Cambodian adventures – Part 3
One of the difficulties in exploring the Angkor Wat and allied temples is that they are spread out over a large area. So one of the first things I did when I got to Siem Reap was to ask around for any sort of organized tour of a couple of days that I could join in touring the temples. Unfortunately I could not find any.
I was therefore left with no option but to ask the right-hand-man from Part 1 to find me a tour-guide and a tuk-tuk for couple of days. Thus for the next couple of days, my tour Guide was Thoeun Moeun – his first name is pronounced like “thun” in Mithun. Don’t ask me what the extra vowels are for. You are right to wonder how on earth do I remember that name, it is by no means and accident: I’ll come to that shortly. My tuk-tuk driver for the next couple of days was Kea.
King Jayavarman the IV smiling magnanimously at us as we pass through the gate
The very beginning of my guided tour involved my tour guide speaking of the magnanimity that the king Jayavarman the IV displayed in one of his idols. This was the first time, since I left Bangalore, had I heard any English word with more than a couple of syllables. I was impressed. I didn’t need to do half-English half-sign language that I did so far to get across, I could speak English with this man of stupendous vocabulary!
So I began to speak normal English. To my surprise, however, I was having trouble getting across! Must be my Indian accent, I thought. Now, I’ve seen enough Hollywood movies to be able to speak a somewhat “neutral American accent” which must be more intelligible to foreigners. To check this theory, with renewed vigor, I began speaking with my fake American accent awhile. Alas, to no avail. I fell back on the english-pidgin-sign language for the rest of the day. Although throughout the day he continued to impress me with his vocabulary – With a twist however, the Cambodians have a habit of eating thier final syllable. So if they say “Elephan Terra” they really mean “Elephant Terrace”.
The Elephan Terra!
This mystery was to be solved by a depiction on one of the temple’s wall that he was trying to explain. He said that it involved Krishna and Rama dueling. I, through my awesome powers of deduction, decided that it ain’t right and the depiction should really be of Balarama and Krishna. The next day, Thoeun validated my account. He handed me a mighty tome and Lo and behold, I was right – it was Krishna and Balarama. Guess how the book began? “This idol depicts the magnanimity of the King Jayavarman”. Ah.. So our guide was a man of awesome memory power rather than awesome vocabulary!
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