Lost in Angkorian Times

Hello my friends, out there in the world of Blogdom. I have been gone a while. Why have I been gone? I’ve been lost in the Angkorian period!

About four days ago I went with my family and a friend's family on a trip up to Siem Reap. We took a lovely air-conditioned bus (complete with its own built in bathroom). I spent the bus-trip taking pictures out the window, listening to music, and day dreaming. The total bus trip took six hours.
Once we reached Siem Reap we went to our hotel. There I was delighted to find that my room (which I shared with Kristine and Hannah) was all in threes. There were three beds, three towels, three soaps, and it was great. Sadly, we did not get three TVs, or three fridges, but we made do. The first day we didn’t do much. We went swimming (yes, I was convinced to get into that nasty ice-cold pool. Yuck.), had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and had ice cream at the Blue Pumpkin. The next day we were going to visit the temples.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, ate breakfast, grabbed our cameras, and headed for Angkor Wat. In the morning we planned to visit Angkor Thom, inside of which we intended to visit Bayon, The Terrace of the Elephants, and Ta Prohm. As we drove inside of Angkor we caught our first glimpse of the moat surrounding Angkor Wat. It was humongous! The moat was as big as a lake—much larger than your average moat. We drove by it and managed to see the gates of Angkor Wat on the other side of the moat. It was ten times larger than I had been expecting. I had heard that it was large, of course, but I had not expected this! We drove on until we were in front of Bayon. We did not go into Bayon immediately, but instead walked on the other side of the moat that surrounded it and went to look at some small temple-outposts. One of them was incredibly large for a “small” temple. There was a steep staircase going up the side of the temple… Let me describe it for you:

Imagine a step about the width of your foot (width, not length), add on a few more inches and you have the first step. Now imagine the next step a bit over a foot (not your foot, the measurement) above the previous one. Now you have the steps on the staircase. Now imagine this staircase not sloping forward like most staircases, but going almost straight up. And there you are. Angkorian staircases.And I climbed it. Yes, I did. I felt like Gollum creeping up the side of a cliff. It was amazing. Not to mention scary. Oh, and did I mention that the rock the staircases were made out of had partially crumbled away? It really was amazing.

At the top of the temple there was a small room. We walked around to the side where we found an open door. Inside was a Buddha statue, lying on its side. There was writing carved into the walls. We looked around a bit before beginning to make our descent down the staircase.

We then headed into Bayon Temple. As we crossed the bridge I looked at the stone statues that lined the bridge leading into Bayon. The gods and the demons, carved in stone, battling over the Näga snake. On our left were the gods. Most of them were in pretty good condition. They each clutched the Näga, you could see their hands and their feet. They had serene smiles carved into their faces. On the right were the demons—also clutching the Näga. They did not smile, however, but frowned. It was amazing, and it also really got me thinking.

After the bridge, we went inside Bayon. The faces on the towers were incredibly detailed. The way that they seemed to gaze down on the people below was unnerving. How could anyone in the twelfth and thirteenth century build such a thing?

We explored the temple for a bit, looking at the bas-reliefs (which were, also, incredibly detailed), examining the faces, and climbing up nice normal stairs (ok, so normal doesn’t quite describe them. But more normal than the others—they had been recently added to the temple). Kris, Han, and I eventually got separated from the adults. Good for us, bad for them. We explored on our own for a bit and eventually found a gorgeous, empty, chamber. There were no tourists. You can imagine how shocked we were. We sat there for a while, talking and taking pictures. Then, finally, Dad came and found us. We left Bayon and headed on to the Terrace of the Elephants.

The Terrace was beautiful, long and thin and one of the walls was, of course, covered in bas-reliefs of…elephants! We spent a bit of time there, taking pictures, and I succeeded in breaking the sole off my shoe. Thankfully, there was a shop nearby selling souvenirs and they just happened to have superglue. I was very happy. We then headed on to Ta Prohm.

The first thing I noticed about Ta Prohm was that it was not nearly as well-kept as Bayon. The temple was completely fallen into disrepair, and trees grew all over the walls and inside the buildings. It was also much smaller than Bayon. The trees were absolutely beautiful, and I have made the astounding discovery that they are, indeed, the descendants of the Mallorn of Lorien (ha!). Kris, Han, and I succeeded in getting lost there too, so Dad ended up calling us and telling us to come back (L). We took a few family photos in front of a tree that was completely growing over the wall, and then we left Angkor for lunch.

After lunch, a swim (yes! I went swimming, what is happening to me?), and a nap, we headed back to Angkor. This time we were going to Angkor Wat itself.

There is a good reason that Angkor Wat is called the city-temple. It is huge. Definitely large enough for a city. We crossed the moat and then walked down a long, stone, pathway. We passed two stone libraries—bringing to mind the fact that the people in the Angkorian period were quite advanced. Inside the temple we did a bit of exploring. We got to see the bas-relief the “Churning of the Sea of Milk” which was amazing. We also went and tried to climb up to the very tip of Angkor, but sadly it was closed off for renovation. We still climbed around quite a bit and I have a sneaky suspicion that Trevor (Hannah’s Dad), actually did climb up to the top. We watched the sunset from one of the towers in the side of Angkor, and then headed back out of the temple. I have never seen such an amazing piece of architecture. And it was built in the twelfth and thirteenth century. Amazing.

