Pictures from Cambodia

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Angkor Wat

The next morning we took off in our tuk-tuk with driver and interpreter – first stop was the ticket booth to purchase the pass to enter the Angkor Wat World Heritage Site. It was extremely crowded but they were quite efficient. The hardest part of the whole thing was identifying WHICH of the hundreds of tuk tuks was actually yours. Finally, armed with our pass and guide, we headed for the most famous of them all…Angkor Wat.
The temples of Angkor Wat were built by the Khmer civilization in the early part of the 12th century by a king named SuryavaramII. It was built to honor the Hindu god, Vishnu. While it started out as a Hindu temple, it eventually became a Buddhist temple as the religion of the country shifted. It’s an astounding architectural feat!
The temples, the tallest ones in the center, are supposed to symbolize the mythic Mount Meru (don’t ask me, I’m just writing what the guide said). It also has a moat around the temple, representing the ocean. Most Hindu temples are oriented so that the entrance faces the east for the rising sun (there’s also some significance as to which Hindu god is being honored but I’m not clear on that either). Angkor Wat, however, faces west. Many have speculated as to why …
The picture on the right is but one of hundres of meters of carvings along the outside wall. This one depicts a great battle - soldiers on the bottom with an elephant being ridden by a leader. Others included the story of the "churning of the milk" and life in heaven, on earth and hell. Fabulous details - unbelievable!

More on Angkor Wat

At one time, the area was a booming metropolis, probably supporting a million people at its heyday. The temple itself was for the gods and everyone, priests included, lived in the surrounding area. The homes were primarily wooden so while stone supports and flooring for homes have been found, the homes have been reclaimed by the jungle. The site also had two libraries (picture on left) – but sadly the “books” were stories and prayers written on palm leaves…you can imagine what happened to those. Fortunately, much of the history of the building and important occurrences at various times were recorded on the columns in Sanskrit so a record, albeit weathered by time, has at least been uncovered and translated.
Sadly, the site was abandoned in the 1400’s, the ruins quite literally over-run by the jungle. Many tales were told about the fabulous buildings but most considered them nothing but legends. It wasn’t until the French discovered the ruins (1800’s) that they came back into the spotlight. The site is now a World Heritage Site, but that didn’t happen until 1992. When you see some of the sites that have not been “restored” (check out Ta Prohm – coming up soon on this blog), you realize just exactly how much work has gone into the restoration process of all of the temples in the Angkor Wat area. Currently at least 100 stone temples have been discovered.

Ta Prohm Wat

The second most popular wat in Cambodia is probably Ta Prohm Wat. Unlike other temples at Angkor, Ta Prohm has been left as it was found, preserved as an example of what a tropical forest will do to an architectural monument when the protective hands of humans are withdrawn. Ta Prohm's walls, roofs, chambers and courtyards have been sufficiently repaired to stop further deterioration, and the inner sanctuary has been cleared of bushes and thick undergrowth, but the temple has been left in the stranglehold of trees, in a permanent condition of “apparent neglect”. Having planted themselves centuries ago, the tree's serpentine roots pry apart the ancient stones and their immense trunks straddle the once bustling Buddhist temple.The lower picture shows the rubble of the roof, still inside the wall.

Bayon Wat

Bayon Wat is an interesting 3-tiered mountain temple. From a distance it looks like it is also a victim of planned neglect, however, it is far from that. Each tower (and there are 54 of them I’m told) has 4 giant, smiling faces looking out over the land on each side. The faces are thought to represent Jayavarman VII – one of the Kings of ancient Cambodia. This temple also includes some of the many carvings that depict scenes from everyday life in the 12^th century.

Temple construction

Early temples built in Cambodia were constructed entirely out of brick. At this time, any decorations that might be added were carved into a stucco that had been applied to the bricks. We hiked up to one on top of a hill that had little stucco remaining, primarily bricks, precariously perched one on top of another.
Eventually, the builders began using laterite, which is a kind of clay that hardens when dried in the sun. It was primarily used for the foundation – in places where it wouldn’t be seen because it was uneven and not a good surface for carving. A good many of the temples had exposed portions where the laterite could be seen under the facing sandstone. The sandstone is soft enough that it is easily carved. Many, though not all, of the Angkor temples were covered by highly decorated sandstone. It is also the surface that they used for recording the history of the period. The picture on the left has laterite under the facing, carved sandstone. The one on the right has bricks with a stuccon like something covering the upper reaches - not sure if the stucco wore off the lower section or if it just was never there.

