January 26, 2019, 22:02
I’m in Seam Reap now, and I got in a bit of trouble at Angkor. I climbed the wrong thing and was taken to a covered area to be talked to by a security guard and a man wearing a “Police” hat. They were nice and talked about heritage, while also reprimanding me for my actions. “I’m sorry, I did not know,” I repeated.
There are four salamanders/geckos on the walls in my hostel. I’m sitting at a table in the bar area, and there’s some house music playing, but I have my headphones in, and I’m listening/watching LTAT, the Saturday episode of Rhett & Link.
12:12
This is nowhere I ever thought I’d be
Beside a tree, sitting on the banks
Of Trapeang Srah Sang
A little lake several kilometers
Northeast of Angkor Wat.
I took off my shoes and socks
Waded in, snapped a photo.
Prayed a poem, wrote it down
After fingering the dirt and mud
Between my toes.
14:18
Sitting cross-legged on Ta Keo
A temple-mountain-pyramid
Possibly the first to be built
Entirely of sandstone by ancient Khmers.
I’ve seen what I came here to see—
but maybe there’s
more to come.
My Giant mountain bike has carried me far—
through a dark jungle
on roads of pavement & sand.
I will read, now, before heading “home.”
17:44
“Am I annoying you?”
“Yes, honey, you are.”
“Humph.”
A bad joke, I know.
It just sort of slipped out
While waiting in line for Phnom Bakheng.
(The wife asked a question to her husband
I answered for him, a stranger.)
This ride better have a loop-de-loop
It was like waiting for something at Disneyland
Or the DMV (that symbol of waiting).
But this sunset is worth it
(I’ve seen better—thank you, clear Oregon skies.)
