Cambodia – Siem Reap
Thailand – Bangkok, Koh Nangyuan
Moving west from Phnom Penh by bus and bumpy dirt road I reached the town of Siem Reap and the famed Temples of Angkor. This is one stop on a tour of South East Asia that is not to be missed. Ancient stone temples rising out of the ever-encroaching jungle certainly spark the imagination and bring up visions of a once great culture. Built mainly between the 9th and 14th centuries, the vast complex of temples around Siem Reap cover an area the size of Los Angeles. It is estimated that the city center contained over 150,000 people at its height, if you count the surrounding villages and lesser temple areas the population was an estimated 1.5 million people; all at a time when the population of London was a mere 30,000 people. I spent three full days riding around on the back of a motor bike, roaming from temple to temple. Walking through ancient doorways and corridors, scrambling up steep crumbling steps to platforms and towers that rise above the surrounding jungle, all the time trying to imagine what inspired these people to build such monuments; what life may have been like at that time. Some of my most favorite moments were watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat, and seeing it’s reflection in the ponds built for capturing the structure in their shimmering surface at the dawn of each new day. The temple of Bayon with its imposing 54 towers decorated with over 200 giant carved faces creates a very striking presence. And Thang Prom, a wonderful crumbling temple, which for the most part has been left to the slowly destructive forces of the jungle. Banyon trees grow right out of the tops of walls with roots twisting their way down to find soil, both destroying and hold together the walls all at the same time, a wondrous sight.
After Siem Reap, I braved the bus ride to Bangkok leaving Cambodia Behind. The bus only broke down twice, once with over heating and another with a flat tire – which by many accounts was on the low side of typical. It was nice to come back to Bangkok for a few days – my fifth arrival here, everything is familiar and the town feels more like home for me now then California. Spent a few nights out on the town, having fun and saying good by to some long term friends – Chris and Sabine a German couple that I have been hanging around with ever since Vietnam. Every town I went to, I would always run into them randomly and they have become good friends. Our last night out on the town together, Chris and I drank sufficient quantities of beer to brave a trip to the bug cart. The bug cart serves up various kind fried insects for your culinary pleasures. We started with the crickets – they look least imposing if that makes any sense – you peel off the ends of the legs, kind of like shrimp, and pop the whole sucker in your mouth – chew? – taste? – wow! – they were surprisingly good – we ordered more. It’s hard to compare the taste with anything, but I would have to put them in the category of perfect drinking snack right along side beer nuts. After a few bags of crickets we moved on to sample several different kinds of grubs which were equally tasty, but I drew the line with the water beetles. They were big and you had to pull the shells off of them before you could eat em’ – even with my beer induced bravery it was a little too much for me.
My return to reality date of June 17th was quickly approaching, so I decided to spend one last week on the island resort of Koh Nangyuan soaking up the sun, taking naps in the hammock, and diving the crystal clear waters. Koh Nangyuan is a small island near Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand – it is actually three small islands connected to each other by a narrow sand bar and surrounded by blue waters and coral reefs that create a lot of great dive sites. I checked into a cute little bungalow with a front porch overlooking the beach and the sea, the perfect place to wrap up my trip. I spent the days diving in the morning, coming back around noon grabbing a bite to eat, hitting the hammock for a solid nap and then working on my tan in the afternoon. Followed up by dinner under the stars and a few beers with the dive staff who were very cool; it’s amazing how quickly a week can go by like that. I also did my first night dive on the island, and that was a great experience; lot’s of different critters come out at night that you don’t see during the day. Shrimp, crabs, octopus, squid, blue spotted rays swimming around, puffer fish, but the best part is turning off the dive lights and swimming around in the dark with just the light of the moon – weightless, darkness enveloping you, it’s like being in space. At the end of it, the dive staff just about had me talked into pushing back my return and staying on for awhile longer. After some serious thought, I figured out that if I didn’t leave now, I would be there a very, very, long time. Although that thought was not without it’s appeal, I decided it was not what I wanted to have happen, so I packed up my hammock and headed back to Bangkok via ferry and an overnight train.
On my last night in Bangkok, as I sat in one of the street-side bars enjoying a frosty, thinking about how wonderful my trip has been, clouds moved in and it began to rain. It was almost as if the skies of South East Asia were looking down on me and weeping at the very thought of my departure. On Tuesday morning without any fan fare, I took a taxi to the airport and flew home to California. I find it amazing how one day you can be laying in a hammock staring at blue seas and the next your standing at the curb at San Francisco airport wondering how it could be so cold in June. All of it with no more hassle then it took to move from one town to the next one down the road, it really makes one feel like the world is a small place. I have to say that it is strange to be home, the feeling is a little hard to put my finger on, I think I may still be in shock. It’s kind of like a dream, it feels a little unreal, all most right, but just a little off, I keep expecting to wake up and find myself back in that hammock. I have only spent two weeks in my home since the beginning of November; it’s a long time to be away, and it doesn’t really feel like my home anymore. Although I hadn’t thought of it until right now, I am still living out of my backpack in my own home, putting things back in it when I am done with them – funny! I suspect that the normal reaction at this time would be to feel a little bit of sadness that the trip is over, but I really don’t feel that way. I decided on the way home, that the secret to re-entry into the states (aside from not going back to a job right away) was not to think that my adventure was over, but that is was continuing in a new location – not the end, just another stop in the journey…
Peace,
Matt