Today was spent with wonderful bicycles. Garner was happy. We rented the nicer Giant bicycles. They were a mountain bike set up with disc brakes and were much more comfortable.
We headed out again very early for a sunrise, but did not go to the popular spots. We went to a new place called Ta Prohm. Since it was not a famous place to see in the early morning, there were no people there. Actually, there wasn't even a guy to check our park tickets. Once we walked down the long path to the entrance, we were graced with a glorious view. This temple is quite overgrown with trees and moss. The more we traveled through the temples, this was what we were looking for. Everywhere you looked there were giant trees overtaking this human creation. The tree's roots go wherever they want, then expand and move the rocks. Once the tree dies, the rocks lose support and crumble. I could see the chain of events right in front of me. I saw new small roots, young trees, intermediate trees, full grown trees in grand glory, and the dead trees rotting. Not only do the trees destroy the temple while growing and decaying, but once the massive tree falls, it crushes everything. My life of maybe 80 years stands like nothing compared to these massifs.
Ta Prohm was used in the movie Tomb Raider. We were only reminded about this a thousand times. The little impromptu guides wanted to tell us this a lot. They would come out of nowhere and start telling you about the sites. If you let them, they would lead you all around and then expect you to pay them. One was a little girl that could not have been older then 7, and she was doing a really good job. They weren't real guides, but were funny to try to avoid. The vendors out front were little children and at some temples you had to fight them off with it's a stick. They don't give up easy, at all! We were constantly chased by a group of 5 or 6 kids yelling at us in their sing song voices, "Hey Misterrrrrrrr.....buy somethiiiiiiing.....postcaaaards......very niiiiiice.....10 for 1 dollaaaaaaar. Madaaaaaaam....buy beautiful scaaaaaaarf....3 for 2 dollaaaaaars....take to your frieeeeeeends......" It was actually very entertaining. Any excuse you would give, they had a counter argument for why you needed their product anyway. Some have gimmicks, like counting to 10 in English, French, Spanish, German and Russian, or playing tick-tack-toe with you. They were all smart, witty, multi-lingual and extremely hard working, and they were as young as 5 years old. Child labor laws definitely have not been introduced in Cambodia yet.
Back to Ta Prohm: Katherine and I whispered as we crept through the temple. We enjoyed the time to ourselves. At times, we even had to take out our flashlights to find our way. I snapped pictures of numerous small buddhas covered in moss. Those have turned out to be my favorite. After 45 min or so, the tours arrived. It got loud and lost it's serenity. That was OK since we knew that this would happen.
We saw a few more temples, but one of my favorites was one of the older ones we found, named Pre Rup. Instead of using laterite and sandstone, it was composed of bricks in the upper areas. Some of the construction has lasted longer than the newer temples and created a nice change from the ones that we had already seen. This one in particular gave a nice view of the surrounding area. The guide books recommend to see the temple at sunset. But, we were there at mid day and some surprising blue sky came out. That surely helped me with the photos. No more white wash from the sky! I was able to snap a few, and did my best.
On the comfy bikes, we headed back to town. We had to mail some postcards and get some food for lunch. All day, I think we rode 30+ kilometers. It was a nice little workout and well worth it. Seeing the temples by Tuk Tuk is nice, don't get me wrong. A driver makes you feel like you are living in luxury, but riding a bike is the upmost in freedom. Go where you want, when you want. It's quiet and you don't pollute.
Please let me go off about pollution. Don't read farther if you don't want to hear my rant. Plastic in SE Asia is everywhere. Of course water is unsafe, so people drink bottled water. The bottles have a safety sealed cap with the ring, but have an extra wrap over the entire top of clear plastic. This is to prove that the bottle is original, as some people have filled empty bottles with tap water to resell them. So, when you open the bottle, not only do you have the cap to worry about, but the plastic seal over the top. I like to pocket the seal and find a trash can for it, but most locals I have seen, just throw it on the ground.
Plastic straws are used everywhere too. You get a beverage in a can. The can is obviously dirty, so they give you a straw so your mouth doesn't have to touch the dirty can. This transfers over to all beverages. You might go into a store to buy some water and get a plastic bottle of water, with plastic cap, plastic seal, plastic straw, and plastic bag to carry it all with. Huh? That's a lot of plastic. And from the scenery that I have seen, most of it just gets thrown into the street, ditch, or anything but the trash can. There is a return on plastic bottles, which we have seen. While walking and carrying an empty bottle, a child has come to us many times to take the bottle from us. Of course we give it to them. They get some money for it. But the rest of the plastic is just thrown wherever.
My friend
Ches, is just finishing a huge trip through India. There was a very impressive photo. He wrote about some dead cattle. The cows eat so much plastic, and it all gets caught in their stomachs. Once the cow dies, all the organic material goes away and decomposes. What is left is a giant pile of plastic. Quite impressive. I can only wonder how much of the stuff is in the rivers and going out to sea. It would probably boggle our minds.
By the way, check out
Ches's travel blog. He has some great entries!
The Tuk Tuk driver Teewan, gave us a rice meal on the drive. It tasted great and was wrapped up in a banana leaf tied with some tree thread. Once eaten, you just chuck it out of the Tuk Tuk on the side of the road, and don't worry about it. It will decompose in a few weeks and nothing will remain. The plastic will be here with us for thousands of years. We had better learn to love it. It's not going away.
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