Siem Reap
This morning we took a tuk-tuk almost 50km north of town to see the river of 1000 lingas and an animal park. A linga is a traditional phallic symbol of fertility and water is considered “holyish” if it flows over a linga. After 1.5 hours in a tuk-tuk and a 30 minute hike up a hill, we got to see well over 1000 lingas carved into the riverbed rocks. There were also carvings of Buddha and other gods and a very nice waterfall. After the hike back down, we had a fantastic lunch at a side of the road restaurant and went to the animal park. It was closed. The sign said open every day, but it was closed, so I guess today wasn’t an every day.
We stopped at a few more temples on the way back into town. We also stopped at a stand where they made coconut sugar. It is the same process as making maple sugar, but they start with coconut palm sap.
We had dinner at the dead fish tower café. It looks like an old converted barn. It has about 14 different levels, none more than 10 square meters, each with 2-3 tables. They gave the impressions of floating islands of dinner, or the exercise room at the chimp enclosure. Upon further reflection it is probably representative of the different levels of Buddhist nirvana and I am going to pay for the chimp comment.
This morning we took a tuk-tuk almost 50km north of town to see the river of 1000 lingas and an animal park. A linga is a traditional phallic symbol of fertility and water is considered “holyish” if it flows over a linga. After 1.5 hours in a tuk-tuk and a 30 minute hike up a hill, we got to see well over 1000 lingas carved into the riverbed rocks. There were also carvings of Buddha and other gods and a very nice waterfall. After the hike back down, we had a fantastic lunch at a side of the road restaurant and went to the animal park. It was closed. The sign said open every day, but it was closed, so I guess today wasn’t an every day.
We stopped at a few more temples on the way back into town. We also stopped at a stand where they made coconut sugar. It is the same process as making maple sugar, but they start with coconut palm sap.
We had dinner at the dead fish tower café. It looks like an old converted barn. It has about 14 different levels, none more than 10 square meters, each with 2-3 tables. They gave the impressions of floating islands of dinner, or the exercise room at the chimp enclosure. Upon further reflection it is probably representative of the different levels of Buddhist nirvana and I am going to pay for the chimp comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment