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| Banyan Tree is a fig tree that starts life as an epiphyte, a plant that grows on another plant when it germinates in a crevice of a host tree or human edifice |
Today began with a coach ride to the ancient walled city of Angkor Thom. The city lies on the west bank of the Siem Reap River, a tributary of Tonle Sap. It is surrounded by a moat and has 5 monumental gates, 20 meters in height decorated with stone elephant trunks and crowned by 4 huge faces of Buddha or the king. Roads lead from the gates to the Bayon at the center of the city. As the Bayon itself has no wall or moat of its own, those of the city are interpreted by archaeologists as representing the mountains and oceans surrounding the Bayon's Mount Meru. A causeway spans the moat in front of each tower. These have a row of devas on the left and asuras on the right, each holding a naga (a serpent deity in Hindu religion) in the attitude of a tug of war. "This appears to be a reference to the myth, popular in Angkor, of the Churning of the Sea of Milk.
Within the city is a system of canals. Most of the land enclosed by the walls would have been occupied by the secular buildings of the city, of which nothing remains. This area is now covered by forest.
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| The temple ruins were being painstakingly restored by laborers with modern materials |
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| hollowed out tree |
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| Amazing growth of a Banyan, very photogenic |
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| Bas-relief depicting the various gods, goddesses and other worldly beings from mythological stories and epic poems of ancient Hinduism, modified by centuries of Buddhism. |
This structure has already been restored. It will take decades for restoration to be complete, but in the interim, the structures are quite beautiful with the intermingling of mother nature's artwork with the ancient ruins-the best of both worlds.
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| Restored structure |
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| Cathy photo bombed Bruce |
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| Buddhist nun who gave me a blessing among her yarn ties and incense. She was gracious about having her photo taken, too! |
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| Cathy getting her Buddhist blessing |
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| Among the mythological deities can be found real animals. Our guide asks, "How did they know about the Stegosaurus? |
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| Our guide judged this sculpture to be the happiest Buddha on the property |
Later in the day, we took an open boat ride to the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake! Fascinating to see people living in floating houses, attending floating churches, and eating in floating restaurants. The juxtaposition of an ancient way of life with evidence of solar panels was quite exciting, too.
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| Floating house |
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| A Neighborhood of floating houses |
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| Floating church |
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| The baby girl with a baby boa around her neck |
A grandmother pulled her leaking boat up beside ours and held up this baby in hopes of garnering money and sympathy (which of course she did). Even though the guides urged us to ignore her, it is the spirit of Americans to be soft-hearted about infants sporting boa constrictors around their necks. We estimated that she made over $50 American dollars, quite a large sum in Cambodia.
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| A tiny spirit house to house spirits of the river and farmland |
The spirit houses could be seen throughout the floating villages. Community spirit houses are called Neak Ta and an individual's spirit house is known as Tevada. The practice dates back to Angkorean times. They are places to house the spirits and also areas where residents go for solace and advice during hard times.
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| House in the floating village with TV antennae and solar panels |
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