After leaving our hostel we had a short drive to our first stop, Wat Phu. Wat Phu is a UNESCO world heritage sight and was built in the 6th Century as a tribute to the Hindu god Shiva. The complex is divided into lower and upper parts. The lower part consists of two ruined palace buildings at the edge of a large square pond used for ritual ablutions.
The upper section is the temple sanctuary itself, which once enclosed a large Shiva phallus. Some time later the sanctuary as converted into a Buddhist temple, but original Hindu sculpture remains in the lintels.
There is also an elephant and crocodile
stone. I missed the information on the crocodile stone but Rory
filled me in and apparently it was used for human sacrifices once a
year!
Wat Phu was pretty impressive and
apparently it's possible that it was a blueprint for Angkor Wat And
yes, I did copy all that smart stuff from our Lonely Planet book.
When we were all templed out we made our way to Don Det, taking a
boat across the river to shorten the journey by a few hours. As we
made our way down to the river bank I was joking with Rory that one
of the little wooden boats would take us and the bus across. Turns
out I was right! Health and safety would have a heart attack in this
country!
When we arrived in Don Det we checked
into our guest house, another new choice by Stray and I can safetly
say it was a poor choice! The light in our bathroom and bedroom went
out and through we told the owners, they didn't have a clue how to
fix it. An old man was just changing the same light bulb over and
over again while a child flicked the light switch on and off!
Eventually they solved the problem by giving us a torch... We're not
in Bangor anymore, that's for sure!
In fact, the only good thing about this guest house was the puppies. Southeast Asia is FULL of puppies and I really do mean full. Everywhere we have been, I have seen some very cute puppies but the ones in the guest house looked reasonably well cared for and they didn't seem to be crawling with fleas. At least I hope they weren't because I was literally covered in them, partly because I love puppies but partly because they were being terrorised by a child. The kid must have been about four and he lived at the guest house so they were technically his puppies but he was kicking them, hitting them, trying to push them off the balcony, tying string around their necks until they starting yelping and at one point he was taking a pair of scissors to them! Luckily someone called his mum over and she stopped him from hacking off their tail but he was such a little brat that I had to give them five minutes of peace! It's strange for me to see because I grew up in a family that treats all animals extremely well – old Rory won't even let Esther have a fly swatter, but that's just not how it is here. Dogs are food not pets. That's why there are so many puppies and so few older dogs; when the puppies grow up, they're eaten. Safe to say Mr Kelso will not be coming here for a holiday!
In fact, the only good thing about this guest house was the puppies. Southeast Asia is FULL of puppies and I really do mean full. Everywhere we have been, I have seen some very cute puppies but the ones in the guest house looked reasonably well cared for and they didn't seem to be crawling with fleas. At least I hope they weren't because I was literally covered in them, partly because I love puppies but partly because they were being terrorised by a child. The kid must have been about four and he lived at the guest house so they were technically his puppies but he was kicking them, hitting them, trying to push them off the balcony, tying string around their necks until they starting yelping and at one point he was taking a pair of scissors to them! Luckily someone called his mum over and she stopped him from hacking off their tail but he was such a little brat that I had to give them five minutes of peace! It's strange for me to see because I grew up in a family that treats all animals extremely well – old Rory won't even let Esther have a fly swatter, but that's just not how it is here. Dogs are food not pets. That's why there are so many puppies and so few older dogs; when the puppies grow up, they're eaten. Safe to say Mr Kelso will not be coming here for a holiday!
We ditched the room and went searching
for light and food, both of which we found at an Indian restaurant
which was pretty good and pretty cheap. To finish the night off we
went to a reggae bar which was really cool and definitely full of
drugs. In fact, I ordered a chocolate shake and had to specify that I
didn't want it to be a happy shake full of cannabis, just a regular
chocolate shake full of chocolate. I suppose I got a happy medium, a
chocolate shake that had some grated cheese at the bottom. I suppose
mistakes are bound to happen when you have a blender and a high
barman. Don Det is a pretty surreal place, it has a lot of potential
but it seems to attract idiots who want to drink, get high and talk
about how cool they are, all while wearing weird clothes. I don't
enjoy any of these things but I still had a really nice last night
with the Stray boys and girls, all of which was made funnier by Rory
and Matt stealing and finishing some German's bottle of whiskey but
don't worry, at £1 per bottle they happily reimbursed him!
No comments:
Post a Comment