Temples and travelling

What did I do yesterday? I don't remember. It involved a lot of Jungle and walking around temples. I got hot.

I slept only a few hours last night. I got up about 2am and packed and went for a night time swim.

I was all ready by 6:30am to go down for breakfast.

The hotel organized the bus for me to travel down to the capital, Phnom Penh. It's going to take about 7 hours. I can watch the country side go by through the window. It's exciting. 

(It's actually going to take longer than 7 hours because the roads are blocked due to a political campaign. It's quite exciting. I'm in Phnom Penh but stuck stationary on the bus watching a flood of people in white caps on motor bikes across the bridge. In the center is a carving like the giant heads in the jungle.)

The direction we came was very different to the direction we went in to the waterfall. It is less ramshakle with sturdy houses, the shops along the road side are solid. The cattle are well fed from hay stacks, the fields neatly turned and I haven't seen any escapee chickens or roosters yet.

There seems to be a political celebration for the Cambodian People's Party. Truck loads of people are gathering, they are wearing white shirts and caps with matching emblems. There is music, the people are dancing and waving flags.

Yesterday Bunna took me on the big circuit around the jungle temples.

The first one was very tall with high stepping  stairs going straight up. I'm glad I'm fit and have strong quads, I made it in one go.

That is, after I fought my way through the hawkers selling guide books, paintings and scarves. 

"Lady, you want to buy my scarf? Beautiful silk. From Cambodia." 

"No thank you," I said

"You sure lady? Beautiful scarf," she said.

"Yes I'm sure thank you," I said.

"May be you buy on the way back," she said.

"No, I don't think so," I said.

"I will remember you lady," she said.

"I still won't buy the scarf," I said.

"May be you will change your mind," she said

"And may be I won't," I said. 

And with good humour she stopped following me.

She did actually remember me on the way back and didn't ask if I would like to buy her scarf.

The temple was built for changing life. It was the funeral temple where they did cremations. It would be quite easy to slip off the top and continue the tradition. The jungle looked wild from the top. It was taller than the tops of the trees. Once there would have been magnificent lions gurding the staircases but they had been reduced to half-lions.

The next temple was probably my second favorite after the Tomb raider temple and it was very quiet. Not many people and nestled into the jungle with it's giant faces and overgrown trees.

As I stepped through the door way I came across two asian girls sitting amongst the ruins fixing their make-up, as you do in the middle of jungle.

I found a hidden alcove to meditate in. First I tried one side of the transcept, but it was a bit cold and damp and the rock was too small. Besides there was an enoooorrrrmous centerpede crawling under my bag. So I moved to the other side where rays of sun shone down through holes in the roof and I could look up to see green leaves above

It was only a tiny temple. I walked around the rubble of fallen walls and massive trees with buttress roots, like the buttresses that have been constructed to stop the walls from falling.

I did some yoga. I'm glowing so much I became translucent. If I'd had no clothes on I would have been invisible.

I walked underneath the stone guardian of the temples back entrance with his giant stone face with sprouting hair of leaves growing from the crown of his head. Down his back were the massive trailing roots that engulfed the gateway, like giant dreadlocks. The blue plastic that protected the poor villagers stalls looked incongruous, peeping through the dark entrance way

I walked through, by now holding in my annoyance of the constant barrage of these people trying to make me buy their wares.

I've bought magnets and postcards. "You buy? Only one dollar," in winey little voices that all sound the same. They follow, me constantly harassing and won't take no for an answer. From these little girls I bought 2 pretty fans. But I can't buy something from every child in the jungle. I feel like someone is exploiting them in any case.

The only time I liked buying from a little girl was when I could see her with her family at a retaurant and she was sucking on a chup'o'cup. Pity she couldn't understand that I wanted to buy a lolly pop. The worst was a tiny boy who pounced on me after I'd bought postcards from another little boy. He followed me singing unmusically "you buy my post cards? Only one dollar," till I escaped into the toilet. 

It's giving me the feeling that these people are greedy. Greedy is wanting more than what you have. Greed does not align with being virtuous which is waht you need to be if the universe is going to provide for you. If you are grasping and wanting you will never have enough and will never be content. 

The whole of Siem Reap is geared to fleece the tourists. Food is expensive compared to Chaing Mai. But it is very delicious.

I also bought a beutiful temple rubbing from a young man with bare feet. We agreed that travelling alone and being free is the best way to be.

We went to a couple more temples. To get to one I had to walk a long long way across a wooden bridge. There wasn't much there. May be once it was a beautiful fountain. It's just worn out now, sitting in a swamp. With ants and birds and insects.

We had a leisurely lunch. I had a nap in a hammock and bought 2 more pairs of the pants I like. They were hard to find in Siem Reap.

Then after lunch Bunna took me to Ankor Wat.

And on the way home I had a Chai Japanese oil massage at the best massage place Bunnah knew of in Siem Reap. It was pretty good.

When i came out Bunna's little family met me. It was so nice to meet them.