Tuk-tuks, Baichecks and Beemos

This is an imperfect attempt at holding the setting sun in my hand our first night at Angkor. We arrived in Siem Reap early enough to sneak in a quick trip to sunset at Ankor Wat! It's like being home... no kidding. These monks thought so too!

I love all the ways mankind has invented different forms of simple people moving. Depending where in the world you are, peddle bike carriages, motorbike carriages or tiny mini, mini vans with two rows of parallel seats in the back, are some of the most efficient and quickly available simple modes of moving people around invented by person kind. Glad I don't have to peddle one of these vehicles.

We start off today with a mini van to the bus terminal where we board a six hour express bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Nice bus with toilet below, nice televisions playing not so nice kung fu movies... a free water bottle and cookie. Oh yeah... air conditioning too! Once out of the city, the next two hours are spent driving through delightful villages hugging the highway 6 countryside. All manners of products are manufactured or sold by these various "poor" villages, it is apparent indeed that the economy during the past four years since my last visit here has been kind to historically hind teat sucking Cambodia.
We stop at a rest stop for lunch ...a rest stop that is a giant enterprise zone with children and young women lighting like flies on the vulnerable prey of tourists emptying from the buses.
Nice mounds of sandwiches, produce, bugs and roasted tarantulas. I'm tempted but then remember I don't want to jeopardize my health at one of my favorites places on the planet. We purchase some nice pastries, a beautifully sheath folded rice cake in bamboo wrapping that looks like some form of origami. Too pretty to eat! Another three hours on the bus, similar sites and we pull into the bus station in Siem Reap where a nice gent is holding a sign that says "Vivian Vaughan" which was a site for sore eyes in that we weren't sure the small little hotel called Eight Rooms had really received our reservation. Not only was all well, but we were quickly chauffeured off by Tuk-tuk to our hotel about 15 nice and breezy minutes away. I love the way TUK-TUKS and Beichecks give you a people level view of the world with a sniff of whatever is going on around you. It is a visual, olfactory and "people's introduction" to wherever you find yourself lucky enough to be aboard.

Our hotel is nice and we quickly move in around 3 and by 4, we have hired another tuk-tuk to take us on the half hour trip to purchase our three day pass to the temples of Angkor. I'm happy to be here once again... this most magical of magic places. We get our picture passport for three days and are off to the main temple for just a quick "preview" visit in the less than two hours left of light. The two pix above are from this two hour window of enlightenment... that is, I think I got the pix to finally post. I told you Angkor was magic... believe it!

I will try to summarize my feelings in a later blog entry... but suffice to say... this place is like no other in the world... the karmic universe centers here... I know, I know... I sound like a Santa Cruz cosmic muffin... and you know I'm not... so take this to hart!

A rather nothing meal at a Burmese restaurant that had been recommended to us was disappointing... but that is only the yang answering the over-abundance of yin already on my plate. No regrets. Arranged a driver to take us around for the next three days as we want to get out to some of the temples that are less visited... and with such distances of this enormous temple complex, a car and driver are a must. More to come. You should finally see some pix on this post... hip, hip, hurray! Now I can learn how to maximize their effectiveness within a given piece of writing. More to come... Mark