Intense Angkor

Thursday was a big day. We set our alarms for 4:00 a.m. to be able to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Our faithful driver and guide were waiting for us at 4:30. Actually, there was some confusion. Our guide was there but didn't realize he was going to do that job, and there was no driver in sight. No problem. Our guide, Cheyenne (really!), made a phone call, and soon there was car and driver. Off we went.

We thought we were doing something quite extraordinary, getting up at 4:00 a.m. and all. Imagine our surprise when we got to Angkor Wat and found hundreds of people there in the pitch black night, all jostling for position by the light of whatever they happened to have in the way of illumination. Fortunately, I had a little pocket flashlight which proved very useful. You can see light from flashlights in the photo. It was actually quite a bit darker than the photo shows.

When the sky began slowly to lighten we moved from the spot where the above photo was taken to a lake closer to the temple. It became ever more apparent we were not alone.

Here we are, wondering at how very long it takes the sun to rise in this part of the world.

Here's another photo of people around the lake and the stunning reflections of the trees in the water.

Eventually, the rosy fingers of dawn appeared.

And then the sun, rising magnificently over these 1,000 year old towers.

With the sun finally up, it was time for breakfast. After we ate, Nancy decided to buy something from one of the small children who are constantly trying to sell things. She began talking with one or two,

and within seconds, faster than ants at a picnic, she had a crowd around her.

Given how persistent and persuasive these children are, I think we can feel good about the economic future of Cambodia.

Back to the temple we went for a very intensive, very long, very overwhelming tour of this magnificent place.

Before getting to the glories of the ancient past, we were reminded of the horrors of the recent past by these bullet holes near the entrance.

I mentioned before that the nearly every surface of this vast place is covered with intricate carvings.

The next photo is of an Apsara, a celestial dancing girl of surpassing beauty, created as a byproduct of the stirring of the sea of milk by the gods and demons as they strove to create the elixir of eternal life.

And here are some modern equivalents looking quite a bit less vigorous.

Each side of the first level of Angkor Wat is covered by elaborate, bas relief sculpture. These sculptures show scenes from Hindu mythology and of the glories of the Khmer empire.

These are happy, Khmer winners. The Cham losers were rather less buoyant.

It is spectacular, and it goes on and on. There are passageways,

and more than one level.

The original stairs are very steep and irregular so there are wooden steps which are very steep but regular. They're still scary.

Cheyenne said that his American tour guests constantly use the word "awesome" and in the case of Angkor Wat, it's totally appropriate. It's awesome and awe inspiring.

After leaving Angkor we went to a silk making exhibition facility. In it's own way, this was awesome too. We learned, or were exposed to, everything you might want to know about making silk. The silk worms, of course, eat mulberry leaves which are grown here.

The worms are apparently rather delicate so they don't go out to eat, and we didn't get to see them other than a few exhibition worms. Here's diagram of their life cycle.

and here are some actual cocoons.

Each cocoon has two layers of silk. The outer layer is more coarse. This is raw silk. The inner layer is more fine. This is, you guessed it, fine silk. The worms are supplied with convenient cocoon making facilities.

Once the cocoons are complete they're put out into the sun to kill the worms -- all but the ones allowed to complete the cycle so as to have more worms. I wondered why the building with the worms had water around all it's supports. The answer was "to keep out the ants." Apparently silk worms are sort of an ant picnic.

The silk is a single strand hundreds of meters long. The cocoons are heated in water and the silk taken off.

The strands from several cocoons are combined to form one strand of silk which can still be extremely fine.

In this place, only 20% of the silk is chemically dyed. The other 80% is dyed with natural dyes which, of course, they make themselves. Here, our guide is explaining the substances used to make dyes of various colors.

Here we see the "tie-dyeing" process used in ikat weaving.

Then there's the weaving itself. I suppose if you're a weaver you know all about it. If you're not, nothing I can say will help because even though I've seen it, I sure don't understand it.

I have no idea what this thing does, but it looked cool.

It was an extraordinary tour of an amazing place. After the tour we were shown the gift shop, where we contributed appropriately to the Cambodian economy.

There was one more stop, a workshop for handicapped persons.

After that, we headed for home, supper, and the sleep of the thoroughly exhausted tourist.