Angkor Wat Adventures

After nearly 11 months in this country, I finely made it to the only thing most people ever visit in this country.  The world renowned  ANGKOR WAT!  Aka, that really big stone temple in Cambodia a neighbor to that other really big temple featured in Tomb Raider back before brangelina was a word.

My buddy Carly (college friend, currently teacher English in Thailand) came to visit so we made the trek up north.   See some photos of our adventures below!

Can you find me?  ...  That is right, I am not in this picture.  This amusing tour was spotted just as we were leaving Phnom Penh.  I laughed so hard.  There were about fifty of these.

Look at the mirror in the bathroom.  It was striking because it was outside, not your normal reflection.

Made it to Angkor Wat!  This was on the causeway with our million closest friends :)  I may have done a little dance when we arrived out of excitement to not be in a bus... I mean to see the temples.

Inside Angkor Wat.  Impressive to think it was built by human hands.

Wishing we had a selfie-stick... Not...  Inside the wat!

Very steep stairs up to the top, ish, of Angkor Wat.  We did not climb these because they are now limited to just a few people per day and I had no helmet to protect my head when I fell backwards from the narrow steps :)

Sunset!  This was about the only impressive view from the highly acclaimed 'sunset at Angkor Wat'

The colors there were striking.  With the light and dark of the stone, bright green, and many blues of the sky visually, this place just popped.

Many of the bas-reliefs have these blocks missing.  Supposedly they were taken by invaders because they contained information about treasure of some kind (or so the book said).

This is how all the grass around the place was cut.  Of course, as usual, I was almost more fascinated with the 'unseen' people that keep up the place then with the actual world heritage site.  Could you imagine cutting all your grass with the scythe?  My knees hurt just looking at it.

Carly in the hallway!  In between history lessons from our guide book, I also learned about tall culture and the inner-workings of NCAA basketball.  It was a very educational trip.

Karen in the hallway!  Why not jump for joy?

Another temple selfie!  I think this was at Bayon, or the temple with all the faces.  When it was the center of power, the faces were meant to intimidate when people came to visit the ruler.

One of the many faces.  We look alike, no?

This temple was call Bophuan (or something like that)  It reminded us of  Teotihuacan in Mexico because it was a large pyramid type shape.  It is known for that large elevated causeway you see over my left shoulder.  What a view! 

Carly's plug for the Lonely Planet book!  It was a great tour guide for us, thanks Albert and Sarah!

I call this, tourist model.

This was a very un-visited temple which made it much more fun to poke around...

Carly made a friend!

This is Ta Phrom, or the Tomb Raider Temple.  The jungle and the temple are one :)

Did I do that!!?!?!?!

This was one of the most colorful temples given all the various things growing on the stones.

And, again, couldn't help but photograph the guy responsible for removing some of the stuff growing on the stones.

 This was just one day of temple visiting (well 1.5 days)!  More coming soon!  As you can see, it is a very expansive complex spanning many years of history and different rulers.  Definitely, worth the trip!

Not even Gilligan!

4ish hours in a taxi, 1ish hour in a boat, and not even Gilligan was on this island!  Sometimes you just need to get away from civilization, reliable electricity, internet, potable water, cars, cell service, etc.  This past week was a holiday called Pchum Ben here in Cambodia.  It is the second biggest holiday of the year and a time for people to pay respects to their ancestors.  During a 15-day period, Cambodians are supposed to travel to seven different Wats and make offerings to the monks (food, money, incense, etc).  The monks serve as the conduits to get the nourishment to the ancestors.  On the darker side, supposedly, if your ancestors are not fed, they may haunt you for the next year.

But, enough about haunting ancestors...  Check-out my less than $100, four day vacation :)

So, first was the cab ride.  Four in the backseat, with my six chins it is amazing we all fit....

Then, was the boat ride.  Lovely Lindsay and I had the back seat :)

Then was a whole lot of this...

And, some of this...

And, trying to learn to click my heals and fly through life...

Then, we all tried to jump together.

And, now for some of my pictures...

This was the fishing village from which we launched.  The smell... was... special... in a strong, shrimpy sorta way.

Turning the boat, when we realized we forgot two guests in the village.

The rain in the background, the open water, and two fishing boats.  Wow.

The fishing boats have these large nets on the front that they use to scoop up water dwelling things.  Would not want to be caught on rough water in one of these.

The scoop, on choppy water

Sometimes, you just need to slowdown and appreciate nature.

Kick-off your shoes and feel the sand

Just enjoy the view from your front porch

Or, enjoy the view of your front porch... ;)

And, suddenly, the gulf of life seems a bit more tranquil.

Mission Looks Like...

The last few weeks have been nothing but a haze...  From our FAB group visiting from the United States and English Camp, to a retreat and International Week for the Deaf, mission has had many faces.  So, I share some with you :)

At English Camp, we started each morning with Shibachi (a version of Tai Chi taught to me by the Maryknoll Sisters).  We never really got the whole slow and meditative thing down, but they enjoyed it.

With the sign of all the movements... One of the students asked to keep this, so I guess some of them may still be doing Shibachi

 

While in Koh Roka, I was taking my two friends to visit the Wat and see the village.  These are many of my former students from my month in the village that remembered me and came to ...

Give us the full tour...

If only I had more hands...

Talking with one of my friends, who we also met along the way.  While we walked, the kids repeated things like "chick-eye (Dog in Khmer), dog" and any other part of our classes that they remembered

 

So, when we arrived at the school (after they all showed me the door to their new classroom, the school year ended since I was last there), we sang some of our songs.

This is my version of "Where is Thumbkin" that includes a family: Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Baby

They didn't exactly get London Bridges.  They all just wanted to be trapped so would stand between us until we trapped them - to many squeals of glee.

The weekend after English Camp, well about 24 hours after I got back, we went on a retreat to a town called Kep on the Gulf of Thailand (I believe) - still in Cambodia.  They sold shrimp there...

Aren't we a good looking group of Lay Missioners?

Then, it was back to work with International Week of the Deaf.  For me, this meant tweeting, facebook'ing, blogging, daily newsletters, and making YouTube videos like my life depended on it.  Maybe not what you think of when you think Missioner... 

 

Oh, and doing lots of this...  Can you find Karen?  (Look low)

 

Or, high...

 

Many of the Maryknollers turned up for Deaf Day (Hang and Dee were there after this)

Oh, ya...  That happened, too.  Ice Bucketed in support of our Deaf Soccer Team.  My colleague Miguel on the right, who looks thrilled to be icing me even from behind, started this trend at DDP.  Vichet was also brave enough to accept the challenge and the gentleman on her left has been challenged (he is also one of our soccer players).  You can see the full video of me getting drenched below :)