Angkor Whaat?

To round out the last leg of our Southeast Asia travels, we took a quick jaunt over to Siam Reap in order to view the magnificent Angkor Wat, but also to see some real, live Kiwis! We planned to cross paths with our friends, Shaun and Catherine, from New Zealand, who have been working and living in London for the past couple of years, and who are now travelling their way home from March-October. It was a delightful, albeit too short of a visit, but we did have the bonus pleasure of getting to know Shaun's "little brother", Tony too!

We decided to hire a guide to help us get around for two days and it was a great decision! Sam was knowledgeable, had a great sense of humour and had obvious pride in him homeland, based on his enthusiasm over seeing places he must have seen hundreds of times already. Bonus, he was excellent at pointing out the best picture taking spots and was creative in helping us take some fun group photos! If you are headed here, please let me give you his name!

Angkor Wat was stunning and fun to walk around because it is very large and well restored. There is a point where you can stand in line for an hour (an hour! And this is low season!) in the very hot beaming sun (I think this was the start of my problems) and climb a steep staircase to the top level, where the king hung out. He welcomed all people to visit him, but he made the stairs so steep so that people had to climb up to him on their hands and knees. The view at the top is a lovely expanse of the entire grounds, so worth the scamper.

 We went to a few other temples that were noteworthy. I enjoyed going by the Terrace of the elephants, where warriors used to train and practice standing on an elephant, which I would imagine with their very jaunty gait would take some practice for sure! The Bayon temple, or the "smiling faces temple" was very lovely with hundreds of smiling faces beaming down on you from the pinnacles above.

 My very favourite one was Ta Phrom or "Tomb Raider temple", where scenes from Laura Croft, Tomb Raider was filmed. This place is still mostly unrestored, with spectacular banyan trees and other trees still taking hold of walls and roofs of the building. Moss on most places, it was serene feeling the connection between man's creation and nature.

The next day we were supposed to be heading back to Angkor Wat to watch a lovely sunrise over the temple and in the reflection of the moat surrounding it. Well, I did not make it out. I was struck down with what I think was sunstroke from the day before. And I was so proud to not be sick at all this trip! So, I bring you guest author, Krystal to talk about their special morning, while I was confined to my bed. "The sunrise over Angkor Wat was beautiful although not quite the same with Jess not being there. We watched the sun slowly ascend from across the moat surrounding the temple. As the light began to seep into the sky the temple gates and temple were perfectly reflected in the still waters below. As the sky changed from navy to pink to red to light blue, a slightly new picture was created."

"From there we ventured to explore four more temples all impressive but none quite as stunning as the three the day before. Coming close was the Banteay Srei temple. It is famous for using pink sandstone creating a unique colour. However what impressed me was not the colouring of the temple but the intricate carvings that were found all around. Everywhere you looked were detailed scenes from ancient Hindu tales, explained to us by our knowledgable guide. The last few temples were unique as they were older by several hundred years. The difference in age allowed us to see how different construction techniques changed over the years, these were the building blocks that granted the Khmer people the experience they needed to create the beautiful cultural treasures Angkor Wat, Ta Phrom and Bayon. Nevertheless, there was something missing from our day and that was Jess with her enthusiasm and insightful questions. We decided to take the long route back to pick her up for the afternoon. With that I will pass it back to her."

I'm back! I rejoined the group for more adventures, but unfortunately I wasn't really feeling 100% the whole rest of our trip. The afternoon we went out to a floating village. Not just a few houses on sticks, but a whole village floating together, suspended on top of the water on bundles of bamboo or empty oil barrels. The whole village mostly consists of illegal Vietnamese immigrants, who support themselves and their movable village by farming. No, just kidding, by fishing. Some enterprising individuals had fish and crocodile farms attached to their houses. There was a floating school, markets, water treatment plant sponsored by USAid, a "restaurant" serving dried fish, alligator and snake, which I was prepared to try, but they were sold out of. It was fun to watch the fishers reeling in their nets and catching the little tiny jumping fish off of them with butterfly nets. That looked like hot work. When the water level is lower, they un-anchor their houses and float out further into the lake, when the water level is high, they bring themselves further up the river. Another geography lesson for Krystal on how where you are born affects your whole life!

Our very last day was spent relaxing, doing some wandering and spending time with Shaun, Catherine and Tony. We wandered a few markets, went for a good swim and got a massage.  We finally got up the nerve to try durian, the super stinky fruit that IS better that it smells, but still not really worth getting past the smell. We went out for a very cheap dinner, and while there it absolutely poured a hurricane of rain down. Luckily (?) our food was so slow coming out that it stopped raining by the time dinner was over. Nathan has been trying to keep up with the big boys... where Beer is cheaper than water. (50 cents US)

We are sad to say bye to Shaun and Catherine, but I am excited to be heading home. Two days worth of travelling will bring me back to my bed, and I am ready for a good comfortable night's sleep. Southeast Asia has treated us well, the people (who reside here, not the other tourists from "certain places") have been kind, the food has been good and cheap, and the culture and history to see has been interesting. Overall, it's a recommend. But, next year I think I need to plan a trip to someplace COLD! Until next time!!
I have no pictures of cats for this blog, so I will leave you with a centipede and Shawn's foot!!

