What's Wat?

In three sentences or more, tell me everything you can about Cambodia.  If you were actually able to come up with three sentences, then I'm impressed.  I know that I couldn't have a couple of weeks ago.  That's what made me so excited to visit Cambodia.  Unlike with Thailand and Vietnam, I had never been to a Cambodian restaurant, or met a Cambodian person.  Being wedged between the two countries, I didn't expect it to be too different.  I was right enough, although it does have its own personality. 

The first thing I realized was that I was wrong about Vietnam losing the furniture lottery... Cambodia somehow came out worse.  The Cambodian street food stalls have the same kindergarten stools as in Vietnam, but usually that's all they have... no tables.  The street noodles here are more delicious than in Vietnam, to mine and Tom's tastes anyway, so we can accept eating them from our laps. 

We enjoyed Cambodian food so much that we decided to take a cooking class here.  The class first took us to a local market to pick up ingredients, and to see lots of gross things like chicken blood and guts, and not-dead-yet fish.  I thought the entire class might become vegetarian on the spot, but no such luck.  We prepared mushroom amok, fried spring rolls, and tofu lok lak.  Sounds like another night of feeding someone (don't worry, not you mom or dad) some Southeast Asian cuisine.

We have enjoyed things other than food in Cambodia.  So far we've spent a lot of our time here visiting Wats, which is just another name for temples.  Buddhist temples, with their tiered roofs, huge sculptures, and colourful paintings can be really stunning.

Yesterday we had a wonderful day enjoying wats, the Cambodian countryside, and most of all the Cambodian people.  After an early morning run, we rented a motorbike to head to some sights just a little too far out of the city to see by bicycle.  About a half hour in, we could see the first temple complex at the top of a nearby mountain.  Within thirty seconds of seeing it, our bike felt a little wobbly.  Upon pulling over, we saw that we had a flat.  Great.  Luckily we had just passed a sort of police check point, Tom pushed the bike back to the police to ask for help.  They pointed to a small roadside canteen, which was also apparently a garage.   The woman who sold us a bottle of water made a call, and within a few minutes, a guy showed up to fix our flat.   We waited about a half hour, playing "The Price is Right" regarding the repair.  Tom thought $30.  With more faith in Cambodian people, I said $7.  Neither of us was closest without going over.  The new tube + 1/2 hour of labour cost us $1.  Not bad.  Unfortunately he pointed out a slit in the tire, so we drove the bike back to the rental place, worried about having to pay for a new tire.  Not a chance.  The rental company quickly put us on another bike, and actually siphoned the few liters of gas we had bought into our new bike.  As we retraced our steps, Tom sang "On the road again..." 

The Wat on the mountaintop was quite picturesque, along with the view across Cambodian mountains and farmland, although our favourite part was actually a canyon/cave between some temples.  Down a stone staircase we arrived in this canyon with some stalactites like a cave, but open to see the surrounding trees and mountains.  It was really peaceful and beautiful in a unique way.  On our way back down to get our motorbike we spoke with a monk who was trying to practice his English, before heading off to a complex of ruins.  The climb up to the ruins was exhausting, and they were a little more ruined than not.  Trust me, you're not missing out on any exciting photos of the site.

Our last stop was at Cambodia's one and only winery.  Speaking with a very friendly woman in very broken English, we learned that this small family-run winery has been operating for 11 years.  We got the tasting menu, consisting of 4 drinks made there:  red wine, brandy, grape juice, and ginger juice.  I actually thought the red wine was pretty good, although Tom found it a little "barnyard" (Glenda and Adam will understand).  The kind owner let us tour the vineyards on our own.  They were more impressive than those in Egypt.  We soon learned why, as we motorbiked back to return our motorbike in the pouring rain.

Now we have reached the "pièce the résistance" of our trip:  Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious complex.  Tom saw photos of Angkor Wat in 2003, and has been talking about visiting it ever since.  We arrived this afternoon in a nearby town, and will be bicycling there for sunrise tomorrow, and exploring the ancient town of Angkor for 3 days on our rented bicycles.  For Tom, the 8 year wait ends tomorrow.