Ruins before Angkor

We headed out early this morning on two motorbikes to Sambor Prei Kuk, a group of pre-Angkorian monuments and some of the oldest structures in the country. There are more than 100 small temples scattered throughout a forest, build in the early 7th century. It was a beautiful morning, nice and cool and lots of people out starting their days. Riding on the back of a motorbike through the countryside is definitely the best way to get an overview of Cambodian life. Most Cambodian homes are build on raised wood pilings and have thatched roofs, walls made of palm leaves and floors of woven bamboo. The space underneath the house seems to be used more than the inside during the dry season, as it is shady and cool. Nearly every home has a hammock or two underneath, as well as their kitchen gear, kids' toys, dogs, puppies, pigs, chickens, and just about anything else.

We arrived at Sambor Prei Kuk to a crowd of children trying to sell us scarves and jewelry. We spent a few hours wandering around the forest and enjoying the ruins, as they are quite different from Angkor, but with several similarities. We could see how the architecture evolved from here on to the Angkor temples. We were followed by a group of 4 girls, about 10 years old. They spoke no English but were able to tell us which temple was which (they're not marked at all, and the only map we had was not very detailed) and led us around the forest paths. It was nice to have some locals to follow because there are certainly still land mines in this area. They also pointed out old bomb craters (probably from the US bombings in the late 70s) and where some of the temples were chipped away by bombing and gun fire. Most of the temples are dedicated to Shiva, one of the Hindu Gods. Despite the ruinous state of them, there were still some excellent, detailed carvings to be seen. And seeing them half covered over by the forest really makes one realise how old they really are. On our way back to the motorbikes, we bought a few scarves from the girls (at an inflated price I'm sure). They were happy to have walked around with us and we were more than happy to give them a few dollars.

We had an enjoyable ride back to Kompong Thom, where we went straight to the shower at our hotel. We scrubbed off the thick layer of dirt covering us, and headed to the one decent restaurant in town for some lunch--the usual, fried noodle with beef for Nigel, fried rice with vegetables for Kel. We spent a few hours relaxing in our air-conditioned room watching some television and reading, then headed back out on the motorbikes around 3:30 to Phnom Suntok, a mountain with an active Buddhist wat on top. It is the most important holy mountain in this region. We climbed halfway up the stairs and were stopped by a monk resting on the steps. He chatted to us for a few minutes, then asked us if we would read a newspaper article he had so that he may hear the English words spoken as practice for learning the language. Instead, we had him read the words and corrected him if he was wrong. It was an extremely boring article, and we weren't sure how to politely stop his reading so that we could be on our way to the top of the mountain. But halfway through the article, he did us the favour. We reached the top, wandered around the colourful temple and sat and watched a bunch of monkeys climbing around the rocks. It was good that they were cautious of people and did not approach us (in fact, they ran from any person trying to come near them).

We expected a magnificant view to watch the sunset; however, not finding this view due to the trees, we decided to skip the sunset and went back down. At the bottom of this mountain is a small village, and we noticed an unusually large amount of trash around (which means A LOT of trash, as most places definitely have their fair share). Funnily enough, there was a huge 'garbage bin' enclosed by a bamboo fence, probably 6 feet square. We couldn't help but notice this was empty, and all of the trash was scattered around it instead.

Just on the outskirts of town, we saw a huge stream of thick black smoke rising into the air. Nigel's motorbike driver turned off of the main road, and we arrived at a house that was on fire. Tons of people from around town were streaming in to catch all of the action. The home was already completely destroyed, and the fire was spreading to surrounding coconut trees, bushes, and fences. The neighbours were hastily tossing buckets of water on top of their thatched roofs in a feeble attempt to keep the fire away. The families were running in and out of their homes, bringing out all of their belongings. It was very sad to see this, as these people don't have much at all, but the fire was threatening to destroy the little that they do have. We watched (helplessly) as the home burned down and some people brought a few buckets of water around to try and put the flames out. Eventually the 'fire truck' did arrive. Luckily, the fire looked to be diminishing as we left. We hope that the one house was the only one lost. Later that evening, walking back from dinner, we wondered what that family was doing, where they were sleeping, what clothes they would put on in the morning, and if they would just rebuild their home in the same place once the ashes cool.