The Apocalyptic Ruins of Angkor in Cambodia, Part I

We leave Osaka and Japan, travel through rainy Vietnam, and enter the kingdom of Cambodia.  Who would have thought that Cambodia in July would be hot?  Well, it is.  Luckily, even though it is rainy season, the raining has been kept to a minimum.  On Wednesday morning, we get our Tuk Tuk driver and head to the vast Angkor Wat complex.  Angkor Wat is a series of extravagant buddhist temples and palaces, built by a civilization that has long since vanished.  The whole area is about the size of Manhattan and has innumerable ancient temples, ruins, etc. 

Side view of Angkor Wat.  Two of the five towers are visible.

View walking into Angkor Wat.

The temple of Angkor Wat is the crown jewel of the whole complex.  It is the tallest and most well preserved temple in the area.   It was nice, but the real charm of Angkor is the immense amount of surrounding temples as we would soon discover.

This may very well be the next president of Cambodia

As we were leaving Angkor Wat there was a huge gathering with some kindof scary music and shouting going on.  We had just been warned by the US consulate to stay away from large groups in Cambodia as there is a very heated election going on.  Unfortunately, we had to pass by this group just to get out.  Once in the frey, we realized it really wasn't such a big deal.  Also, our tuk-tuk driver is voting for him so he can't be that bad.

Please notice Gollum hiding hiding in the stone

The local children get to use all of Angkor as their play ground.  We found these cuties in a temple alley.  Sondra then forcibly adopted them gave them a banana.  Very cute.

I love the sculpture behind Sondra.  It's either looking in disdain or thinking "not bad."

The city contained within a huge gate is known as Angkor Thom.  In it hides the Bayon as well as some other temple ruins.  This picture of Sondra is just one of the hundreds of sculptures guarding the four entrances.

The Bayon

The Bayon is older than Angkor Wat and in more of a ruin.  It is still in good enough shape to see the thousands of Buddha heads staring down at you.  Creepy and Beautiful.  It was one of our favorites.

The many faces of the Bayon

Beautifully intricate carvings in the limestone.  Some have survived the years wonderfully.

After we visit the Bayon, we move forward to Ta Prohm.  This temple is basically in ruins but has made a name for itself in the strangler fig trees that live on it's ruins.  This temple has also been seen by many westerners who watched the movie "Tomb Raider."  To some people that means the most historically significant fact of this temple is that Angelina Jolie once visited.  When walking around the majesty of this temple, I couldn't help but think how amazing it would be to go back in time, visit this temple at the peak of its importance, and actually see Angelina Jolie.  If only.

A strangler fig growing from the top of the temple.  These trees are massive.

Sondra and I get a quick snapshot under a tree.

It was a magical day.  The amazing this is that there are many more temples to explore.  Next post:  Angkor Part II.

Mt. Koya-san. The home of Japanese Buddhism.

We regretfully left Nara and took and train and mountain cable car to the holy mountain of Koya.  Our accomodations were at a Buddhist monastery called Eko-in.  Such a beautiful place, surrounded with natural beauty, and helpful monks.  I pressed "8" on the phone, said "beer, please," and immediately heard some foot steps, and a monk presented me with a deliciously cold Asahi in a basket.  We are converting to Buddhism.

Our Backyard at the monastery

The first touristy thing we did on Mt. Koya was to visit the Okuoin, or the last temple, on a monk-guided night tour.  Okuoin is the home to this sect of buddhism's founder Kukai, who was buried there in 835.  Okuoin is also Japan's largest graveyard.  It harbors over 200,000 graves/shrines (the Japanese just bury a single bone of the throat).  With a combination of the 1000 year old Japanese cedars that burst through centuries of old rock pathways and graves that have lost their inscriptions due to the unrelenting force of time, we were amazed by Okuoin, and it is hard to show in pictures or words.  It is really a magical place.

The first bridge into Okuoin.  You can see the path is lit and the giant cedars.

Just one shot of a thousand of the graves in this cemetery.

Okuoin is a little creepy at night.  By day, it is just beautiful.  Like a mix between a redwood forest in California, and an old cemetery in France.

Just one of the many huge trees.  It is actually bursting through a wall and pushing gravestones out of the way.

