I talked to them for about two hours. We swapped email addresses and phone numbers. Shortly thereafter I moved to Cambodia. I never saw either of them again.
Imagine my surprise, then, when one of them contacted me and asked if I would be willing to show her around Cambodia. She was coming to visit for the first time and needed a tour guide. It just so happened she would be in town during my term break so I agreed. I wasn't sure it was such a great idea. I don't actually know the girl after all. Four days with a complete stranger could be a long time.
Her name is Thong, which she discovered is an unfortunate spelling when dealing with English speakers. It's pronounced Tawm but when written it looks like she was named after provocative women's undergarments. (The hotel where I lived in Saigon was named after the owner, an elegant woman whose name is pronounced Yoom but is spelled Dung.)
She would only have three full days for sightseeing. She wanted to see Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat. I explained that it could be done but we would have to move quickly. She seemed game.
We spent the first day touring the city. She was late getting started so we didn't get to see everything, but we did see what I consider to be the most important sights. We started at the Royal Palace. She was keen to see the Silver Pagoda. On the way out we heard someone playing a traditional instrument like a marimba. We walked up the stairs of a small wooden building to check it out. The weather-worn, toothless old man seemed thrilled when the pretty young girl asked if she could jam with him.
After we went to the Killing Fields. I had been there before and honestly had no desire to go back. It's something you want to see once and only once. I realized though that if people come to visit me they will want to go there, so I should just accept that I will likely be making multiple trips there.
The rainy season has started here. One effect of this is that, as the rain washes away the soil there, it exposes fragments of bone and teeth from the victims.
As we walked along the trail we encountered scraps of victims' clothing that had been exposed by the rain. Almost 8,000 people were murdered here between 1975 and 1979. Here we are in the year 2010 and nature is still revealing evidence.
On my two visits tourists have been suitably respectful, but apparently not all visitors are so well behaved. How sad that a sign like this is necessary.
You can see more victims' clothing in the path to the right. After we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I really didn't want to go back there. The creepy, funereal atmosphere of the place was enhanced by the hordes of bats that had taken up residence in the stairwells.
I walked through most of the museum with her but by the time we got to the last building I'd had enough. I sat outside and waited while she toured the last few exhibits.
I was happy to accompany her to Siem Reap. I had spent a total of six days visiting the the temples of Angkor on two previous visits, but it had been more than a year since my last visit. In order to have enough time we had to take an overnight bus from Phnom Penh. Thong is one of those fortunate people who can sleep anywhere. I rarely get a good night's sleep even under the most advantageous conditions. When we arrived she was feeling fresh and excited. I was tired and grumpy.
We went to a cheapie hotel I had scouted on the internet, checked in and immediately took off for the temples. We started at Bayon, the second-most popular temple, famous for its towers featuring the face of King Jayavarman VII, seen here in a staring contest with Thong. (He won.)
One of the few negative aspects about visiting Angkor is the mobs of people selling, well, crap. In the course of a day you will be attacked by literally hundreds of people all selling the same books, the same cheap bracelets, the same refrigerator magnets, and so on. Most of them are children who should be in school. The government is clearly unaware of how poorly it reflects on the country for visitors to the country's main tourist attraction to be constantly harassed by begging children.
One of the few things I actually buy is fresh fruit. We bought a pineapple and green mango with chili from this woman on the bicycle. We paid $2, twice as much as we should have. I don't mind paying extra to a woman who pushes around a bike laden with fruit in the hot Cambodian sun all day.
She hit the jackpot with a large Korean tour group that came just after us. She was making a killing when a security guy came along and told her to move on.
Wait a minute: It's OK for children five years old to sell me bracelets but not for this woman to sell me fruit? I've noticed that in Cambodia their enforcement of the law can be arbitrary or hypocritical. Recently it was decreed that prostitutes in Phnom Penh can't wear short shorts or miniskirts or dye their hair blonde. But they can still be prostitutes!
We stopped for an early lunch. Since we were the only ones at the restaurant we were besieged by kids selling baskets of worthless junk. The best way to make friends with kids abroad is with a digital camera. Here Thong is reviewing her photos from the morning as an enthralled little boy watches.
