As soon
as she arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport, Lee took a night bus to
Siem Reap province at 8 o’clock.
Siem
Reap is where people enjoy the beauty of Khmer ancient empire. Cambodia is a
kingdom. Khmer kings have built many priceless temples dating back as old as
1st century. There are thousands of temples scattering around the province and
throughout the country.
The
trip was not very well planned. It just occurred to her that she wanted to
spend some times alone, and Siem Reap slipped in her mind. Without giving any
further thought, she rang a bus company and checked for the schedule to the
province.
It was her
first time to take a night bus all by herself. At that time, night bus was not
very common. Not many Cambodian people would travel somewhere during nighttime
but foreign visitors to the kingdom. Most of them thought that it was not safe
to travel at night, which should be time for sleeping. People could not
concentrate at night, particularly when driving. Many cases of accidents had
happened at night. Many news articles had reported about traffic accident
almost every night.
While
on the bus, Lee remembered one of her best friends who had a car accident
during his trip to Sihanouk Ville, a coastal province. He hit a tree when he
tried to avoid a fully loaded truck coming from different direction.
Fortunately, he was not severely injured.
After
almost six hours on the road, Lee reached Siem Reap safe and sound. It was two
o'clock in the morning. The wind was chill. The moon was pale, surrounding by twinkling
stars.
Lee put
on a dark green sweater to keep herself warmer.
She
then got off the bus and waited about five minutes at the station before her
hotel pick-up arrived. Thanks to modern technologies that she could book a
hotel room in the last minute while she was on the bus from Phnom Penh. The
room was charged half price due to her late check-in.
Once she
checked in the room, she took a bath and rest for an hour before she went to
appreciate sunrise at Angkor Wat Temple.
The
temple was about seven kilometers from the town. She hired a car from the hotel
to take her there. The road to the temple cut through the jungle. With the car
window open, the sound of cicadas singing on treetops was heard. Everything was
pitch-black.
Lee
rested her chin on the window. The wind messed her hair. She closed her eyes, thinking
about something, but nothing in particular.
It was
still very dark when she got there. Hand in hand, we walked through a stone
bridge towards the temple, looking for a suitable spot awaiting the sun. Having
waited there for a while, more and more people had arrived. Soon they filled
the empty space in front of a pond inside the temple compound. They brought
along camera, so they could capture the best view of sunrise.
I took
nap while the sky was still dark.
Before
long, the yellow light slowly appeared at the far east of the sky. The sun was
rising. The scenery was breathtaking. Every visitor held their camera above
their heads trying to capture the best shot. The sunrise was fast, only within
a few minutes.
After
enjoying scenic view of sunrise at Angkor Wat temple, Lee got back to her
hotel, took bath and another few-hour sleep before she went for cycling around
town.
She
decided not to call her friends who were working in the province. She wanted to
spend the time alone and enjoy the ancient city.
I would
just give them a ring in the evening for a get together, Lee
decided.
At ten
o’clock, Lee got up, preparing to leave her room. While she was locking the
door, somebody’s hand was tapping her shoulder.
Who could
it be? I haven’t informed any friends of mine about my visiting the province. Lee
asked herself. Lee paused and turned her head to look at the person, her hand
still on the lock.
Lee was
shocked, seeing the person behind her. Her breath was short. Her hands were
shaking. Her eyes fixed to the person. Her nose almost touched the person’s
chin as she tried to look up.
A smile
formed on the lips of the person’s.
The
world seemed to stop moving. Everything seemed to float. Lee was going to fall down
on the floor in the corridor. Fortunately, the person was quick, grabbing Lee’s
waist and helping her from falling.
For a
very long minute, both of them stayed like as if posting for photo-shoot.
“Are
you okay?” the person asked.
Lee
woke up and thanked the person for helping her.
“I’m…,”
Lee tried to answer, but she seemed to lose the power to talk. The next words did
not come out. Her body was still shaking.
“Are
you okay?” the person repeated the question.
“I’m
fine. Thank you.” She hurried to respond. “Yong!”
“What?”
“No,
nothing,” Lee said. “I did not anticipate you are right here.”
“I did
not anticipate that I am here, either.”
“Then,
why are you here?”
“I
should ask you the same question? Why are you here?”
“I don’t
know why I am here. It just occurs to me that I want to visit the place. How
about you?”
“It’s a
long story,” Yong paused, trying to form the right words. “It just occurs to me
that I want to visit the place, too,”
“I…,”
Lee murmured, and stopped.
“I saw
you at the temple this early morning.”
“Why
didn’t you call out to me?”
“I was
not very sure if she were you. So I did not call out.”
“But
you followed me here?”
“Yes.
But it happened that we stay in the same hotel.”
“Really?”
“More
interestingly, my room is just opposite your room?”
“Oh!”
Lee ran out of words to respond.
Everything
was too coincidental, as if god had planned!
“By the
way, where are you heading?”
“I’m
planning to have breakfast and to a bicycle shop?”
“A
bicycle shop?”
“Yes, a
bicycle shop for going-around.”
“Can I
join you?”
“Are
you sure?”
“Of
course, I am.” Why am not sure about
that? Yong did not spill these words out but to himself.
“Okay,
let’s go then. But, can I lock my door first?” Lee returned to her door as she just
remembered that she had not yet locked her door.
“Sure,”
Yong followed her.
They grabbed
a quick bite in the hotel lobby lounge and went to a bicycle shop to rent a bicycle
each. Having decided on which bike to take, they rode down to a convenient
store to get some water and snacks before setting off for a supposed-to-be-a-very-long
ride.
First, they
rode to Angkor Wat temple, for the second time. This time they could see the
view along the street clearer. They were sandwiched by big trees. They were
very big that two or three people together could not hold it. They rode at easy
but steady speed so that they would not consume all of our energy at one
temple. There were many more to visit, many more to explore. They inhaled a
lungful of fresh air, and exhaled it. They let our worries go to the passing
wind. They laughed and smiled. They looked very happy.
The
cycling was fun, and they enjoyed it. They spent a few hours at Angkor Wat
before they continued to Angkor Thom.
At
Angkor Thom, they parked their bike and trekked along the temple gate into the
jungle. They talked about this and that. When they were tired, they stopped to
relax and drink water. They kept talking and moving forward. After almost six
kilometer of quite a long walk, they went back to their bike, given that it was
lunchtime. They needed to refuel their energy.
They
had sour soup and beef Lok Lakk, a kind of stir-fried beef with egg and
potatoes. It served with pepper, salt, and limejuice. The food was delicious or
perhaps they were hungry. After that, they went to Srah Srong, and turned back
to Angkor Wat temple to rest.
In
front of Angkor Wat temple, they took their chocolate sweet and shared it with
monkey who was playing near us. They gave it to a female monkey. She looked as
if she was pregnant. Her belly grew.
First, the
female monkey tasted their sweet. After a few bites, she asked for more. They
gave her a few more. Then came another male monkey. He chased away the female
one and took their snack. He was very mean. He screamed at us when they
attempted to get theirs back. He was very hungry. He kept unpacking their
snack. He finished half of their sweet. Then he walked away and left the
leftover on the ground. They took the leftover and rode back to their hotel as
evening was approaching.
They
needed some rest, their legs groaned.
At
night, they enjoyed a western-style dinner at the hotel lounge bar and listened
to live music performed by a Filipino band. The evening was pleasant, awaiting
tomorrow to come…
Does god really exist? Somebody said "God does exist, so does evil. Evil is god's plan. God creates evil so that people pray to god!"
(to be continued...)
