Temples and villages

Yesterday was temple day, it was just incredible. We biked to Angkor Thom to begin the day. Once the ancient Khmer capital, back in its prime the city had 1 million people, which is a lot of people for an ancient city. We saw several temples in Angkor Thom, including the most famous: The Bayon. The temple is a shrine for both Buddha and Hindu. A lot of the temples started off Hindu, and eventually became Buddhist as well. Oddly enough the Hindu and Buddhist idols exist harmoniously. The Bayon has several sandstone towers with several faces carved on them. The intricate detail of these temples are amazing.

Next was Angkor Wat. Pictures do it no justice, especially since it was so dark. The incredible place took 37 years to build. The huge moat around it was hand dug as well.

Today we had a free morning. I spent it by the pool reading and petting our new little kitty friend.

At 1 PM we left for ---to tour a lake side ullage. Its a village with no cars- just boats for transportation. A long, winding vein of the lake (the largest lake in South Eastern Asia) connects all of the houses together. All the houses are on massive stilts because in the winter the water level rises substantially. Once we got out of our boat, we took a tour of the village temple and school. I would have enjoyed my time there if I wasn't being pestered by local Cambodian women. A flock of them followed our group the entire time, trying to sell us overpriced pencils and notebooks that they claimed was money that would go directly to the school children. Chad explained to us that the money doesn't go to these children, and that if you really wanted to help you donate to reputable organizations. Because tourists keep buying notebooks from these women, they keep doing that rather than utilizing a skill like sewing. It's not a sustainable way to make money.. I felt very uncomfortable ignoring them, and it didn't help that one singled me out the whole time I was there. Other than that, I enjoyed seeing the temple and adorable Cambodian kids.

For dinner we ate at house on stilts a local family made us.

Later we went to a benefit concert to get donations for the local hospital. The hospital is free of charge for all children,'100 of kids a day come in with serious illnesses and accidents like dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, burn incidents, car accidents, and many other things. Without this hospital, manu kids would be left to die or be seriously handicapped for life. The hospital denies nobody, these people are too poor to pay to get treatment. The hospital relies on 90% of its profits from donations. The guy who started the hospital, Dr. Beat Richner, played the cello for us. Such a selfless person, never have I felt better about donating towards a cause.

This morning I saw the incredible Angkor Wat at sunrise