The Best Laid Plans

Starting up the "hill" at Phnom Bekheng;
Notice the elephant loading stand in the background

On Friday, my plane landed at approximately 5:00 p.m. (in Asia you call that 17:00; I know, I know) by 5:20 p.m. I was climbing a hill along with countless other tourists to witness the sunset at Phnom Bakheng (one of the many ruined temples in Ancient Angkor). It rained. No sunset.

The ruins at Phnom Bakheng

Instead of getting up early on Saturday to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat (the most famous of the Angkor temples) I decided to delay that trip until Sunday. Saturday dawned clear and hot. Sunday...overcast. No sun in the sunrise. I'm sure the sun rose, but at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, no go. By the time the sun broke through, it was well overhead.

The view from above at Phnom Bakheng

In my three days of touring Ancient Angkor, I saw and explored 16 temples. I witnessed the grandeur. I felt the history. I experienced these shrines to Khmer culture. And, along the way I met some very interesting people.

At Phnom Bakheng

On Saturday when I left the temple named Preah Khan, I felt some pangs of remorse for not buying something from the crowd of children that followed me most of the way from the temple to the parking lot where my taxi driver was waiting. The pleading of destitute children is not like anything one might experience in the United States. The children go from selling to begging as soon as they realize you are not interested in buying something. Although it is impractical and virtually impossible to give to every begging child, denying any particular one is never easy.

Neak Pean in the dry season

The next stop was Neak Pean, the island temple located deep in the Cambodian jungle. At first we drove past the entrance, and upon second-thought I asked the driver to go back. I am very glad I did because that's where I met Pretty Pun. After visiting the temple at Neak Pean, I was almost back to the taxi when I was approached by a girl selling postcards. I told her the same thing I told all the kids who approached me, No thank you. And, like almost every other kid in Cambodia who tried to separate me from my money, she persisted.

Pretty Pun

If my driver had been there I probably would have gotten in the car and moved on to the next stop. As it was, he was nowhere around, so I had time to hear the extended version of the sales pitch. I interrupted her by saying, My name is Jay. What's your name? She told me "Pun." Why are you so pretty? I asked her. She smiled and lowered her head, "I don't know," she said. Her sales pitch was well-rehearsed, "You buy postcard from me. Look Mister, Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm, Bakheng, Bapuon, Elephant Terrace..." all the while shuffling the cards from front to back. "If you forget, you can look at back of card for name of temple," she said as she turned one over.

Yeah, I replied. You've been to all these places? That stopped her cold. She smiled, "No," she replied. "I have been only to Angkor Wat." What? I said fawning surprise. You're trying to sell me postcards and you've never been there before! That's false advertising! She giggled a self-conscious response.

What's my name? I asked her. She couldn't remember. Jay, I told her. "Jase," she said. No, Jay No s-s-s. "Jase," she tried again. No. Jay. Just Jay. Our English pronunciation lesson continued long enough for her to utter my name correctly. At that point I held out my fist and said, Knuckles. You have never seen a look of confusion like the one I saw at that moment. Look here girl, make a fist and you bump my fist. That means 'Good Job!' After a brief practice session, we got it right.

One of many stone carvings

Mind you, the discussion was brief and more fun than all the temples in Angkor. We were interrupted by two more girls who joined the party. When the second girl, riding her bike pulled up, I said to Pun, Tell her my name. Pun said, "His name Jase."

Close enough. (Yes, I gave each girl a dollar. I know, I know.)