Nature 1......Man 0

For our second day touring temple ruins, we traveled an hour and a half south east to the temple of Beng Mealea.  As we said earlier, Cambodia is rich with temples and other religious sites.  Few are in great condition and some, like Beng Mealea are unrestored showing the power of nature.  

We spent most of the morning climbing over sandstone boulders literally tossed aside by aggressive plants and trees. 

Note the holes drilled in most of the sandstone blocks.  I asked our guide is this was some method of joining the stones together.  Actually, those were to enable moving the blocks around.  Wooden dowels were fitted to the blocks then soaked in water allowing the wood to expand and fit tightly in the holes.  This then gave the equipment of the time something to attach to to move the stones.

As with much of what we saw yesterday, This temple was built in the 12th century...originally Buddhist but later converted to Hindu.  As with much of western history, the Cambodian rulers often chose a national theology based on political support. With the change of rulers, the national religion often changed just as abruptly. 

Traveling through the countryside for us has always been very informative.  As we are passing many homes...most built on stilts to discourage crime, we saw shacks right next door to beautiful modern homes.  Why this was interesting was the complete lack of infrastructure that you would expect where expensive homes are built.  For example, no public utility exists. Even expensive homes are run on batteries.  Each day, Tuk Tuks ( small motorbikes pulling rather large trailers) come by pick up the batteries, get them to a charging station and return them later in the day.  

As a side note, minefields left over from the Vietnam war are still a concern here. According to our guide over 10,000 sq. kilometers of minefields remain on the border of Thailand and Cambodia. As they are cleared you might see a sign like this.  It's a little hard to see but informs you that this section of land has been cleared.

We also had some interesting roadside food on the way back to Siem Reap which was a mixture of rice and black beans smoked in a section of bamboo....this is like roadside taco we might pick up on any freeway.  Anyway, quite good.  I could see Pat thinking that she now had a use for all of our surplus bamboo at home and my charcoal grille......

Next, we are on to the Foreign Correspondence Club for dinner.  Tomorrow to Angkor Wat and elephant rides.

See you later!