where in the world is rahima?: angkor wat (cambodia)

We spent two days visiting the gloriously incredible temples of Angkor Wat in Siam Reap, which is in northern Cambodia. Some of the temples are being restored (a Japanese company has taken over this project and now controls the finances of the temples in Cambodia). But other temples are just collapsing and deteriorating back into the jungle. My favorite temples were the ones that were still intact, but had tress growing out of them and overtaking them. There were some temples that had herculean trees seemingly constricting the life of the temple walls and slowly crumbling some of the structures as they grew around them. We spent our first day seeing the temples by tuk-tuk, which was a good way to get our bearings. We started the morning at 5 am to see the sunrise (which was no all that) and then walked around some of the major temples and got a sense of the grandeur of the structures. Annette was sick (and also she had been chugging cough syrup, thinking that it was non-drowsy) and was kind of a downer the first part of the morning, but once the cough syrup wore off, she bounced right back to life. So while i climbed up some of the steps of the temples, she acted as group photographer (thanks annette!).

The second day, we rented bikes and biked around the temples. The day before we had done the little loop so we opted for the grand tour. It was awesome because this tour was more off the beaten path. Since so many tourists want to see the famous temples on the little loop (including the one where Tomb Raider was filmed), we didn't have to deal with as much traffic or as many people. This coupled with the fact that there were a few rainstorms, we got to see a very peaceful part of Angkor Wat. Also, I think the temples on the grand tour were so much more beautiful than the ones we saw on the little loop. Mostly because these were the ones that were overtaken by the gargantuan trees and had a mysterious nature to them. I loved being there. Annette was also happier this day (she stopped chugging drowsy cough syrup) and the biking was flat so she did not complain at all. This was a far cry from her about to keel over and die at the claws of hawks when we were in Easter Island. We biked about 35km, and did get to see a lot. I was happy to be on a bike (a privilege that has been denied to me most of this trip) and be out in a such a beautiful space and experience such an important part of Cambodian history.

despite the fact that some of these temples are close to 1000 years old, there is beautiful art carved into them, which still looks pretty detailed. i am flummoxed by the craftsmanship that so many ancient civilizations had that was built to last for so long. what a contrast to present day societies, where everything is meant to be disposable or upgradable.