We started off the morning at the Angkor National Museum which houses many pieces from the local temples. Vuhta took us around and described some of the highlights and then gave us some time to look around on our own.
From there we went to Royal Shrine which houses statues of two sisters from Angkor Wat. The statues have a long history which include being stolen, dumped into the river by the Khmer Rouge and finally being found and given a home in the Royal Shrine. Devotees took time to purchase turtles, birds and lotus flowers as offerings. Vuhta purchased some lotus flowers for us. The flower seller showed us how to fold back the petals to prepare the flowers. We followed the lead of the visitors and left our flowers at the altar as an offering.
Next we had a nice lunch at a local restaurant and returned to the hotel for a little down time.
That afternoon we went to the Banteay Srei temple, one of the oldest and most beautifully preserved temple sites in Cambodia. It took us about an hour to get there. All the roads we traveled throughout Cambodia have been very good. This one was an exception. We bumped along through many small villages with people selling things along the road.
Built in CE 967, Banteay Srei means Citadel of Women and it is recognized as a tribute to the beauty of women. Although it’s a relatively small temple the carvings were magnificent. Vuhta recited several Hindu stories which were depicted in the stone. The stories are detailed recitations about gods, demons and conquests of good vs. evil. Here are some pictures.
On the way back we stopped at the house of a family who makes sugar palm candies. They have male and female sugar palm trees growing in their yard. They go up in the trees and cut the flowers from the male and the fruit from the female. The tree leaks sap from where it was cut. They collect the sap in bottles. Then they transfer the sap to a large cauldron and cook it for about three hours, stirring it constantly. Once it has thickened they spoon it into molds. They sell a small jar of candies for $1. (Cambodia has it own money but most people use dollars. When you get change it is typically in dollars but they don’t use American coins so if the change is less than a dollar you get the change in local currency.). They also gave us a taste of the palm fruit and another fruit called milk apple. Everyone really liked the milk apple.
While on the bus today, Vahta told us that Cambodia is #5 of 180 countries in terms of corruption. Imagine what they could accomplish if they weren’t at the bottom of the list.
Next we went to dinner And, almost immediately after being seated the restaurant lost power. This area loses power frequently so everyone has a generator. In the recent past Cambodia purchased their power from Thailand. Today they produce it themselves and it has become much less reliable. The restaurant got their generator going and everything was fine.
That evening Ann and I went to the grocery store to get hair conditioner. I only mention it because I though I would include a picture of the store, it’s clean and very modern.
