I had a quick look at my photos yesterday, and they are going to need a bit of tweaking (cropping, straightening etc) before they’re fit to post here, and I doubt I’ll have time to do that before the weekend. So I’ll leave the descriptions of the temples until I can illustrate them.
I got back to the hotel mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve pretty shattered after visiting several of the Angkor temples and walking miles. I was pleased to see that the hotel had a small spa attached to it, offering massages at what I considered to be a bargain price of $15 for an hour. I have regular back, neck and shoulder massages at home, usually fortnightly, to keep the stress-induced knots in my back under control, but I’ve been so busy at work lately that I’ve not even had time for one. So I decided to take the opportunity. There was a choice between a standard aromatherapy massage, and a “traditional Khmer” massage, and (perhaps foolhardily) I went for the traditional option.
I was asked to change into effectively a pair of cotton pyjamas, and was massaged through them, which felt a bit odd. The woman doing it was tiny, no more than seven stone, but she had thumbs of steel and was absolutely ruthless on any knots she came across. The massage also made use of “deep pressure treatment” which turned out to mean her practically doing a handstand on me whenever she came across a particularly stubborn knot. She also made full use of her forearms, elbows, knees and feet! I was massaged from my toes to my eyebrows, and can’t say that it was particularly relaxing or enjoyable. In fact I had to ask her to tone it down a bit when it got too painful. It wasn’t just me either, there was a man having a massage in an adjoining booth at the same time and I could hear him whimpering too! But I have to say that afterwards I felt a great deal better.
That evening the hotel had arranged a traditional Khmer Gala Dinner for Christmas Eve. That was news to me, as according to my itinerary I had only paid for bed and breakfast. But when I checked in they were adamant that the dinner was included in the room rate, and I’m not one to turn down a free meal! It started with an open bar, which several of the guests were taking full advantage of. Then we had deep fried spring rolls, some sort of mildly spicy chicken casserole with rice and completely unrecognisable vegetables, a rather delicious dish of steamed fish in lime juice, served in a banana leaf, and stir-fried vegetables with lots of garlic and ginger. Finally, there was banana cooked in coconut milk with what looked like tapioca – unexpectedly tasty.
During the meal, entertainment was laid on. It started with a children’s choir from the local church singing Christmas carols, in English – including Joy to the World and Silent Night. Since Cambodia is over 95% Buddhist, I was rather impressed that the hotel had been able to rustle up any Christians at all. That was then followed by dancers, who performed a set of three traditional dances, in rather beautiful costumes. So I got my folkloric dance evening after all – without even having to pay extra for it!
