So this morning I came down to meet Mr. Driver and Sothik outside the hostel. They were gathered around with a group of other Tuk tuk drivers but came over once they saw I was outside. Mr. Driver spotted me first actually, lol. The other drivers all waved and said good morning, and after some small talk we got into our Tuk tuk and headed out.
The trip was maybe an hour and a half by tuk tuk, which Sothik joked about but said it was fine. I actually rather enjoyed the drive. We went through the country side and I got a chance to see all sorts of things. Schools, orphanages, shops, whole communities working in rice fields. Some places were extremely picturesque, with the houses up on stilts, rice fields out into the distance where a mountain rises from the background. Lots of oxen as well.
Sothik and I talked about different stuff. His dream is to own a really nice camera, and he'd like to be able to travel, even if its just locally, to bike around with friends and meet new people. He told me about this one trip where he and two friends put a bike in the back of a truck, rode along with them for a while until they found a pretty place, then got out and biked for the day. That night they found a monastery, stayed with the monks for the night, and continued in on the morning. It sounded like a pretty nice trip.
After a bit, we stopped at this local seller where Sothik showed me the process of collecting juice from a flower, boiling it, and then finally the final product, which we toasted and drank.
It was sweet with an interesting after taste.
I looked around the shop and found beautiful tea pots all carved from coconut trees, so the color changes were incredibly interesting to the eye, not to mention the craftsmanship. I didn't buy one however, as no one I know is in need of a tea pot. I did like them though. A lot.
;Sothik took me over to show me some natural sugar that the lady had made. It was cut into smaller sized pieces and extremely sweet to the taste, but very good.
It was really interesting to hear the process of how they go about making these things, with all natural ingredients that they just find in their own back yard and then mix together, and I watched as Sothik purchased a nice amount of it for his mother.
We wandered over to a palm tree that had a ladder strapped onto it, which I then proceeded to climb lol. Even though it was made from bamboo and tethered to the tree by a vine, it felt a lot more secure and sturdy than any of the ladders I've been on at home. Plus, it was fun.
We continued on in our tuk tuk through more villages, fields, and back roads until we came to our hiking spot, which would lead us up to Kbal Spean. Kbal Spean is an Angkorian era archaeological site, also known as "The River of a Thousand Lingas," lingas being very popular in Angkorian carvings/statues.
The hike was exciting. It was still early in the morning so the sun wasn't over bearing yet, and there was lots of shade along the way. The climb was uneven and spotted with tree roots, and in some spots basically bowled over with rocks that you then had to climb hand and foot over.
Sothik told me that in the rainy season its often closed, because there's simply no getting up the mountain to the falls when its pouring. I imagine if its raining in that terrain you'd basically be hiking in a waterfall anyway. The trees were amazing, and Sothik would point out one occasionally telling me that uses they had found for it.
Some I just ended up hanging from.
We passed a few people, some groups, some workers.
One thing of note, there are a group of workers whose job is to sweep leaves from the forest. They are using hand made brooms that consist of a semi-thick branch for the body of the broom, and lots of tiny twigs as the base. It seems like a pretty thankless job if you ask me.
Sothik taught me the casual form of hello and was all, "quick, su saw dey, su saw dey--" (phonetically Sue Saw Day)
me, " meehhhh"
him, "Come on, 1, 2, 3, --" xD
So then we stayed and chatted with them for a little bit. He asked them how it was going and one of the ladies was talking to him openly, saying they work hard but its hard to make any money.
As we walked along, I asked him if he did well with doing the English speaking tours, and he confessed not really. During the busy season they work really hard, but when its off season they have to work hard just to find jobs. The price of living goes up and up but raises are pretty much nonexistent. He knows people who have been teaching for 20, 40 years, and never had a single raise in income, despite costs going up.
When visiting Kbal Spean, most people start with the top of the falls and then work their way down to the big drop. Naturally, we did the exact opposite. After scrambling over some huge rocks and down a side path, we arrived at the falls, which you could hear before even seeing. They were "small"in comparison to normal, but they were still very beautiful. The falls are down in this gorge, the base being a giant rock bed that has been smoothed over by years of erosion. Vines and moss hang down from the ledges where enormous rocks and tree roots form the barrier.
I told myself I wasn't going to get wet since I hadn't brought another pair of clothes, but that turned out to be a total lie as I wandered around underneath them following the rainbow created by the falls.
The water felt cool, cold and refreshing, and when I got out I felt very at ease and rejuvenated.
Sothik told me that people consider the falls sacred, and believe that standing under it can rid the body of illnesses and be healing. I'd have to say I could believe that. Sothik bottled some of the water for his mom, and then we crouched down and ran our hands through the stream for a while before continuing on.
Just above the falls we came to our first set of carvings, bas reliefs that have been carved into one of the giant stones overhanging the falls. Part of the carvings had been knocked out and stolen, as recently as 2005 according to Sothik.
We continued along until coming to the part of the river where thousands of small bumps had been carved into the river bed under the water. Each raised bump was actually a linga, hence the term "valley of a thousand lingas"and such. Along with the lingas, several Hindu gods are depicted in the stones, as well as inscriptions that become exposed when the water level decreases.
Several of the carvings have to do with the Hindu belief of creation. Another feature found in the carvings is one consistent with the yoni, or "the female principal." The carvings were beautiful, and it was incredible to see basically 90% of them were all done under the water.
As we followed the river down, we crossed a natural bridge filled with hollows formed by the water during the rainy season.
We ended up hanging out here for a while while I snapped photos and looked at the surrounding area, and he chatted with another guide.
I had a butterfly land on my hand, which really surprised me considering I was waving it around like a special...special child. Another one joined him and for a while I had two beautiful rings of butterflies.
As we followed the river down, Sothik pointed out more carvings along the river side, until finally we came to the spot to cross, which was basically a path of rocks half submerged by the water. Sothik tested them first, stopping half way to ask if I thought I could do it. I was already shoving my phone down into my bag to start my way across. The rocks weren't placed, so it was a lot of stepping and leaning with the natural sway of the stone, but Sothik helped me across and I didn't take a dip or anything so it was fun. Actually it would have been fun even if I had ended up in the stream. Extra blessed.
On the way back down, we had a good time joking about some of the other people we had seen. We had passed several women who looked
flawless in their gowns, fancy shoes, and in one case, all white clothing. Flawless being of course if they were in a city or out for some night life. Perfect outfits for hiking, however? The high heels especially were a nice touch. One lady was funny though. She wasn't dressed inappropriately for the adventure, but was hiking up by herself while we were hiking down.
"Äh," Sothik greeted her, "lonely hiker?" She laughed and said yes, yes indeed she was, but he assured her that it was no problem, she would meet someone at the top. She passed me at this point, covered in sweat like all of us, and says in this dry tone, "hope hes worth it!"
The temple itself is incredibly beautiful, despite its 'smaller size' when compared to other sites in the region. The carvings are exquisite, and very well preserved. The modern name of Banteay Srei means more or less, "city of women"or "citadel of beauty,"and has been attributed to these carvings. Originally people wondered if the temple had actually been built by women, but from what I understand that was discredited through findings around the site. The site is surrounded by a giant moat, as well as a larger outer wall on which we passed several children playing. The sun was high over head at this point and very hot, but we wandered around the complex taking photos from different angles and vantage points. 
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