?  Bird?  Fish?  They had nothing on me in the English department.  No mention of Shakespeare by either of us. 

Grand Palace, Gongs and Thai Dance

 Pictures of the monarchy are all over Bangkok-

The ceremonial home of the Thai royal family is at The Grand Palace, the city’s most famous and visited site.  

It was built over time but begun when Bangkok was established at Siam’s capital in the 18th century.  Apart from the residential palace itself- built in the early 1900s in the French style- it is quite ornate

It hosts the most sacred Buddha in Thailand, the Emerald Buddha, origin unknown but dating at least to the 1400s. 

Pictures can’t capture the Emerald Buddha’s exquisite appearance 

The place was so crowded on the day I went that if you stopped for a moment you were likely to be swept up in one of the seemingly innumerable visiting Chinese tour groups. 

I went to see a traditional (think mythological)Thai dance show afterwards and it was quite interesting . The costumes were exquisite themselves and the mythical story (posted above the stage) fun to follow-

I climbed another temple to get a view of the city and rang a gong along the way to get the monks off their iPhones-

It seemed to work-

As I have had some issues with my hips and hamstrings, I decided to get a traditional Thai massage to see if it might help, tho I wondered where I might find one.  Fortuitously there was one right next to my hotel. Well gentle and pleasant it wasn’t. If pressure and pain help, then my hips and hamstrings are as good as new. 

Thailand finis. A very fun and enjoyable country. I can see why people flock here- warm, great beaches, beautiful islands, great food, inexpensive (except for the beach resorts), safe, and very friendly and considerate people. I would come for the street food alone. 

Bangkok; Wat's Up?

 I arrived in Bankok from Phukett (1 hr flight) and for some ineffable reason immediately felt welcome-

My taxi ride to my hotel was a bit of an adventure   The driver got lost and eventually stopped and suggested I walk   I looked at Google Maps and it said over an hour so politely declined  I then gave him my phone with directions which seemed to help tho at various points I had to yell out turn left!  A bad sign when the passenger is more familiar with Bangkok then the taxi driver  

I decided to immediately visit 2 of the city's most famous and revered Buddhist temples, Wat Phro and Wat Arun.  Wat Phro holds the largest collection of Buddas and houses the famous and enormous Golden Reclining Buddha which is impossible to adequately capture in a photo (it takes up a whole building)-

To enter any Buddhist temple. you must take off your shoes, which leads to a lot of on and off with footwear.  The feet of the Reclining Buddha tell of his spiritual journey-

Apparently Buddha himself is not obligated to remove his shoes in his own temple.  

The Wat Phro complex is huge (about 20 acres?). 

 It is interesting and somewhat incongruous to see people praying to Buddha amidst throngs of tourists, but perhaps one would observe the essentially the same thing at St. Peter's in Rome or other famous Christian sites.  In any case, the monks seem to take it all in stride and welcome any tourist participation (so long as shoes are off) as I later saw tourists helping the monks wrap a Buddha.  Still can’t quite grasp this

The older site of Wat Phro is right across the Chao Phraya river, which runs through much of central Bangkok.  In fact, it is quite convenient (and cheap- 70 cents) to take the ferry up and down the Chao Phraya to visit certain places.

  They don't mess around on that ferry when embarking and disembarking.  The small official lady hounds you to line up and when they pull in they virtually toss you  off (or on) the boat and they are out of that stop in less than a minute.  Thai efficiency, I guess.  

Wat Phro- which was founded about the same time as Bangkok itself in the mid- 18th century- appears to attract a lot of Thais in traditional garb who come to honor and pray to Buddha here.  

The temple has a stunning style and texture 

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   The temple is quite impressive at night- 

On my walk back I stumbled into my favorite Thai thing, a street market-