i’ll be honest. after looking at angkor’s ancient ruins one after the other for hours on end, as glorious as they may be, there comes a point where all you see are nothing but stones upon stones stacked on top of each other to make one big mountain temple. at least it felt that way to me.
so i’ll stop talking about the temples for a while. let me tell you, instead, about the things i liked about my angkor trip before i continue boring your brains out with another temple post (although i am quite excited to show you my ta prohm pics. but that would have to wait.)
because they keep reminding me of the ones we have back home. although i do notice some differences in the structure. for one thing, their houses are elevated, with the open basement serving as a storage area for their sugarcane harvest.
okay, these were not exactly my favorites, as they were tooo sweet! it was pure, concentrated sugarcane syrup molded into little circles and then stored inside this really interesting eco-friendly package. i don’t know why the kids love them. i just had to try one and already my lymph nodes were screaming. you know that feeling when you’re throat is all scratchy and you just know you’re gonna go down with the flu? well, that’s what it felt like. i’m not exaggerating.
what was fun about it though was that i got to experience how it feels like to make them. apparently, it’s a very long process which involves continuous stirring and careful scooping into the molds while still hot. i should know. i burned a small area in my hand which left me with two little brown marks for weeks.
sure, they can get very persuasive especially when they are trying to sell you something (souvenirs, postcards, whatever) but i never saw them beg. they don’t come up to you with hands open blatantly asking for money. and they call you “lady.” (if you’re a girl, of course.) — “lady, you want postcards? very cheap. only 1 dollar. i show you.” (and they speak very good english, mind you. better than the thais, as i have noticed.)
or, if they don’t have anything to sell but want to earn some money, they stand at the entrance of the temple with a crown of leaves on their heads and they do a song and dance number. my sister was quick enough to take a photo of them. but they were too late in warning her: “no money, no picture!”
haha. sorry kiddos, you should’ve told her that before you did your dance moves!
the pauses between 