This morning started very early as we got up at 5:30 to go out to watch the procession of monks collecting their daily alms. May of us were awakened at 4 by the drum beating at the temple across the street. The drum goes at 4 am to awaken the monks. I haven’t heard it the other mornings, but this morning I did, probably because I was sleeping lightly aware that I needed to get up very early. At 6:00 every morning all the monks from the temples go out to collect the food they will eat that day. The townspeople prepare the food and bring it out, hot, to the street and put it in each monk’s bowl as he passes by. The monks then return to the temple and have their breakfast at 7:00 and lunch at 11:00 and then don’t eat again until the next morning. I couldn’t help but think of the line from the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” as I watched the monks filing past collecting their food. They do not cook or buy food at the temples. They rely entirely on the alms giving by the local people. The monks are trained to eat what is given to them and make do with that. For the people who are giving the food it is considered an auspicious thing to do, something that creates good karmic merit to give food to the monks who are the spiritual guardians of the population. The monks line up in order of seniority, so you first see the older monks and the line gets progressively smaller till you get the young boys, as young as 9 years old coming along with their bowls. And as ever, the array of stray dogs are there too, because if there is food left over after the monks go by, the dogs get a chance to have their breakfast too. They follow the monks along and sample bits of food that fall to the ground!
We then had our breakfast and headed to the airport for our flight to Siem Riep. We were in a small propeller plane and made one stop in Paske, in the south of Laos before heading into Siem Riep. We finally got to our hotel here a little before 3 PM. We had a “light lunch” (if you call appetizer and 4 courses plus dessert “light”), checked into our rooms and then went to the Angkor National Museum where we got a preview of what we will see at the Angkor Wat complex. The museum contains a lot of pieces that were taken from the Angkor Wat complex and are kept in the museum to preserve them better. The most amazing room in that museum was the “Hall of a Thousand Buddhas.” What an impressive display of Buddha statues from every era imaginable in every kind of stone or metal, in all the different postures that the Buddha has ever been depicted in – truly it was a breathtaking room. I could have stayed there the rest of the day. We only had two hours to do the museum (which is not nearly enough time!) so it was a bit of a rush to get through.
We then returned to our hotel for a little rest and then went to dinner in the French Quarter of Siem Riep. (Another multi course meal – khmer cuisine. Delicious!) What a fun place that is! Really hopping with lots of nightlife, markets, restaurants, bars, cafes, you name it. It retains the French flavor from the colonial era in the architecture of the buildings and in the atmosphere in the general neighborhood. We had planned to walk around the night market but the heavens opened just as we were finishing dinner and we decided we were not up for walking around in the torrential downpour that did not seem inclined to let up anytime soon. All of which is probably a good thing because we have to be leaving the hotel at 5AM to get to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise over the temple. (Which of course means getting up at 4 so Sam and I can each get showers before we head out!) We have been struck in our first few hours in Siem Riep at how different is the atmosphere here from Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is very old and feels very “third world” although it has a charm all its own. But it feels more like a village from another era. Siem Riep, near as we can see so far, is bustling with tourists (all here mostly for Angkor Wat) and is full of upscale hotels, restaurants, bars, apartments. The Royal Palace is here too, although the king is not currently here. There is an air of sophistication and energy here that surprised me. Our hotel is spectacular and spanking new – only about 4 years old, with fountains, a pool, a fitness center, wi-fi, nicely appointed rooms, a full bar in the lobby – really luxurious, particularly compared to our Laotian digs. So even though Cambodia is also a rural, developing, poor country, recovering from the trauma of Pol Pot and the genocide that accompanied that era, there is nonetheless in this city at least, a level of energy and excitement that is electrifying. China and Korea are investing lots of money here, so that is also helping Cambodia to develop fast and improve their standard of living.
Another member of our party went down today to the traveler’s sickness that has decimated our ranks! I’m glad to report that Sam is fully back in the saddle. He returned to devouring curries and tucked into the Khmer cuisine this evening with the gusto he had before he was felled! So that’s our report for today. Gotta get to bed so that I can have a little “nap” before getting up in the middle of the night to head out to Angkor Wat. More tomorrow….
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