A very magical place.  The common gravestone seen with 5 shapes represents earth, water, fire, spirit, and air, to the buddhists.

There are several temples around Mt. Koya to enjoy, and a hike up a mountain peak to get a view of the surrounding mountains.  We had a very relaxing day of a long walk then a vegetarian dinner in our monastery.  We recommend Mt. Koya to anyone visiting Japan.  It is a nice break from all of Japan's bustling city life.

We are in this picture.  This pagoda was planned by Kukai himself.  It is much bigger than we thought it would be.  It is very bright and contains a nice Buddha.

Sondra celebrates after conquering the mountain.

Relaxing in our room for some dinner.

Deer, Temples, and some Pottery in Nara

We had the pleasure and honor of spending 2 nights in Nara at Naoki's father's house. After realizing the party was pretty much over in Kyoto, we decided to head over to Nara a little bit earlier than planned to partake in some artistic endeavors with Naoki's dad.  Our first order of business was pottery!

Naoki, Michael, and I ruminating whether Michael should include a divider in his "key bowl"

While enjoying some beer and Kill Bill, Vol. 1 blasting in the background, the four of us relaxed over some clay and friendly conversations.  

Michael's work is on the left (apparently he was also blessed with a natural the gift of pottery master), and my "artistic" piece is on the right.

Naoki's dad must have read my mind, because the next morning after a 3 mile run around the neighborhood in Nara, he made us a kick-ass American-style breakfast, complete with toast, jam, scrambled eggs, potatoes, and black coffee.  It was nice to take a break from all the fish and rice for a meal! (Unfortunately, that meal was not documented so you will just have to believe me!)

After our hearty breakfast, the 4 of us took off on a sightseeing tour of Nara.  Michael and Naoki promised me that we would see the infamous Nara Deer at Nara Park, and boy, was I not disappointed. For 150 Yen, you can buy about 10 large round crackers to feed the deer.  The deer have become very dependent upon these crackers, so much that it would be most appropriate to remove the "ers" from the name (if you catch my drift). These small deer are called "sika deer: and are regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion and roam the grounds freely. 

My Nara Deer crackers bring all the deer to the yard, and their like it's better than yours... (I really sang that song to them)

Here is Michael with his new pal.  This one really reminded me of Lucas with antlers.

This unofficial guardian of Todai-ji.

Inside Todai-ji, you can find the most magnificent and large Buddha Vairocana in the entire world!  Naoki's dad gave us some history of the temple and showed us how to properly thank and pray to Buddha (two claps and a bow).Todai-ji is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Read more about it here.

Buddha is 52 Feet high and this photo does not do it justice!

As we were trying to leave the park, the deer reminded me that I still had some food hidden in my bag and followed me all the way down the street to give it to them in exchange for some pets and bows.

After a long day of sightseeing, Naoki's dad treated us to a multi-course traditional Japanese dinner, complete with sashimi tuna, different types of tofu (the sesame tofu was my favorite) and a new dish to Michael and I, shabu-shabu.

The sesame tofu is the grayish one in the bottom center.

Here we are feeling so full and satisfied that we had to turn down the somen noodles.

The next morning, we met Naoki's aunt, cousin and his cousin's daughters.  They were all very sweet and the girls were a little shy of the foreigners!  Before we left, Michael and I each made a drawing for Naoki's dad to thank him for being such a gracious host.  We have already invited Naoki and his parents to Florida and NC, so get ready Moms and Dads!

An SRF original in mixed media

An MJF masterpiece.

Here we are with Japan's Supreme Most Excellent Host.

Temples of Kyoto and the Gion Matsuri

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for around 1000 years.  As such, it had a lot of temples, shrines, and palaces built over that time.  You basically can't walk around Kyoto without accidentally stepping on a UNESCO world heritage site every once in a while.

Kyomizu-dera is known for it's giant temple on the side of a mountain.  It has a great view of Kyoto, as well as this little Pagoda sticking its head through the trees:

Little Pagoda

Ryoan-ji is a temple complex with beautiful gardens, and home to one of the most famous and beautiful rock gardens in Kyoto.  There are 15 rocks in the garden, but it is said that only 14 are visible from any angle.  Naoki and I, took a look around, and found an angle were we could see all 15.  Take that, ancient legend!