Driving in Cambodia

I think I should be tired of reporting the varying driving habits of the different countries, however, I still find myself wondering how they do it. The roads are relatively wide (by Japanese standards), but the drivers insist on taking their half out of whatever side has an opening of any sort. The motorbikes swarm all over the roads, the tuk-tuks are weaving through the traffic and then the cars and trucks just honk their horns, expecting all of the motorbikes and tuk-tuks to immediately get out of their way – if they don’t the car drivers lean on the horns. Makes for a rather noisy road trip.

You can see the first tuk-tuk we took, along with our driver and guide, Piseph. I also just had to show a picture of a local gas station. Yes indeed, the bottles on the stand contain gasoline. She gets the gas from a gas truck – a tuk-tuk with a flat bed attached. On it are 10-12 large plastic containers of gas. He pours the gas into her liter sized bottles – old soda bottles, wine bottles, anything she can find that has a cap. Then, when a motorcycle needs gas, they come up, use her funnel, and pour gas into the bike. They do have a few places where there are barrels with the old style glass pump on it, probably used for cars. In the rural areas of Cambodia, there are no commercial gas stations so these enterprising folks are filling a real need for the community.

Ayutthaya - Ancient Thai Capital

The following day we headed out the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya. In the Thai religion, chedis (the large, bell shaped buildings with a tall spire on top) are built to house the remains of famous people, generally a king, a member of the royal family, the Buddha himself or a close disciple. This particular capital has three chedis, containing the ashes of 3 of the 15th century kings. These buildings, and all chedis for that matter, are considered to be extremely important so the Thai people will go to great trouble to never disturb a chedi found anywhere in the country. Hence you will find them in the middle of fields, or as the center of a traffic circle.
The old capital was destroyed during the war with Burma. The Burmese burned and looted the capital, destroying the vast majority of it. The chedis survived, but they are now burned and blackened rather than the more traditional white. The massive buildings constructed during this period of time were primarily made of bricks – bricks that were looted and put to various uses over the ages, including the wall of the imperial palace now located in Bangkok.

Bang Pa-In Palace

From the old to the new…we traveled on to the Bang Pa-In Palace, a spectacular palatial grounds that is still in use by the Thai King, Rama IX and his Queen for a quiet retreat or a place to host dignitaries in style. Fortunately, they were not in residence at the time so we were able to explore the grounds.

The original palace here, now long gone, was actually built during the 1600’s, at the time that Ayutthaya was still the capital. It is said that King Ekathotsarot had been shipwrecked on the island of Bang-Pa-In and there had a son with a local woman, a son who was destined to be the next king, King Prasart Thong. This king founded a monastery there on land that belonged to his mother, digging of a moat and finally building a palace south of the monastery. The grounds that are now present have, of course, been added to and changed through the many long years and succession of kings to a spectacular showcase that is fabulous to be able to view and enjoy.

There are some interesting buildings here, showing influence from all over the world. There are several buildings that strongly suggest a western European influence. There’s a building that is called the pagoda, though it’s unlike any Asian pagodas I’ve ever seen. There is also a Chinese Pavilion that seems, at one time at least, was used as the residence of at least one of the kings who spent time at the palace (it also contained some of the fabulous carved furniture we saw earlier – confirming my suspicion that they were indeed built for a king).

Contrasts in Thai life

Following our excursion into the life of royalty, we headed for the upper reaches of the Chao Phraya River that flows down through Bangkok, and, coincidentally, past our hotel. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and then watched the world float by as we cruised down the river. We travelled past the Emerald Buddha Grand Palace, the Imperial Palace in Bangkok (we visited this the last time we were in Bangkok). The contrast found in this country is striking. The palace can be seen in the background with a barge making its way down the river in the front. The small shack you see on the barge is where the family lives. You’ll often see laundry out drying and the mother cooking something while children scamper about on the barge as it is tugged to its destination, carrying food, raw goods and much more back and forth along the river. The river is too shallow for boat traffic so all goods are offloaded and placed on barges to carry them up the river. The waterways are lined with spectacular hotels, gorgeous gardens and small homes, all mixed together in this diverse river-way.