I wanted to visit a small, secluded temple called Ta Nei. Our driver didn't know where it was -- even though he takes tourists to the temples every day -- and I got lost. We stumbled upon this forgotten rampart in the forest. In virtually any other place in the world this would be on the tourist trail, but because there are so many magnificent temples in Angkor, this tiny structure doesn't even appear on the map.
We had decided to save the best for last and visit Angkor Wat at the end of the day. If you start there the rest of the temples look ordinary. By the afternoon we were hot and tired and temple-d out. Visiting so many temples overloads your brain. They all start to look alike. Thong perked up when we stopped at Sras Srang reservoir on the east side of Angkor Wat. Something different!
Here is my friend in the obligatory shot in front of the reflecting pool at Angkor Wat.
On my previous visits I could not go up into the temple. I was thrilled to find that the main concourse was open. This was taken inside the temple, looking out towards the entrance.
As impressive as the temples are, the color palette is dull. It's all browns and greys. It's always a joy to see monks in their colorful robes, but in the temples they add a vivid and welcome dash of color.
Additional color is added by large tour groups who wear identical shirts so their guides can keep track of them. Here two monks pass by the tail end of a huge group all wearing garish pink tshirts. Yet another reason to travel alone: You don't have to wear ridiculous, matching shirts!
I try to be discreet about photographing them. I am appalled at the way tourists walk up to them without asking and jam giant camera lenses in their faces, then walk away without offering them money or even a simple thank you. The monks don't get upset. They're Buddhist monks after all.
We went to a temple called Bakheng to watch the sunset. The builders did not consider the needs of elderly tourist when they built the staircases.
The steps are high and narrow. These women literally crawled up the steps. There was a large group of monks there. Thong's camera battery had run out so she was using mine. She took about a bazillion photos of the monks. Tourists were jockeying for the spots with the best view of the sunset. The monks congregated in the shade...
Most of Cambodia is flat. There are few even small hills in the area around Angkor. Bakheng offers the only view of Angkor Wat from above.
The only other way to get a bird's-eye view is to go up in a hot air balloon about a kilometer away from the temple.
Watching the sun set over nearly featureless farmland from Bakheng was a disappointment.
The next morning we got up early to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat, which was infinitely better. The temple was packed leading up to the sunrise. Then everyone left! We had the place almost completely to ourselves. It's hard to get good photos of it during the day because of the lack of color. The fierce sunlight washes out any detail.
The early morning light cast the temples in softer shades of light and shadow. Photographs show details that vanish in the afternoon sun. It was quiet. It was peaceful. It was cool. It was heaven.
We just sat there for the longest time, enjoying the tranquility. I have visited the temple perhaps a dozen times but this was the first time it felt like a temple.
Angkor Wat is considered one of the world's great architectural achievements. It's design and mathematical proportions are said by those smarter than me to perfectly represent the Hindu view of the universe.
Nonsense.
I discovered a design flaw. The courtyard enclosing the temple is too small. I squeezed myself as far as I could into the corner but found it is impossible to take a photo with three towers in it.
Amateurs.Note the moon is still visible on the right side of the photo. After Angkor Wat we took the 23-mile trip to visit Banteay Srei. It's quite a long ride, especially in a tuk-tuk, but it's worth it. Most temples in Angkor were built by the kings and are massive. This temple, on the other hand, was built privately, and is almost miniature in scale. It looks like it was built for children. The detail in the stone carvings is astonishing, considering it was consecrated in the year 967! Imagine what this lintel looked like before enduring over a thousand years of Cambodian rain!
Thong loves to take photos of people taking photos. Here's a shot she took of a man taking a picture of his wife with three Khmer kids at the temple.
I got in the spirit and took a photo of her taking a photo of people taking a photo of the temple.
Our last stop was at Neak Pean, a unique site at Angkor. It's a circular monument surrounded by a series of reservoirs. When I was here last these pools were full, but during the dry season they are empty. Archaeologists were taking advantage of the dry conditions to excavate. They won't have much longer...
Even with tarps over the trenches digging in the dirt in the Cambodian sun is hot work. When the sun is at its highest and most merciless the workers take to the shade of the trees for a well-deserved nap.
I think Thong had a good time. I hope she did. For me it was fun to play tour guide. I hope it's not the last time!
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