Angkor Wat is amazing

I had said in an earlier blog post that Beth and I had a bit of temple fatigue, but we definitely don't have temple ruins fatigue. The temples of Angkor Wat and other nearby complexes are simply amazing.  They were all built in the 11th-14th centuries, and most were lost and taken over by the jungle for a few centuries. Angkor Wat itself was never abandoned and has been continuously used as a temple since the 1100s.  It was built as a Hindu temple but became a Buddhist temple in the 1600s.  This was true of many of the temples as Buddhism gradually became the dominant religion in this area instead of Hinduism.

The Ta Prohm temple still has many of the trees covering it since restoration of the temples is slow and expensive.  Personally, it's my favorite so far (and I think many other visitors too) because it's so picturesque.  I hope they keep some of the trees and roots as they restore it, though I understand the jungle isn't necessarily great for the stones.

The photos below with the faces are from the Bayon temple. It originally had 40+ towers with faces on all 4 sides, but now only 26 remain.  The faces are thinking, or meditating, or happy to be reincarnated (I think that's what our guide told us the smiling faces were).

This place is a photographer's dream.  I hope the pics below do the temples a bit of justice, as they are gorgeous and inspiring.  The detail of the carvings that have survived give an idea of how majestic they must have been in their heyday. Just imagine how much time building these temples, moving the sandstone by bamboo raft and elephant, and then carving into every wall must have taken.  Angkor Wat, for example, took 40 years to build, and it was never completed.  Construction ended when the king who had commissioned it died in battle.

(In case you're wondering, the reason Beth and I are both in long dresses is the fairly strict dress code to get into certain areas of the temples: skirts or pants below the knee, no bare shoulders (we both had light sweaters with us). Etc. Most of the temples in Thailand also had this same dress code, though for active temples we'd also have to take off our shoes before entering)

Thailand botany

After a lovely morning at the spa and some more pool time, we headed off to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Since travel days don't make for the best pics/stories, I'll upload some pics of Thailand's plants and flowers for your enjoyment.

Sun and sand

Pool and beach day:  Sun. Sand. Tropical drinks.  Vacation is good.

(Though as a side note, the sand is rough/rocky, so it's better for looking at than playing in)

Gulf of Thailand adventures

The nearby Ang Thong Marine National Park is one of the reported highlights of this area, so Beth and I doped ourselves up on Dramamine and hopped aboard a boat to explore it for the day.  After an hour of sailing across luckily very still waters in the Gulf of Thailamd, we arrived at our first stop near one of the 42 islands in the park.  Time to snorkel with all sorts of colorful fish and coral.  Unfortunately, the water wasn't super clear since the seas had been rough the previous few days, but it was still a neat experience.

Then off to our next stop: an island with the Blue Lagoon.  No idea if this was the one used in filming the movies of the same name,  I'm sure there are many blue lagoons in the world.  This one was accessed by climbing up, up, up some incredible steep stairs (more akin to a ladder, really).  Finally we reached the overlook, and the lagoon was indeed blue and quite beautiful.  Worth the climb for most of us. The girl we passed who was crying as she worked her way down the steep stairs did not agree.  It was an overcast day outside, which was helpful for keeping the temps down but also didn't give us the beautiful blue seas we were expecting. Some mineral or something else kept this lagoon greenish-blue even without the blue skies. Lovely!

Back to the boat, and then a stop for lunch on one of the larger islands in the national park.  This one is home to 300 people, including a school and a restaurant where we ate lunch.  All of their electricity comes from either solar panels or wind turbines.  They somehow manage to get gas to the island since there were motorbikes and longtail boats that run on gas engines.

Last stop of the day: our own private beach to enjoy.  We kayaked for awhile along the beautiful coast, and then headed back to the beach to enjoy the soft sand, cool water, and some sun poking through the clouds.

Thailand is full of surprises

Today was mostly a travel day, so not much to report other than our resort on Ko Samui is lovely (pic below).  We are looking forward to the next few days here.

So I thought I'd report on some things about Thailand that have surprised us so far:

• They drive in the wrong side of the road here. We aren't driving ourselves anywhere, so I didn't bother investigating it before I came. I was surprised when our cabbie in Bangkok got into the front right hand door.

• The amount of street food options in Bangkok.  I knew there'd be street food, but I wasn't prepared for the huge number of stalls on every street, in alleys, etc.  The smells can be overwhelming at times.  

• Spirit houses at many homes, businesses, hotels, etc. I believe these are related to their Buddhist faith, but I don't know much more about them. They often have fresh flower garlands on them, so they're good for florists. 

• The fact that Sizzlers exist here. We've seen several of them.

• Speaking of American chains, the vast number of 7-11s.  They seem to be on every block.

• Toothpicks are offered at the end of most meals, including plane meals.

• The huge number of scooters/motorbikes on the road. They zip in and out of traffic at will, and somehow don't cause accidents.  Usually there are 1-2 riders, but we've seen up to 4 a few times. They're loud, so walking on the streets here is rarely peaceful and quiet.  Tuk Tuks are also plentiful and noisy, but not as loud as the motorbikes.  

• Taxi and tuk tuk drivers are extremely aggressive in trying to get us to use them.  We can't walk down the street without one honking at us or drivers waiting by their vehicle asking if we need a ride.  

• English is used everywhere - in advertisements, in announcements in public places like airports and public transportation, road signs, etc.  I wasn't expecting so much English.  But that definitely doesn't mean that everyone here knows how to speak or read English. All of our hotels have given us cards with the hotel name on it written in Thai to give to cabbies since most of them can't read English and may not know where the hotel is if we just tell them verbally.  In Bangkok, no one had any idea where our hotel was, even with the written Thai card (they'd have to call and ask for directions).

• Wats (Buddhist temples) are plentiful here.  We think there are more wats in Thailand than there are churches in the US.  Correspondingly, there are monks everywhere too. They're very distinctive in their bright orange attire, so they stand out.  In the airport, monks are given priority seating along with the elderly and pregnant women.  Monks are highly respected in Thai culture. 

• On a similar topic, so many of these wats have many donation boxes set up around the temple, asking for money for the monks, or dogs, or a special project.   Apparently each morning most monks go out asking for alms on the street.  It begs the question if monks are so honored here, why do they need to be asking for money all the time?  

I don't have pics of all of these surprises, but here's a few select ones for your enjoyment. And one of the view from our room on Ko Samui.