CAMBODIA-SIEM REAP

Nanci's notes DRAGON DIARY 5:

Sitting here in the airport of Vientiane, Laos…capital of the country…and just reflecting back over the few days we spent in Siem Reap, Cambodia. All of these names of places have been in the periphery of my consciousness since the 60’s. Only now, however, do they begin to assume the shapes of a reality, filled with people, sounds, colors, smells…a reality. Being here is somehow jolting, but then it is also “completing” in the sense of putting in those final pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. There really is a whole, and we are in the middle of it.

I’ve always heard of Angkor Wat. I’ve seen photos of the twisted roots climbing the walls and penetrating the temples…the forests reclaiming what was originally theirs anyway. Believe… the photos and the words cannot portray the timelessness of these centuries-old temples and monuments. Their symmetry, the art of their day forever inscribed on the weather-worn walls, the stories these walls tell of the battles, the domesticity of the days, the festivals, the costumes, the means of transportations and, perhaps, most importantly, the totally encompassing and pervasive presence of the people’s beliefs. The echoes of time past became more than echoes…I heard a chorus.

Most memorable were two experiences. The first was a 5AM hike with just Sheila, me and our guide. With only one flashlight among us, we climbed up a hill and then up very precariously steep steps up to the top of the ruins of a lesser temple. From that vantage point we watched the break of day over the distant ruins of Angkor Wat. We were alone. We were silent, and we were strangely moved. A very, very memorable moment of this trip…of my life. I was somehow in the flow of a large universe…way bigger than the little world of my life.

First light-after a mile hike up in the dark

(Wow!!! Sheila is so fast with posting our blog that I didn’t quite finish waxing eloguently about my second most memorable experience, and…I knew my hosts of readers would be left uncomfortably suspended if I didn’t finish my thought.)

The second experience was more of a physically exhililarating type. Our day started off with an ultralight flight over Angkor Wat and the surrounding countryside. Eddie, our pilot who hailed from the hills of West Virginia, proved to be not only an excellent pilot, but a knowledgeable guide, as well. As we flew low over perhaps an area of 20 square miles, nothing but air surrounded us. Quite a departure from all of the airplanes we have been in over the past couple of months. The land below was very wet; I would’ve called it swampy but for all of the neatly defined fields of rice in various stages of maturity. Water buffalo lazed in the shallows, finishing off the leftovers from the harvested fields. They left an almost artistic zig-zaggy path of mud in their path as they slowly grazed. Numerous wats peeked modestly from the dense forests that hosted them…somehow they had the only forests remaining. The rest…rice lands, very flat. It was a beautiful day and an equally beautiful experience

In all, Cambodia proved to be well worth the time spent there. Siem Reap is a hopping little town where tourism has emerged as a dominating influence. We were very comfortable everywhere, loved the friendly openness of the Cambodian people we met, and we would most definitely return one day.

Bye for now from the Dragon Lady who has totally chickened out on the dragon tattoo idea.