Crossing the Chao Phraya River

One bridge across the river catches your eye – it’s the Rama VIII Bridge. There’s a similarity in style to bridges seen in various parts of the world. I really liked the sky behind it as we drew closer to it. The skies had been quite dull and overcast, though never threatening rain, just dreary. The clouds separated and the sun peaked through just as we drew close – the picture hints at how cool it actually looked.

Imperial Palace at Night

Now, as if an afternoon of cruising on the river wasn’t enough, we decided to do the dinner river cruise the same night – it was our last night in Bangkok and we had the company of our friend, Lucille, from NIS. We took off up the river, warm evening breezes, seated on the upper decks, enjoying the night scenes as we cruised down the river. The picture of the palace ablaze with lights was spectacular! Gone was the dichotomy of life. All that was left was a breathtaking display of the palace at its best.

Transportation in Asia

Motorbikes of all sorts are the most popular means of travel all over Asia – and they’re very adept at adding all sorts of gear to it to make it more useful. The tuk-tuks we’ve ridden on are motorbikes with seats added, either as a cart pulled behind or pushed in front. Here’s a shot of a family, mom, dad and two kids, with the family business in front – looks like they might be recyclers from the bags they have. You will find some bikes with food perched on the various carts, some with the food cart attached to the side. It’s truly amazing what they’ve come up with.

Wood Carving

On our way back, we stopped by a wood carving shop. Carved wood has taken on a totally new meaning – I am in total awe as to what can be done with a piece of wood, a lot of talent and a lot of time. The carvings that were sculpted at the wood shop we stopped at were absolutely unbelievable. They also had chairs and tables that would seat giants (I could only picture these things at a ski lodge – they’d never fit in an average house, even by western standards). They had furniture of all sorts, each with a carefully carved scene – the tables were exquisite! Truly furniture carved, and priced, for a king.

Floating Markets of Thailand

Finally…we made it to the Floating Market! It’s colorful, crowded, noisy, unique and interesting. In their infinite wisdom, they decided to divide the floating market – there are actually two of them. One is for the local Thai people who have come to market, to eat, to visit, to exchange gossip – to generally enjoy themselves. The other…well….it’s designed for the tourist. The boats are the traditional flat bottomed, narrow boat that is still used all over Thailand. It’s wide enough for one person, maybe two if you like living on the edge. You’ve got to be careful though – they seem to tip easily. The guide poled us down the narrow waterway, if you will, weaving us through the myriad of boats and, of course, near the sellers hawking their wares. If the boat guide doesn’t bring you in close enough, the seller will hook the boat with a long spear/hook so that you can easily see what they have for sale -and they can have a chance to convince you to buy from them! Most of the typical crafts are represented: carved and painted wood items, scarves, woven textiles, and food. It is a cool way to taste lots of different things that are typically Thai, at least the ones they think foreigners will eat. It was great to just watch the hundreds of people on both sides –sellers and buyers.

I love the way they sell to people, whether they’re on the river or the banks. They have a long pole with a basket at the end. Whatever you’ve bought is put in the basket and you put the money in for them to pull back. Works quite efficiently.

Harvesting Sea Salt

We drove by field after field of water – to my untrained eyes, I thought I was looking at rice fields, after all, they grow rice here and I have seen one or two fields in Japan (smile). It turns out, however, that they were actually salt fields. They pump in water from the nearby ocean, spreading it out into these fields, probably 1.5 feet deep or so. Then begins the long process of waiting for the water to evaporate, add more water, wait some more, add a bit more until there’s roughly a 6 inch layer of salt. Then they pull the salt into small piles to allow yet more water to drain out of it. The resulting salt crystals are finally shoveled into large sacks and sent out to the refinery.

Coconut Plantation

Our next stop on the trip was a coconut farm where they make the coconut oil and lots of unbelievable crafts. Harvesting coconuts requires that someone goes up to get them down. This requires a ladder - probably in the original style. They cut a tree, the trimmed the branches, leaving alternating branches sticking out so that the person can climb up to harvest the flowers and the coconuts.
The process to draw out the coconut oil hasn’t really changed over the years. Once the coconut is harvested and husked (all by hand in these small places), the meat is grated, mixed with hot water and then squeezed to draw out resulting “milk”. This is then cooked over a fire for hours, until what is left is the pure coconut oil – tasty but sadly not so good to eat very often.
The flowers from the coconut trees are also used to make coconut sugar, an alternative sweetener. The sweet, watery sap that drips from cut flower buds is boiled until a sticky sugar remains.

