But first: before we left Chiang Mai, we did a day trip around the area. As well as hiking, riding elephants, visiting an orchid farm, and partaking in something that was less whitewater rafting and more brownwater rafting, we visited the Long Neck tribe. Originally from Burma, the women coil gold around their necks in order to crush their collarbones and shoulders to give the illusion of a longer neck. The first coil is applied at five years old, and is changed to a longer one every five years until the age of twenty five. The coils are seen as a status symbol; they make the women desirable. It was pretty odd to see, these girls tottering around like petite giraffes. Unfortunately, the visit itself was a bit awkward--we did not go into the village, but instead wandered around a collection of stalls where they were selling their wares. You could tell that they were pretty bored of tourists showing up and snapping photos, and somewhat disgruntled at the fact that we were more interested in their necks than the scarves they were selling (now, the question is, were the scarves longer than regular scarves as well? We'll never know...)
After a succession of epic bus journeys, we made it from Thailand to Siem Reap in Cambodia. You could tell immediately that Cambodia is not nearly as wealthy as its neighbour--the roads are often dirt, and kids try desperately to sell cheap bracelets, or beg for food outside the 7-11. It's difficult to watch. Similarly difficult is the number of musicians lacking limbs playing for change--victims of Cambodia's landmines, hundreds of which remain unexploded in the countryside, making a walk off the beaten path an extremely dangerous undertaking. We also noticed how many young Cambodians there are: the average age for the country is just twenty two! This, of course, is largely due to the horrific war involving the Khmer Rouge in the 70s.
We had come to Siem Reap for the same reason that everyone does--to temple-hop--and we began with the granddaddy of them all: Angkor Wat. The size was what struck us initially. It would be a massive structural complex had it been created now--being built nearly a thousand years ago just made that all the more impressive. With three large towers and detailed bas-reliefs, it was originally created as a Hindu place of worship, but over the years shifted to encompass Buddhism as well (Buddhism being the official religion of Cambodia). It had been quite well-maintained, and reminded us a lot of Borobudur on Java.
Next, we visited the temples in Angkor Thom which, although they aren't nearly as famous nor as large as the temples in Angkor Wat, absolutely trumped their more famous counterpart in our eyes. One temple was covered in towers on which four large-and-in-carved faces of Buddha watched serenely over the four directions. Another temple had been completely taken over by moss and trees, with roots as fat as anacondas slithering between the cracks and draping over doorways like curtains. These temples hadn't been as protected over the years--piles of stones lay as rubble as walls collapsed beneath the elements, and the ceilings looked as though they could give way at any moment. In any other country, these places would have been surely condemned, left as the luxury of hard-hatted and well-insured anthropologists. But hey, welcome to Cambodia. In fact, there were moments where these temples appeared almost "too" ancient-ruins-ish, as though they were right off the set in Indiana Jones. Incidentally, the movie Tomb Raider was filmed at one of the sites we visited.
When we first arrived in Siem Reap, we were worried that we'd been templed out over the last eight months, spoiled, and that we wouldn't appreciate these places for what they are. And, admittedly, Angkor Wat did feel somewhat like that. But these smaller temples were truly awe-inspiring and magnificent; reaching above and beyond any expectation we may have held for them.
Of course, we celebrated this beauty by taking tons of ridiculous posed photos with a Dutch guy we met. Hey, can you think of a better way to show your appreciation for some of the finest religious architecture in the world than re-enacting ninja fights? We thought not.
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