We caught up on some much needed sleep, ate a hearty American style breakfast, and rented bikes for 2 USD for the day. These weren't exactly Tour de France quality bikes. They had one gear (an extremely low one) and Ashwin's chain fell off 5 minutes into the ride out to the temples. Luckily, with a little elbow grease, it was easy to get the chain back on, and we were off to see more temples.
After touring a few temples, we finally understand the meaning of this "Same, same... but different" phrase that we've seen printed on t-shirts marketed for tourists. We probably could have visited a temple from the day before and not known that we'd already seen it. All the temples are extremely similar with respect to both architecture and state of ruin. Nonetheless they are still very impressive, and we happily completed the 50 km "Grand Tour" to see all of the remaining temples (we rented the bikes at 10 am and didn't return them until 7 pm - a long day indeed).
Upon leaving one of the temples, a haggler (not barterer, Michael) child approached us to sell us cold water, as usual. Hot and low on water, we happily took her up on her offer. She spoke English surprisingly well compared to the other children we had encountered, so we sat down and chatted with her for half an hour. It turns out that she can actually sell water to tourists in 10 different languages (we got it all on video for the skeptics out there). Pointing to her cheeks, she told us to call her "Dimple", and she claimed to be 16 and in 8th grade, despite looking not a day over 12. When her Aunt asked us our ages, she laughed because her 26 year old husband looks at least 20 years older than we do. Dimple asked us if we were brothers, making for the third day in a row we have been told we look closely related. At this point, we are reaching the acceptance stage, but Danny still thinks genetic testing might be in order when we return home.
We ended our journey back at Angkor Wat, which looked completely different in the setting sun, and we took some amazing photos with Angkor Wat reflecting in the pond. Over the 9 hour day in the sun, we developed hic tans from our matching sleeveless "broski" shirts that read "Angkor Beer: My Country, My Beer" that we picked up for 1.50 USD at the market the night before. The woman selling us the shirts tried to sell Danny a pink one, saying that it looks good with white skin, to which Danny responded by comparing his arm color with hers and exclaiming "You're the whitey here," as he was several shades darker than most of the Cambodians. Many of the locals would repeat the shirt's saying, pointing emphatically at themselves and laughing, clearly indicating that it was neither our country nor our beer.
Exhausted, we ate dinner at the locals market and got an early night's sleep.
After touring a few temples, we finally understand the meaning of this "Same, same... but different" phrase that we've seen printed on t-shirts marketed for tourists. We probably could have visited a temple from the day before and not known that we'd already seen it. All the temples are extremely similar with respect to both architecture and state of ruin. Nonetheless they are still very impressive, and we happily completed the 50 km "Grand Tour" to see all of the remaining temples (we rented the bikes at 10 am and didn't return them until 7 pm - a long day indeed).
Upon leaving one of the temples, a haggler (not barterer, Michael) child approached us to sell us cold water, as usual. Hot and low on water, we happily took her up on her offer. She spoke English surprisingly well compared to the other children we had encountered, so we sat down and chatted with her for half an hour. It turns out that she can actually sell water to tourists in 10 different languages (we got it all on video for the skeptics out there). Pointing to her cheeks, she told us to call her "Dimple", and she claimed to be 16 and in 8th grade, despite looking not a day over 12. When her Aunt asked us our ages, she laughed because her 26 year old husband looks at least 20 years older than we do. Dimple asked us if we were brothers, making for the third day in a row we have been told we look closely related. At this point, we are reaching the acceptance stage, but Danny still thinks genetic testing might be in order when we return home.
We ended our journey back at Angkor Wat, which looked completely different in the setting sun, and we took some amazing photos with Angkor Wat reflecting in the pond. Over the 9 hour day in the sun, we developed hic tans from our matching sleeveless "broski" shirts that read "Angkor Beer: My Country, My Beer" that we picked up for 1.50 USD at the market the night before. The woman selling us the shirts tried to sell Danny a pink one, saying that it looks good with white skin, to which Danny responded by comparing his arm color with hers and exclaiming "You're the whitey here," as he was several shades darker than most of the Cambodians. Many of the locals would repeat the shirt's saying, pointing emphatically at themselves and laughing, clearly indicating that it was neither our country nor our beer.
Exhausted, we ate dinner at the locals market and got an early night's sleep.
"Same, same... but different" seems very similar to my eventual feelings in India: If you've seen one temple, you've seen them all. The same thing struck me in Europe w.r.t. churches. It seem odd that I never go to church in this country, but we spent six weeks in Europe going to churches every day!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a long (and I assume exhausting) day you had. How honorable of you to stick it out and see ALL of the temples. I am impressed.
About the twins thing... I know that I have trouble differentiating Indians, from Pakastanis, the Sri Lankans, etc. and the Chinese from Koreans, Vietnamese, etc. I bet all americans (especially those who have a remote resemblance like build, hair, eye color and hats!) look alike to the Cambodians, etc. Personally, I don't think the DNA test is necessary. :-)
What’s with you two and bicycles? Goodness, you guys are biking through Asia more than you are backpacking, lol, but you seem to be getting some remarkable views out of it.
ReplyDeleteAngkor Wat looks amazing especially those reliefs and I can only sigh with admiration for the engineering involved! It’s incredible to think of the amount of work and artistry it would have taken to decorate that whole place as well as the other temples. At the same time, I love that saying “same, same…but different.” It applies to so many different things as May said in the previous post. If you’re looking at the same type and level of art, time after time, you settle into a perpetual state of appreciation. It’s all lovely to look at but after the first few, your reaction rarely varies.
I do have to say that I can see the “family” resemblance everyone keeps remarking upon. You really do have practically the same skin tone (at least from the pictures) and you two act like brothers anyways. I think you should just accept it by now or stop wearing matching outfits, lol.