It’s our last day, and while Pokin still isn’t walking, she’s starting to get some serious FOMO from all the awesome temples Nicholas and I have been checking out. While I get that, she then decided to take MY spot being carried on Nicholas’ back. That means I have to catch a ride on HER back, which as you can imagine, I don’t trust, given her inability to walk right now.
Oh well, looks like I don’t have a choice.
We went back to one of the temples Nicholas thought she needed to see, Ta Prohm. This is the temple with the famous gnarly roots growing out from the temple. Apparently this temple was built in the Bayon style of architecture from the last 12th to 13th century., and is actually the temple Tomb Raider was actually filmed in.
As we are running around with Pokin on Nicholas’ back and me on hers, many a comment about Nicholas being a good donkey were shouted.
Well, after a few days of temple diving, I can say it’s severely lacking in ‘bad guys’, ‘flaming arrows’ and ‘cave ins’. Still pretty cool.
With Pokin still out of commission, my bud and I decided to go on a real adventure. We told our Tuk Tuk driver we wanted to visit Kompong Phluk, a ‘floating village’ on the largest lake near Siem Reap. It’s a town that consists of stilt houses that are completely under water for part of the year, and boats that float on the lake and avoid many laws.
Our Tuk Tuk driver failed to mention that it was over an hour away, and that was with him putting the petal to the metal on a highway where we would be passed by trucks and cars at full speed. I have to admit, it was a bit nerve wracking. I guess I asked for an adventure!
We drove past the villages, and ended up hopping on a boat to check everything out.
It was a little scary to know that entire generations were living entirely on little boats like these, completely surviving off of fishing for food in the lake. One of the boats is a school, another is a doctor, this is how life is for many people.
On our way back the Tuk Tuk started kicking up a lot of dust, so Nicholas put on a mask. He didn’t bring one for me, so I promptly made him give me his.
The next morning Pokin decided we needed to get sunrise photos of Angkor Wat. Terrible idea, thought I. Who wants to wake up that early and fight crowds of tourists just for a nice photo? Pokin does. And that means we have to as well. Ulgh.
Out into the darkness we step, our Tuk Tuk driver taking us all the way to the temple entrance. Immediately upon exiting the Tuk Tuk, we hear the sounds of tumbling accompanied by Pokin yelling “ow!”. Serves her right, I think to myself as Nicholas works to get her up. Turns out she’s twisted her ankle something fierce. I may not have wanted to get up this early, but I hope this doesn’t put a damper on my temple adventuring.
Pokin hobbled into the crowds to setup her camera and get some photos. This was what spraining her ankle was for.
The thing they didn’t tell me was that 1/4th the population of Earth was also going to be trying to get sunrise photos. I may be a popular bear, but I’m not a fan of crowds this big. Just look at how ridiculous we all look with all the other tourists.
After the morning photos, Pokin realized her ankle might be in much worse shape than she thought as it started swelling pretty bad. Nicholas took her back to the hotel to rest it off and then the two of us buds headed out to explore more temples on our own.
These places are pretty cool. It does feel right out of a video game.
The thing about Angkor Wat is that it’s just one temple out of many as part of a complex. This is actually one of the largest religious temple sites in the world, and many famous photos are not just of Angkor wat. The namesake of the area is the biggest temple complex, representing classic Khmer architecture. Lots to explore and see!
Next stop for us was over to Cambodia. The idea was that if we were going to test out recording 3d images with our bot, we may as well test it out somewhere interesting. Like ruined temples. I liked playing Tomb Raider, so the prospect of checking out temples resonated well with me.
Nothing says ruined temples like the temples around Siem Reap with its overgrown tree roots, so off we went.
We spent the day exploring temples and lakes, and one of my favorite things was having a Tuk Tuk driver take us everywhere. These feel like they shouldn’t be legal. Here’s a video of me enjoying a ride down the road at full Tuk speed.
At least I get to wait in style at the LAX Cathay Pacific lounge. We got ourselves cocktails. I checked out the food spread. I got bored. I took a nap. Pokin tried to convince me to use the airport showers. I ignored her.
Well today is a sunday. Normally that would mean Super Sumi Sunday.
Instead, it was a day devoid of gaming.
Instead we packed up the car and drove to the middle of the dessert in the middle of nowhere just to check out some flowers.
I can see flowers in my front yard. I fail to see the appeal.
“Sumi, it’s the superbloom,” Nick tried to explain.
“Trying to add SUPER onto something doesn’t make it super great,” I countered.
Superbloom is a phenomenon that happens in Death Valley roughly whenever we have El Nino. Then all the wildflower seeds that have been sitting dormant in the valley get doused with enough water to burst out in flowers. It happens about every decade or so.
So we had an El Nino this winter and somehow “we” decided the resulting bloom was important enough to see.
I don’t know who “we” were. I’m sure my bud would have voted the same way I would have.
We made to to CES again this year and I have to say I’m disappointed. 90% of everything here is the same as last year! Where is the innovation? I guess this is a good reminder that even technology moves slow in the physical world.
There was one exhibit that I did approve of. All this talk about drones, this company EHANG is making a crazy full person drone. Now that’s something I could get behind. From the looks of it, my bud and I could just fit inside and go for a ride.
Well, that and the full scale BB8 robot. Nicholas, make me one of these!