The temple of the Golden Pavilion has a. . . . Golden Pavilion.  It is very beautiful reflected on the lake.    The temple was once burned down by a monk over some argument, then had to be rebuilt.  Monks.

It was just our luck that the Gion Matsuri festival was held when we were in Kyoto.  This festival dates back to the year 869 when the emperor decided the town needed a purification ritual to get rid of the plague there.  It must have worked because they keep partying every year, and it has become one of the most popular festivals in Japan.  The night before the big parade, the local neighborhoods and villages show off their floats in the street with all kinds of lights, street food, drinking, and music.  This particular night of the 16th, is known as Yoiyama, which roughly translates to "Yo Mama."

Sondra modeling a float

The day after Yoiyama is when the big parade happens.  Sondra, Naoki, and I, bought kimonos at the used kimono shop known as "Harajuku Chicago," and wore them to the parade.  We were disappointed to see, even though there were a lot the day before, the local population did not wawear kimonos during the parade.

Naoki and I show off some skin.

The gates, foxes, and cats, of Fushimi Inari Shrine

We arrived in Kyoto in the middle of a rain storm.  That did not stop us from heading directly to the famous Fushimi Inari shrine.  The rain may have helped actually because we were basically alone in the temple of over 32,000 individual shrines.

 Inari is the God of rice and business success.  She is represented by the fox, and the fox was duly represented at Fushimi Inari.

Although the Fox was supposed to be the star of the show, it was clear to us that the cats were in control of the shrine.  Maybe it was because most of the people had gone once we arrived but we saw more cats than people, and they looked surprised and annoyed to see us.

These kittens were huddled together on a stack of prayer wood to keep each other dry and warm.

This guy was visibly annoyed that we walking through his temple

These three seemed to be the Yakuza leaders of the cat gangs.  Not only were they completely serene as we approached, but they had arranged themselves in a formation of power beneath the arch.  We quickly left them alone to avoid personal harm.

Mt. Fuji-san

For some reason we decided to climb this.

After about a 2 hour train ride from Tokyo, we arrived in the Mt. Fuji Five Lakes area.  After a little walking around and enjoying the view, we met a little Australian girl who said she had just climbed Mt. Fuji the night before to enjoy the sunrise.  We were planning on climbing Fuji during the next day and she inspired us to do the all night climb to see the sunrise.  After all, if that little girl could do it, it should be no problem for us, right?

On our way up, we stopped at one of the 10 stations for a break.

We took a bus to the 5th station and arrived around 9PM, after getting some supplies and using the first of many $2 toilets, we hit the trail.  We started in very good spirits, but after a couple hours of intense uphill climbing, and increasingly lower temperatures, everyone started feeling the pain.

Each station has a special brand for your walking stick $2 each

Mt. Fuji may be home to the worlds highest display of capitalism.  Up to the very top, you can purchase $2 toilets, $2 stamps, $6 water, $6 cup a noodles, $8 beers, and we were just throwing money at them.   It was like selling water in the desert.  These little mountain huts of industry are making a killing!

If you ever see this view at 3:30AM you know you are in a world of pain.

The saying goes:  "A wise man climbs Fuji once, only a fool climbs Fuji twice."  After 6 hours of climbing, we were stuck in a traffic jam with a very long way to the summit.  We felt like fools for climbing Fuji even once.  It was like being in a line at disney, a line that only went up, was 20 degrees F, and 12,000ft in elevation.  We were all pretty miserable, but knew there would be a payoff once we made it to the top.

The view when we reach the summit.

We reached the summit.  We are completely delirious, but find a vantage point.  Around 4:45AM the sun begins to peak through the clouds.  The sky is transformed into a blue, purple, and red painting of unbelievable beauty.  We gain a sense of clarity, that we had lost on the climb.

So happy to be alive.

Intrepid Explorer

We begin the 3 hour hike back down the mountain, but it is with much lighter feet.  That day we go into a hibernation lasting 14 hours and awake at 4AM the next day feeling relaxed and ready to go.  To Kyoto!