Day 185 – Angkor Wat, Cambodia

August 10th, 2019

Our day started at 4am as we packed up and checked out of the hotel.  Mr. Gecko picked us up at 5am and we headed to the main temple Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise.  It was pretty cloudy, so we did not get a spectacular colored sky, but it was still very nice and pretty. 

Once the sun rose we explored the main temple.  It was massive and very amazing.  The detail carved into every inch of every stone is just unbelievable.  The construction of this temple started in 1113 AD and was originally made as a palace for Khmer King Suryavarman II. It was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. It started as a Hindu temple that became a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12^th century which I thought was very  interesting.  I’ll try not to post an excessive number of pictures, but this was another day where I took hundreds because it was all so amazing and hard to believe the temple was created with such elaborate detail so long ago on such a massive scale. 

We had some breakfast and went back to our tuk tuk to go to Bayon temple.  It is really hard to pick but this might have been my favorite one.  It was just so interesting to have all the towers with faces in them.  The architecture and the detail were just outstanding.  From Byon, we went to Baphuon Temple.  While walking through Baphuon, I was extremely hot and thought to myself, I bet this is the most I ever perspired in my entire life!  I was starting to feel tired and looked at the time to realize it was only 9am.  Guess its good I didn’t get the 3-day ticket as I could already tell as amazing as the temples were, it was going to be a very long day in excessive heat and humidity. 

After Baphuon temple, we got back in the tuk tuk and rode quite a while to the Landmine Museum which I had asked Gecko to take us to today.  I had read about it and knew I wanted it to be part of our tour.  It was nice being sort of out of the way too, because it gave us a chance to cool off with the breeze of the tuk tuk and drink some water. 

The Landmine museum was heart wrenching, but I am so glad we included it in our day.  It was good to learn some history and was totally inspiring to see how one man has made such a tremendous difference in his country contributing to it being a safer place. The founder is Aki Ra and among many other awards, was chosen by CNN as a top 10 hero out of 10,000 nominees.  He was orphaned as a child as both his parents were killed in war.  He was given a rifle at the age of 10 and spent two decades fighting in war and planting mines for various factions.

In 1992, Aki Ra joined the United Nations Transition Authority in Cambodia and became a “deminer”.  His knowledge of landmines was invaluable as he had laid thousands himself while he was a soldier.  After the UN ended its mission he continued clearing mines on his own and eventually founded the NGO of the Cambodian Landmine Museum.  He started this collection of decommissioned mines and opened his doors to tourists coming to visit Angkor Wat.  The most compelling part of the museum is that it also served as a rescue center for amputee children that Aki Ra found.  He also has built schools and trained many others in demining.  The $5 entrance fee for the museum goes towards schools, clearing landmines, care for kids, and scholarships.  Another amazing way to put tourism dollars to good use! 

There are still millions of landmines left as invisible, undiscerning weapons in Cambodia alone.  Many  affected or killed by mines today are farmers or children playing out in fields by their house or school.  The immense effort of Aki Ra along with international aid hope to have Cambodia cleared of landmines by 2025.  So far only half of Cambodia has been cleared.  Since demining efforts started in 1992, one million mines and three million other explosive remnants have been removed from Cambodia’s ground.  In 1997 the Ottawa Treaty was created to ban the production and development of landmines since they are inhumane, undiscerning weapons that last for hundreds of years after placement.  The most powerful countries who have yet to sign are the United States, China, India, and Russia.  The United States deem land mines as a crucial component to our military strategy in South Korea.  However, the US is the biggest financial contributor to support demining efforts and aid.  The museum was an eye- opening experience and one I will not soon forget.

After the Landmine Museum we continued on to the Banteay Srei Temple.  This was the most intricate and beautiful temple we both thought.  It was made from the stone in the land which is very red.  The buildings had a more reddish hue than the others we have seen today.  This temple also looked well preserved and we noticed it was mostly blocked off so people couldn’t touch it.  The whole day we had thought it was kind of crazy you could just tromp through all the other temples touching things.  I’m surprised they don’t make it guided tours only, because it seems like freely letting people walk all around will destroy it more. 

After this we went to Ta Prohm, also known as the Tomb Raider Temple, as much of it has been overtaken by the jungle.  The temple mixed with the rawness and power of nature was quite beautiful.  We roamed around there before going back to the tuk tuk. 

Mr. Gecko asked if we wanted to do any other activities (more temples or a floating village) but we declined as 9 hours of temple-going had us pretty darn exhausted.  He took us back to the hotel where we had checked out but stored our bags.

For today and the few hours yesterday we had Mr. Gecko’s tuk tuk service, it was $35.  We could have haggled more but like I have mentioned in previous posts, I don’t really like doing that too much.  I didn’t want to risk Mr. Gecko hating us or abandoning us somewhere because we bargained him out of another $5. 

We opted to take an overnight bus to our next stop in Cambodia (Sihanoukville).  We had a few hours to relax before then, so we hung out and swam at our hotel pool.  We also had an early dinner.  A tuk tuk came to take us to the bus stop where we boarded our first “hotel bus”.  I thought it was very cool as instead of seats you had a little bed.  Brendan and I had one small bed that was just slightly larger than the single beds.  At first, I was wishing we each had a single just so there was more space, but I later realized it was better to be wedged together so when you’re sleeping you don’t freely roll around while the bus driver drives around aggressively honking his horn.  I took a sleeping aid and slept pretty well!  This overnight bus was $13 per person and saved us the cost of a hotel for a night.  I thought it was a great way to travel (as long as you have the sleep aid).