Thai Markets

Since we no longer had to wade through the grueling interviews and tantalizing sparks of different places to imagine working and living in, we decided to play tourist. We decided to take off to visit the famous “Floating Market” so named because the market is, well…floating.

We started out visiting a local Thai Market, complete with exotic fruits and a fabulous array of foods prepared on site and ready to eat. While the vast majority of Thai food includes meat or fish, fortunately there are some vegetarian alternatives. The little cakes the woman is baking are tiny spicy breads. Interesting that the same technique is used in Japan to bake small cakes typically with octopus inside.

We’re wandering down the street, checking out other markets when all of a sudden our guide waves to us and starts running down the road. We ran, wondering what in the world is going on. Not only that, right in front of us, we can see a train getting ready to cross the track so we think “yeah, right! why run…we just have to wait”. Well…it turns out the market also spills over into the area around the train track. After all, it’s unused space when the train isn’t using it. When a train just happens to come along, people just pull their fruit and clothing or whatever back (they’re all on carts of various sorts), pull back the covering awning, and wait for the train to pass. Once it’s gone, the awnings go up, goods back to the track and the sales go on.

Where in the world is Doha?

We went to the Bangkok job fair with a bit of trepidation. While some principals said “oh no, your age won’t be a problem”, others said “yes, it could be”.  That left me with the perfect opportunity to worry. We had had a few schools ask us to interview with them at the fair – a good sign but still….then we started talking with the American School of Doha. Oh my gosh! What a phenomenal school! (check out the link  to the school – it’s on the name of the school). OK…now…talking is great but…it’s still the waiting….helped a lot that we know 4 people at the school and actually found out 2 of our friends from Vancouver had also worked for the headmaster. Increased our interest but still…the waiting….

Finally we had the chance to meet with Ed Ladd and the principals and…just in case you missed my mild messages (yeah, right, all caps) on Facebook … we are going to Doha! What an opportunity to work at a first class school in an area that is growing by leaps and bounds. The school has just gone through some extensive development, remodeling and population explosion …from 6oo to 1850! It’s going to be delightful to work there – no more cold (picture icicles on that word) winters. I love Japan but…those un-insulated houses in the middle of winter are deadly.

Now....I've had lots of people ask..."Where is the world is Doha?" Well...it's in Qatar (I know...so where is Qatar?) Here is a great site with a map showing where Qatar is as well as some information about the country. (Explore Qatar is the section you want). Qatar is one of the most liberal of the Middle Eastern countries. The country is Muslim and while the majority of the Qatari women will wear the black, all covering dress, the laws no longer require it and women are allowed to vote, drive and work outside the home. The country is growing by leaps and bounds, in part due to the oil but also because of the leadership that is supporting growth and change.
I have learned that they don't have postal delivery - you go to the post office to get your mail in Doha. Fortunately, the school has everyone use the school address for mail so the person who goes to the post office daily will pick up mail for everyone. Nice.
As I learn more, I'll keep sharing...hmmm...guess I'm going to need a new blog in the future.....I'll keep you posted on that!!!

The happy Buddha pictured here gives you a good idea of how we’re feeling right now.

Sunsets in Bangkok

I have heard it said that pollution will give you some gorgeous sunsets...it may well be true. From our hotel window (25th floor) we watched a gorgeous orange-red sun sink into the west - actually behind the city skyscrapers. The photo hardly does it justice.
Following...we wandered along the streets, finally ending up eating in a place along the river - with dancers coming in to entertain the guests. The dances were in the "traditional" style, with elaborate costumes and imaginative masks. The story is generally from the "Ramakien" which is a traditional tale of the triumph of good over evil.
They pay a lot of attention to detail. The costumes are gorgeous, ornate and I'm certain terribly hot and heavy. The movements are very precise and stylized, with the women's hands being particularly expressive. Some of the moves they make - especially when wearing LONG metal fingernails - requires years of practice. It's quite amazing to watch.