When I went to bed the night before, and when I woke up in the morning on my fourth day in Siem Reap (July 5th), I was feeling quite tired once again. I decided I would do my best to apply the lessons I had been learning on this trip, and to TAKE IT EASY, and not MAKE myself sight-see. All I really felt like was maybe a massage, and then perhaps some light bike riding around, and some light souveneir shopping around town or something. But, one step at a time- I ordered breakfast to my room, did a little bit of stretching while waiting, and then walked down the alley to this great little massage place I had been going to.
After my massage, I was thinking of sticking with my original plan of renting a bicycle and wandering slowly and aimlessly around town, but then I got an email from my mother. She has been reading the same books as I have while on this trip, at my suggestion, all memoirs/autobiographies about Khmer Rouge stuff, as well as Vietnamese biographies as well. This particular book at this moment in time was 'Lucky Child', by Loung Ung, the sequel to 'First They Killed My Father', one we both read before this. Somewhere in this second book, Bantey Srei was mentioned- a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, with tons of carving in pinkish-stone of women and lotus flowers, and is apparently, quite unusual for the time that it was built and carved.
My mom wrote to me saying 'Have you gotten to the part in the book where they go to Bantey Srei? You MUST go!' And, for some reason, it hit me at the perfectly right time. I knew it was about 45 minutes away by tuk-tuk, and that I could just go to this one temple, and have an easy afternoon of it but see one more sight. And it is a temple that honors women, and I felt like since the recommendation came from the first woman in my life, I should connect all of the dots by visiting this temple, and honor women everywhere!
So, I called Mr. Mab, and said 'Let's go to Bantey Srei!' and began the bargaining duel as always. He named a high price but said he would take me to many more places, but I just wanted to go to this one. We found a happy medium, and off we went. It was relaxing to just sit back in the tuk-tuk for 45 minutes, watching the sights go by, with less pressure to see see see every temple. This was much more my speed, for how I have been feeling lately.
We got to Bantey Srei, and I went exploring it for a good half an hour or so. It was quite beautiful, and there are a number of photos already posted on facebook right now. It was indeed feminine and intricate and special, and also quite small, so not much climbing, only admiring. :) I walked around to the back of the temple, and found yet another war-victim amputee band, and they were half-playing. I asked them to play, and they offered me their cd. I asked them to play first, and, it was awesome! So I bought two cds, knowing I will love to have it myself, and that it will also make a great gift for some friends.
The guys kept playing, and smiling at me, and I would applaud after each short theme, and they would all applaud with me- it was quite cute, actually. :) I was really loving their music. Then, as I was filming them and snapping photos, one guy got up from his instrument and offered to take a photo of me with the band. I thought I would just stand next to them and smile, but no- they were telling me to PLAY his instrument! At first I tried to refuse, as I felt kind of like it was a tourist set-up where I would 'pretend' to play and get this 'great photo' out of it, but they insisted, and then I remembered that I am a musician, and just played a few notes, and listened to the tuning, and was able to play some little ditty of a melody over their playing- it was so fun, and I felt so happy! I was proud of myself, and I think they were all surprised and impressed as well!
I took a little nature walk around a nearby lake and farm fields, and returned to Mr Mab at the tuk-tuk. I asked him if we could stop at the Butterfly Garden/Pavilion that was halfway home, and he said sure thing. So we went. Before we got moving, though, I decided an attempt to make real a fantasy I had been having while exploring Bantey Srei- laying in the hammock in the tuk-tuk WHILE driving to the Butterfly garden. Mr. Mab was amused by my request, but indulged me and set it up. We both laughed at my idea, and I was happy as a clam.
For the first 20 minutes of the ride, I was swinging lazily, and decided that I had finally figured out how to chill out more than any being on the planet, and was so incredibly proud of myself for being probably the only tourist with this idea, and the nerve to actually make it happen. Cambodians along the road smiled at me, and I smiled back. Then the fantasy came to an end- we got pulled over by none other than the. . . TOURIST POLICE!!! Oh my goodness! I didn't know that there really WAS such a thing as Tourist Police! We pulled over into what just happened to be the Butterfly Pavilion parking lot, as the Tourist Police officer used a stern tone with Mr. Mab, and I made my way out of the hammock as quickly as I could, almost certain that this was the reason for our being pulled over. Mr. Mab used a pleading tone, gesturing to me, and then the officer turned to me and said in stilted English "I am sorry, Madame, but you can not lay in the hammock while he is driving." And I said "Okay, no problem! I'm sorry!" and off he went, and that was it. When the officer left, Mr. Mab and I exchanged a conspirational glance and smiled, like two kids that just got in trouble with their parents. He told me 'I told him that you were feeling very tired, not feeling well, and that was why you were laying down.' And, it all worked out. (But a warning to all- Beware of the Tourist Police!! :) ) So, we laughed a bit and shook our heads, and I headed into the Butterfly Garden.
I spent a good 30-45 minutes there. It was beautiful! A large fenced in garden with tons of butterflies flitting around, and a special room full of cocoons and eggs at different stages, and employees helping them along in their growth, and cultivating hundreds and hundreds of future butterflies. It was a really nice stop, and I enjoyed talking to my young guide not just about the butterflies, but about his life, as well. That is what I discovered about Cambodia, and all of SE Asia so far, as well- no matter what the purpose of your journey is along the way, the best part is just connecting with the people along the way, whether they are other travelers, the tuk-tuk driver, the guide, or people working at the guesthouse. Anyone! THAT has been the favorite part of my experience.
So, that night, I had dinner in my room again, did a litte bit of souvenir hunting in the town, and tried to get to bed decently early, because not only was I leaving on a boat early the next morning to Battambang, my final stop in Cambodia, but I had decided to ALSO give in an schedule a 4:30am wakeup time to try and take a hot air balloon over Angkor Wat for sunrise! I figured I'd be getting up obscenely early for the boat ride anyway, so, what's another hour/hour and a half for an unforgettable hot air balloon ride over Angkor Wat??
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