{"id":2169,"date":"2012-03-21T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T11:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=2169"},"modified":"2012-03-24T09:21:34","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T02:21:34","slug":"diynamic-thrill-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2012\/03\/21\/diynamic-thrill-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"DiYNAMIC THRILL UNIT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update:<\/strong> Agh! Was having trouble getting images uploaded, and FTPed into the site, began messing around, and mistakenly deleted all the pics from this post! I’ve got most of them saved locally — but with different names; and it’d be very difficult to find them all again. Hopefully, you had a chance to check ’em out. Apologies for the inconvenience!<\/p>\n

Update To The Update: <\/strong>Ah, found the pictures — had not emptied my recycle bin after all. Now<\/em> the problem is that I’m not being able to upload pictures above some certain size; so some of them are gonna be smaller than normal. But they’re here, at least.<\/p>\n

Temples of Angkor, y\u2019all! The first visit was proceeding swimmingly enough. Had rented a bicycle at 6:30 in the AM, for the princely rate of $1 per day. Had biked it up to the Park, about thirty or forty minutes out of town by bike. Arrived to the first checkpoint\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026to be told that there is only one place at which one may purchase passes; about five kilometres back toward town. I couldn\u2019t believe my ears, but eventually the nice clerk, and a recently arrived motorcycle cop, convinced me that it\u2019s true; and showed me on the map where to go.<\/p>\n

So that little shenanigans wasted a half-hour or so. But, soon enough, it was time to visit some temples. Angkor Wat itself isn\u2019t \u2018til the third day of my itinerary. I did steal a glance or two on my way past, heading toward Angkor Thom; but my first photo opportunity did not arrive until I passed a group of monkeys, er, well, monkeying around in the trees alongside the road.<\/p>\n

\"monkeys\"<\/p>\n

Shit, better be careful, or I\u2019ll spend my entire seven-days\u2019 pass just watching the damned monkeys!<\/p>\n

As for the temples: I\u2019d been prepared to be disappointed. Could they really be that incredible? Well, yes they could. If anything, all the superlatives one will read in any given place undersell the electrifying nature of these structures.<\/p>\n

You want photos, you got \u2018em. But be careful what you wish for: already three hundred, after only the first day. I\u2019ll be adding to the set as I go, natch.<\/p>\n

I guess it\u2019s a combination of the temples\u2019 vintage, the craftsmanship with which they were built, and the sheer magnitude \u2013 you\u2019re up above the trees at the top of some of them.<\/p>\n

Best of all, though, is the incredible carvings.<\/p>\n

\"carving1\"<\/p>\n

\"carving2\"<\/p>\n

One thing that does kinda burn my britches, however, is the putting onto these ancient Buddhas of clothes. Okay, if this is how it was done in ancient times, I guess I don\u2019t have a problem with it. But something tells me it\u2019s not how it was done back when.<\/p>\n

\"clothed\"<\/p>\n

Kind of strange the way the traffic flows. One could be standing in one particular spot, waiting upon a seemingly endless line of people to clear the area and allow passage; while, fifty feet away, one could have an entire hallway all to oneself. Later in the day, I even visited an entire group of temples, set back in the woods a little bit, and saw maybe only three or four people total.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, my favourite tellow-templer was as follows.<\/p>\n

\"diynamic\"<\/p>\n

Fun, too, was the Japanese group on a tram. A lady lost a dollar bill as the tram was driving by me. As it fluttered to the ground, I got off the bike and held it aloft. The Japanesienne whose dollar bill it was began screaming for the driver to go back for it. Which instructions were followed to the letter; and all the ladies waved and thanked me profusely for having rescued from certain doom their friend\u2019s dollar bill.<\/p>\n

\"japanese\"<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t take a noontime break, as I\u2019d thought I might do in order to escape from the sun. In point of fact, while it was indeed hotter\u2019n Hell; there are so many trees around and about, that shade is never too far away.<\/p>\n

This is especially true on the roads between sites, making for idyllic bicycle conditions. Must say, I felt rather sorry for the poor schmucks haggling with their tuk-tuk drivers for more time. Get a bike for a dollar, and see what you wanna see! The layout of the area is just big enough to keep the bicycler honest, but not so big as to make the getting around feel onerous.<\/p>\n

It was partly cloudy on this day; which not only helped to keep the temps down a tad; but also made for some nice photographic backdrops.<\/p>\n

\"clouds\"<\/p>\n

At one of the parking areas, walking back from the pisser to head toward a temple group; one of the many sellers\u2026<\/p>\n

\"shoes\"<\/p>\n

\u2026sprang to action. \u201cSir, you want buy shoes? I have a new shoes!\u201d See, these Cambodians, rather than heaping scorn or ridicule on the bare of foot, they go straight for the pocketbook.<\/p>\n

Okay, I\u2019m not a-gonna say that the Park\u2019s trees are even more impressive than the temples. But\u2026they\u2019re pretty frickin\u2019 great, too right.<\/p>\n

\"abovetrees\"<\/p>\n

Mosquitoes began popping up in the afternoon, just as the light was at its best.<\/p>\n

\"light\"<\/p>\n

Still, I soldiered on! And perhaps my favorite venue turned out to be not a temple, but a gate \u2013 just a gate in the big wall surrounding the Angkor Thom complex.<\/p>\n

\"victory<\/p>\n

Following the proposed five-day itinerary of The Angkor Guide, I got to everything save the last two on the list for Day 1. Either I\u2019m particularly slow of poke, or ol\u2019 Maurice, the guide\u2019s author, is something of a task-master.<\/p>\n

Actually did arrive to the final two sites; but noting their size, figured I\u2019d not have enough remaining light to visit the temples, and still get back into town before nightfall. As it turned out, the timing was almost perfect. Only the last five minutes or so did I think it too dark to be fully comfortable.<\/p>\n

Yeah, in Vang Vieng, motorcycles drive around at night with their headlights off. Here in Siem Reap, they do the same \u2013 but also on the wrong side of the road; right on the road\u2019s shoulder, where the bicycles are driving. Sheesh!<\/p>\n

Now, if somebody could please explain why it was that this song was in my head all day, I\u2019d be fascinated to know.<\/p>\n