Angkor Wat

This was our sightseeing day. We hired a guide and a tuk tuk to take us to Angkor Wat and some other temples since that is the main reason people come here. Our guide, Bebe, met us at 6:30 and off we went. Bebe is from Siem Reap and grew up behind Angkor Wat. He used to play hide and seek at the temple as a child so he knows it well. His English is very good. He has only one brother because his other 2 brothers died during the Khmer Rouge genocide. One of his brothers died of starvation, both of his parents died. Bebe and his brother went to live at the Pagoda with the monks and they were educated by them. It sounds as though the monks took in a lot of children during this time and to this day, they are the educators of the poor. While school is mandatory and free, you must buy your books and pens and uniforms and you must pay the teacher which continues to put education out of reach for many. One of the hospital nurses told us that he went to nursing school far from his family and for the first year he camped out in the Pagoda and the Monks fed him. Literally camped out- after that year he worked for room and board in a clinic.
Angkor Wat is massive and impressive and it was great to have a guide to tell us the significance of carvings and the history behind them. We also went to Bayon and the Elephant terraces and a temple built of brick in the 10th century. The crazy thing is that it was bricks without mortar. Instead they made a glue from tree sap and built it 5 levels and then carved on the brick. It is not in great shape but it is pretty old so I guess that is expected. On the way back from the temples (including Tomb Raider Temple ala Angelina Jolie) we stopped at a monument near a former rice paddy/killing field. The monument has a glass case of bones gathered from the fields and you can clearly see the skulls. It is horrible.
Both Barb and I have colds that are slowing us down. I rarely get sick but I guess I have no immunity to these Asian viruses. We napped and then went to dinner and afterwards had our first ice cream of the trip. It tasted great. We may go to Battambong tomorrow if we feel up to it or maybe hang around this town some more. We agree we have seen enough temples and it would be nice to see something else. The only way I can post to the blog is to go to the hospital so I will have to see how that works out.