Today we traveled by bike past Angkor Wat in through the South Gate of Ankor Thom and out through the West Gate. The road out to the West Gate was unpaved. It felt good to be on the proverbial road less traveled. We continued past the West Gate in search of the West Baray (reservoir). We found a corner of Cambodia far less touched by the waves of tourists. After journeying for a while without encountering the Baray, we stopped and asked directions by pointing to a map. A grandfather with a bare tattooed chest showed us the way through some backyards to the Baray. I’m still not sure how one would go about constructing a reservoir of those proportions (8 km x 2.1 km) a thousand years ago.
Having had a nice break from touristville and rock ruins, we made our way to Preah Khan, another old stone dazzler. The bigness of stones, the intricacies of carvings, and romance of ruins again conspired to take my breath away.
Next we made our way to Neak Pean. These five grand pools used to sit in the cneter of a reservoir that bordered Preah Khan.
This is as fitting a time as any to say that throughout our journeys we bumpedinto folks from all around the globe. At Neak Pean I identified one of the languages being spoken—Spanish—and was embarrassed by how long it took me to remember how to ask “de dónde eran ustedes?” It tooke me so long to unbury the Spanish files in my brain from under the Thai files, that I didn’t even have a chance to use any Spanish.
Next we struck East Mebon and Pre Rup. Both majestic, both similar, neither taking my fancy. I should mentions that as we were approaching Pre Rup we were flagged down by a tour van carrying two women from Florida we had met the day before. They were delighted to see us and told us to find them on facebook.
We wrapped up the day’s tour by heading to Banteay Samré. Due to lack of signage we overshot it and went some distance before someone pointed us back in the right direction. When we arrived the guard told us it was closed. After a little dialogue he told us we could take a quick look. What struck me was how similar this restored temple was to ruins I have seen in Thailand. The primary difference being that this one was restored. I would have liked to say longer. It had a feel that was different from other places we had been.
At dinner our host, unable to communicate with us, brought a boy over from somewhere. He was a sharp fellow. His command of English was quite good. His comprehension of Thai was also good. Mark declared his French conversational. Spanish was also apparently at his command. He related to us both historical and political knowledge of South East Asia. I was a little sad to see him slip away when our food came.
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