"Person of the Forest"

(All about watching orangutans in Borneo!!) It just keeps getting better. I am not sure I have ever been happier than when I am tripping and sweating through the jungle. We booked a tour provided by Adventure Indonesia. If you are headed this way, I can't recommend them enough. Check them out! Our accommodation consisted of a simple boat. At night, mattresses were laid out on the deck and bug nets strung up and we got to fall asleep listening to the sound of the water, bats, bugs and sometimes monkeys! The service was amazing, cruise ship worthy. When we returned from hiking there was cold water, cold towels and deep fried snacks waiting for us. The meals were delicious, and in my mind redeemed Indonesian food, which I wasn't really enjoying much in Bali, after eating Thai, but of course everything is better deep fried. The meals were huge and consisted of many different dishes, the only caveat being that they kept serving me fish with faces.

Our daily activity mostly consisted of walking through the jungle with the eventual destination being the feeding stations of "semi-wild" orangutans. The Orangutans that are being fed on a daily basis, are once captive/domesticated orangutans who are being rehabilitated back to the jungle. They are being fed as long as they need to be, in order to reduce their stress about finding food, but also to reduce the stress on the feeding areas of the wild orangutans. You got to stand in a certain area behind a rope, supposedly silent (but I have learned that Spanish people NEVER shut up). The national park rangers bring out big backpacks filled with bananas and dump them on a platform. Then they stand around performing a series of hooting calls, intended to tell the orangutans that food is available if they want it. Then you wait. Sometimes the apes are there waiting, once they look almost an hour to show up. They hop up on the platform and you get to see a good look at these magnificent creatures, while they stuff their face full of bananas. There were plenty to see. Females with babies, young makes and females, and a couple times the massive gigantic (King Louie) alpha male. It was very cool to see their interactions between the adults. Wary of each other when alone, social when the king was present. Cute to see the babies tottering along. What I loved the best was watching their agility in the trees. It's like they have studied rock climbing, they never leap into the air to travel like monkeys, they always maintain three points of contact, and they would ace every trigonometry test, as they can calculate the arc of a young tree bending, and exactly at what point on it, they need to be in order to be able to step off onto the next one. A-maz-ing!!

Other primate highlights we saw was a couple, agile and gracious gibbons, with beautiful, thoughtful faces. One we got a good look at, hung out on the periphery of a feeding area.

Wild macaques, who are still jerks, because they hang out by the shore, waiting, and then leap onto passing boats in hopes to steal something. Very entertaining to watch a quiet boat suddenly erupt in yells and activity.

Wild orangutans who were very disturbed by our presence and made lots of kissing, blowing and tree branch throwing to demonstrate their perturbance.

Lastly, and most abundantly we saw lots of proboscis monkeys, endemic to Borneo, with their loooooooong noses. Looong limbs. Looooong fingers. You would think they would be harder to see because they would be hiding over their ridiculous appearance. I loved watching those families, where the male's nose hangs down, the female's points up, and they communicate in a silly, naisily, throaty grunt.

We also saw the ugly bush pig, covered in mud from rooting around. A few birds. We heard a hornbill a couple times, but never saw it. Bats and swallows at night made the evening atmosphere alive.

We got off the river at one point and walked around a village of 200 people. Consisting of fishermen, some farmers and palm oil workers, it's always neat to get a wee glimpse into how other people live.

Speaking of palm oil, I am convinced now to strategically buy items that do NOT contain it. It's always a hard thought. According to Ahdi, our guide, the companies do provide jobs and support the economy, but jungle is being decimated at a rate of 10 soccer fields per day, on Borneo, for palm tree planting. The island is not that big! This is reducing habitat for the orangutan, as well if the orangutans get into the fields, they will be hunted and killed. Also, babies are still being stolen and exported as pets and for zoos. When one baby orangutan is successfully exported, alive, this means that up to 8 of them have died. So sad. One can see how you would want a baby though. They are so cute!!

We did stop at a reforestation area, where we made the "very significant" impact of planting one tree. Quite meagre in the face of 10 soccer fields per day, but still fun because we got to hear about the 9 different tree options and choose for ourselves which one we wanted. All of our choices are ones that orangutans will enjoy eating in one way or another. And, our monetary donation will go to pay for the salaries of university students who will be planting the rest, beyond our one, so I can be happy with that.

I write you from the plane, on the way out. I just got a look at myself in the mirror, on the plane for the first time in 4 days. Yikes!! Borneo is a kind of place that I am never happy to leave, but I am excited to be spending the night in a nice hotel! And, you know you have been roughing it in the jungle when you are calling the Days Inn, a nice hotel! I always feel a little pang of sadness when I am leaving a country for the last time, and I feel it now, but I am looking forward to the next and last leg of this trip in Cambodia, where we are going to get to see our Kiwi friends!! I leave you with a jungle tiger cat.