Goodbye Siem Reap, hello again Bangkok

We left our hotel in Siem Reap this morning at 6:45 for the Siem Reap Airport that is an hour away and no where close to Siem Reap.  We learned from our driver that China built the airport and the road to the airport and they have to pay a fee just to drive on the airport highway.  It is a lovely airport and there was hardly anyone there. Our 45 minute flight again included a full meal service.   Back through immigration we snagged our bags and headed for our Airbnb — the exact same place we had stayed before.  In fact, I had hidden our laundry detergent so that we wouldn’t have to purchase more.  Yves’ parents have been eager to do laundry.  He wears a Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit.  He sleeps really well in it.  However, in Cambodia he peed in it and didn’t sleep well the rest of the time we were there.  Needless to say, Matt and Melissa were eager to get it washed and ready.  We had pork noodles delivered for our lunch and we sat around the large dining room table and enjoyed this delicious treat.

Matt and I decided we wanted to go visit more temples.  Wat Saket (the Golden Mount) and Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen (site of huge bronze Buddha) were high on both of our lists. Melissa and Chinda decided to join us.  But when we got outside to our Grab car it wasn’t large enough for all of us.  Matt, Yves and I headed on to Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen.  Melissa and Chinda would get a second vehicle and join us.  But their Grab cars kept canceling on them so they planned to meet us at our second stop. 

We started at the bronze Buddha.  They finished construction on it in 2021.  You can’t miss it.  In this photo you can see the size of the people below to give you a perspective of its immense size.

Behind the great Buddha is a stupa that was built in 2012.  

Yves was fast asleep in his stroller so Matt and I took turns going inside the stupa, which has five floors.  I took my shoes off in spite of the possibility of shoe thieves.

Several of the floors house a museum of relics and Buddha images.  The fifth floor has a tall green glass pagoda with an incredible domed ceiling above it surrounded by the heads of snakes.  It is indescribable and I had no idea what I was going to see when I entered the space.  There was a sign warning people not to pose for photos on the fifth floor (complete with illustrations) —no yoga poses, no leaping in the air, no kissing and no dancing.

There is an observation deck on the fifth floor.  I got to see the bronze Buddha from a different angle.  

As I walked around the stupa at that level I saw that there was a water channel right beside us and another large (not as large as the one at Wat Paknam) Buddha right across the channel.  

Matt took his turn exploring the inside of the stupa and then we decided that since we were already here we should go see what was across the water. The name of this temple is Wat Khun Chan.  It was different in a way I couldn’t quite figure out.  There was a large golden Buddha being carried by huge elephants with Rahu (from Hindu mythology) at the base.  Rahu was eating the moon.  People were worshiping but they had their shoes on, something I have never ever seen in a Buddhist temple.

There are two reclining Buddhas (one of them quite efeminate), monk statues wearing glasses, circus animal statues everywhere and I’m sure there would have been more to intrigue us if we had more time to explore.  I read when I got back to our rental that it is a Buddhist temple in the Burmese style.

But it was hot, Melissa and Chinda had already left to meet us at the Golden Mount and we had Yves with us but we did not have his diaper bag. We got a Grab and headed to Wat Saket, which roughly translated means “wash hair”.  Melissa and Chinda were waiting for us under all these lanterns.

We went to get our tickets.  Foreigners have to pay but Thai people get to go up for free.  There are over 300 steps to the top of the mount where the top of stupa is visible.  Matt and Melissa had read that there was a lift.  Turns out there isn’t a lift.  Chinda stayed behind with the stroller and the rest of us climbed up the stairway that circles around the stupa.  

At a couple landings were a row of bells.  Buddhist pilgrims run their hands across the clappers to bring good fortune.

I made it to the top puffing with sweat running down my back and it was worth every step.

While we were at the top a ritual began of reading the names of the deceased, chanting with the monk and then circling the stupa three times holding onto to a long trailing piece of cloth.  Once they had gone around three times the men in the group climbed up to the stupa and encircled it with the cloth, in honor of the loved ones they had lost.  It was very moving to witness.

It was almost sunset so Matt and I stayed there to watch the sun go down.  

When it got almost to the horizon the clouds or perhaps smog below made the sun look like a jelly fish. 

We climbed back down taking a different route and happened upon this memorial.  Temples often house crematoriums.  In its history this one was used heavily for that purpose because back then it was outside the city limits.  So many bodies were taken there for cremation that they couldn’t keep up with the demand.  Bodies were left to rot on the ground.  Vultures came.  Cholera broke out….several times.   This installation tells the story of the vultures and the outbreak of disease.

We connected back up with the rest of our family and headed to Chinatown for dinner. One of Melissa’s cousins had recommended Laoteng.  Traffic was a nightmare.  We got out of the car and tried to navigate our way down the street to the restaurant.  It was amazing.  I kept stopping to take photos of the food and the chaos.

Laoteng is an indoor, air conditioned (thank God!) happening restaurant.  The bar upstairs is hidden behind a bookshelf.  We ordered some dim sum, fried fish and Peking Duck.  A waitress brought the duck to our table and very skillfully removed the skin in squares.  We were given thin pancakes, hoisin sauce, scallions and cucumber to create a kind of Peking Duck taco.  It was exquisite!  

Then they took the remainder of the duck to the kitchen and stir fried it and returned it to us.  I was awed at how good it tasted.  I have never been a fan of duck but I had never tried Peking Duck.  During dinner Matt modeled the new chain he had bought to keep his mask around his neck when he isn’t using it.  Melissa is so nonplussed.  She simply said, “What made you pick that particular chain, babe?”

We took the MRT to avoid the insanity of the traffic in Chinatown.  We got relatively close to our rental and then called for a car to take us the rest of the way.  I snapped a photo of how many people use motorcycles to get around.

When we arrived back, Melissa found a cockroach in their bedroom. This is the second time it has happened.  After a visit from the owner, a spray to help with the problem and a promise that there would be a deep clean tomorrow to try to solve the issue, we collapsed into our beds, hoping for no more visits from cockroaches tonight.  It has been a long day that started early, in a whole different country, and ended late with everyone extremely tired, especially Yves.  But like every day on this amazing adventure we have had delicious tastes, experienced sacred rituals, seen incredible beauty and sweated like pigs….and we aren’t even halfway through this trip!