anchor WHAT?

JANUARY 27
Went to the famous Anchor Wat (where Tombrader was filmed) and spent quite a big chunk of the day checking out the brilliance of all these temples. A nice little change from the intesities of the previous days. I for sure needed that. We took a tuk tuk out in the morning out to a temple that was about 37kms out from the main Angkor temple; this one is famous for its intricate carvings and detailing on all the buildings... friggen AMAZING! I mean, the time it would have taken to carve out the most minute detail... such concentration and patience. In contrast to the Acropolis and every other greek ruin, this place was so incredibly different even though both the Greeks and the Angkorians were once mighty empires toppled by time.
My favorite place was this one here: with immense trees growing up and out of the buildings, illustrating nature's power over man's creations... something else! The strangest thing is that when these temples were built from the 9th-15th C. AD, there were no trees at all... they've only since appeared over the passing of time, and have overgrown the entire area. Unfortunately, with all the tourists coming in to see these wats, there's nothing being done to really preserve the integrity they still hold. I mean, there is sort of tape to border off where you shouldn't venture, but it's still so easy to pass around it or under it and there is no one there to enforce these rules either. This tree you see here, I could have sat down in front of it for the whole day just looking at it. Its roots are as wide as I am and wider in some cases... the way they just push out through and from between the stone. We took some pictures (hopefully they'll turn out) and I hope to post them as soon as I can.

The Angkor Wat (the 1st picture here at the top) was a tourist MANIA and I hated being there amongst all those people who weren't really there for anything BUT the wat; so rude and ingnorant some of them were. It was as big as a small city and the monks still reside there. You're not supposed to photgraph the monks, but I snuck a couple photos in anyhoot... they were down the long hallway and you can barely see them, though they are surely there, so I don't think it'll come back to haunt me considering some people had no shame in blatantly taking photos of them. We were leaving the wat - having already crossed the moat - and looked up to see about 10 tourists just standing there beneath the entrance arch with their cameras up and poised to photograph the wat as the sun was setting... it looked absolutely HILARIOUS!! By the time we got our camera out to photogragh the foolishness, it was too late. Ah well. I'll always remember it and that's what matters most! I gotta stop relying on a camera to remember things anyhow...

and she gets sick...
So it's been pretty windy here in Siem Reap the past few days and
I didn't realize that would affect my health the way it did. I ate a little something at an outdoor restaurant just outside the Wat of ginormous trees - just rice and well-cooked beef. That night I had some pasta and I felt a little something going on in my body, like it was fighting something off, so I went to bed somewhat early just in case. The next morning I had a baguette for breakies and around 3pm some veggie fried rice and coke. I had woken up feeling slightly ill, but nothing serious... Carly had been up all night with a fever and diarreah and so she was in bed all that day. I even took her to the doctor to get some meds in her to bring her fever down and more cyprofloxin to kill that nasty parasite that keeps causing shit. That night I went up to watch a short documentary with Leigh on the Street Kids clinic that was held last year with the same team of canadians since the second one was being held the next day... we walked passed the kitchen on our way upstairs (we were at Earthwalker's Guesthouse where we've been staying) and I was overcome with this feeling like I was gonna hurle out all my innards! Weird. I ignored it and watched the film though I had to rest in the fetal position throughout the viewing since my tummy was feeling so strange... As soon as it was over I sat up and said "where's a garbage? I think I'm gonna puke!" and ran out the door and projected my days' meal about 6 ft out from the top balcony! Luckily, no one was walking underneath me at that time... though I did manage to cover the rear wheel of one dude's moto! haha So I thought that was it, but I was up on and off that entire night puking, diarreah, fever and headache. I couldn't keep anything down and became quite dehydrated. Carly took me to the hospital in the morning where I was given some meds and an IV to help keep the pills down. When I got back, I was bedridden the rest of the day and unfortunately I wasn't able to volunteer at the Street Kids health clinic... Carly did though. So I didn't eat at all yesturday save a few bites of rice in the evening. Today I'm feeling much better, though my appetite still hasn't quite returned. I can't tell if I'm hungry or not and my energy level is way down. I think things will improve over the course of a few days. I'll keep you posted.

Nice side-note eh? heehee Ah well. "shit happens!" Well, I got some stuff to do before Carly leaves for home this evening and so I better get to it. I'll be on my own for the first time in a while and it feels strange to think about...

Take care everyone and thanks again for reading and thinking. :-)