Sunrise at Angkor Wat with the International Community

Last night at dinner I told Chinda we had a driver scheduledto pick us up at 5 a.m. to take us to Angkor Wat for sunrise.  She just shook her head.  She was not interested in going.  Brett and Brendon left the hotel at 7 a.m. to go back to California.  That left four of us to get up in the dark.  Matt knocked on my door at 4:50 a.m. and said, “It is just going to be the two of us.”  We hiked in the dark from where the driver left us off, over the uneven stone bridge that crosses the moat and up the stone causeway to the reflecting pools outside the inner sanctuary.  The stars were out as we found our location which was a couple people back from the edge of the pond.  People spoke in hushed tones and the scene felt sacred.  I was overcome with my love for this international community of strangers.  You could just begin to see the outline of Angkor Wat.  The sky began to turn purple and then pink.

Once dawn began to light the sky the international community, which was now a crowd, started jockeying for the perfect photo.  My feeling of zen became one of annoyance and then I got the giggles.  One woman crouched down and crab walked her body between Matt and I and the woman seated in front of us.  She leaned into the woman as she took photos over her head, then over her right shoulder, and then over her left shoulder.  The woman got so perturbed she stood up and blocked the woman.  It didn’t deter the persistent photographer.  She just crab walked herself a few feet over.  One woman, in bright orange neon pants, walked along the edge of the pond in front of all the people who had arrived before her.  There were cameras, selfie sticks and iPhones everywhere.  What annoying travelers we all are…the hush at the darkened sky was over.

But there was still beauty and sacredness in the experience.

Matt and I waited until we could see the sun crest over the trees and temple.

Then we hiked back towards our waiting driver while the rest of our fellow human beings scurried inside for the most Instagrammable photos.  I was glad we had seen the temple in the heat of the day when there was a much smaller international community.

When we got back to the hotel, Chinda and Melissa were enjoying the breakfast buffet and we joined them.  What to do with the rest of the day?  We decided to go into town and wander around.  We started at the outdoor market.  I got to see what mangosteens look like.

There was lots of raw meat (chicken and seafood) for sale.

We crossed the river and found ourselves at the gate of Wat Damnak.  We went inside.  There were only a couple signs in English and they were wise sayings, so we weren’t completely sure what all we were seeing.  But the place had some beautiful structures.

We admired the area full of beautiful stupas.

Once we were done wandering we called a Grab and went to Mahob Khmer restaurant.  It was another restaurant on Matt’s spreadsheet of possibilities.  I had studied their online menu and I had asked if we could go there.  I wanted one particular item, the BBQ meat served on a volcanic stone in which you can cook the meat to your taste.  But when we arrived the item I had my heart set on wasn’t on the menu.  Not knowing the language all we could find out was that it simply wasn’t available.  So I ordered the lobster fried rice, which was served with prawns and not lobster.  I struck out all the way around.  The food was good enough and we left full.

We rested and packed because we leave early tomorrow morning for the hour drive back to the Siem Reap airport and a short flight to Bangkok.  We will spend the weekend in Bangkok.

For dinner we headed back to the Sugar Palm Restaurant.  Matt, Melissa and I ate there a couple nights ago and Chinda did not go with us.  We wanted her to try the fish amok at this restaurant.  We toasted to our last night in Cambodia.  The food was just as good as we remembered.  I especially liked the crunchy spring rolls.  Back before 8:30 p.m. we headed to our rooms to make sure we would be ready to leave in the morning.