The day afterwards, us girls—Mom, Helen, Hannah, Kristine, and me—went to the Angkor National Museum. The museum was relatively new, and certainly could use some work, but we saw some amazing artifacts as well. The most amazing thing was that the Khmers knew about seven of our planets! There was a statue with representations of each of those planets, as well as the sun and the moon. We also learned quite a bit about just how much Hindu and Buddhist culture and religion blended during the Angkorian period. It really was all jumbled up. The room of 1,000 Buddhas was also quite interesting.

That night our parents told us that they had a “surprise” for us. We were all quite excited and we had no clue what this surprise was going to be. But then, when we were getting tuk-tuks to take us to this “surprise”, Helen told a tuk-tuk driver to take us “To the balloon”. So much for a surprise! But even if it wasn’t a surprise, we were very, very, excited. We were going to go up in a hot air balloon to see Angkor Wat at sunset!! We had a tuk-tuk race to get there. When we finally got up into that air-balloon I was amazed. It was huge, and we could see the sunset, the surrounding landscape, and Angkor Wat, all incredibly tiny. They didn’t actually let the balloon off of a big wire thing that it was tied to, but it still was great.

We didn’t do much the other days—just watched Star Trek with Hannah (I will make a trekkie of you yet!!). But I will never forget my experience at Angkor.

The bus trip home, however, was a little different than our bus trip there. We had gotten another bus in the hopes that it would be even nicer than the first. How could we have been so wrong? It was horrible. The place smelled bad. If it was air-conditioned than the word “air-condition” has completely lost its meaning, there was no good food, the seats were cramped, my legs were jammed into the chair in front of me, and the colors clashed. Oh, and did I mention that they were blaring music and playing stupid Chinese sit-coms? I have yet to figure out how I survived. But at any rate, it should make an interesting addition to my autobiography.

The whole trip was simply amazing and I will never forget it. Hopefully it won’t be my last trip to Angkor—actually, I’m sure that it won’t be my last.

Merry Christmas!!

Hello my dear readers, tis the day after Christmas in the land of Far Far Away (aka Cambodia). Presents have been unwrapped, cookies have been devoured, movies have been watched.... And now it is Boxing Day. But you want to hear about Christmas, don't you? Well...

On Christmas Eve, Kristine, Abby, and I made lots and lots of gingerbread cookies. We had a wonderful time. Later that night Tim and Tiffany came over. We had an amazing Christmas dinner--lasagna, salad, and garlic bread--and then we watched The Nativity Story and ate cookies. Lots of cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. We had gingerbread cookies, russian teacakes, molasses sugar cookies, peanut-blossoms, lemon-bars, and these little chocolate cookie things that I fail to remember what they were called. The Nativity Story was a great choice to watch on Christmas Eve. It really brought to live Jesus' birth, and also what it must have meant to Mary and Joseph... They threw away so much, everything they had spent their entire lives working for, when they said "yes" to God. People don't really think about what they faced. I also enjoyed how the movie portrayed the three Wise Men. Of course, Caleb started calling them the "Three Tourists", which was rather humorous. The Nativity Story was a very good movie, and a very good way to remember what Christmas is all about. Just as the movie finished the doorbell rang and we heard the sounds of voices singing Christmas carols! They sang several songs to us, and then gave us minced pies, mints, and toffees. The full moon was out and Mars, just as promised, was shining brightly. I suddenly felt very Christmassy. We went back inside and talked--as well as eating more cookies. Yes, more cookies. After Tim and Tiffany left, us kids stuck our presents for the family under the tree, and headed upstairs.

It was almost entirely dark. A small stream of light shone through the window. I woke up, feeling excited. Suddenly I started shaking all over. Was it Christmas morning? I jumped up, out of my bed, and turned to look at my phone. Was it morning? 1:00 am. I sighed and went back to bed. Not morning yet...

Finally I woke up and it was morning. Christmas morning. I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, and then Kristine came into my room. We snuck downstairs, our eyes grew wide as we saw the many presents under the tree. We each found our stockings--stuffed to the brim. Then we saw a light in the living room. Mom was awake! This is highly unusual. Normally Kristine and I are the first people up on Christmas morning. In the end, Kristine and I went in the living room (instead of our bedrooms), and opened our stockings there. There were lots of things in my stocking, but here are some of the highlights:

• Little "dinosaur eggs" that "hatch" when put under water for several days
• Lots of soap and facewash (all scented)
• Enough candy to last me until next Christmas
• Mini-origami paper to make cranes and stars
• Little cats that you can keep rings on their tails

There was other stuff as well, but those were some of the stocking highlights. After waiting for about half an hour, Mom went and woke up Caleb. He stumbled out of bed, his hair a complete mess, exclaimed "It's Christmas!" and headed for his stocking. After a few minutes Dad came out, and soon we were ready to open our presents. We took turns, like we usually do--although this time it was a bit more orderly than normal. Caleb's gifts consisted of mostly bionicles, model cars, and other building things. Kristine got quite a bit of jewelry, some horsey stuff, and a new purse and wallet. Mom got some jewelry, a table-runner, and a few other little things. And Dad got chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Oh! And he also got an i-pod nano. I got quite a few presents as well, and since I like making little bullet-points of all the presents I got, here are some of the highlights:

• A green and black dragon beanie-baby-type-thing
• A ring and pendant with garnets in them
• Little earrings shaped like reindeer (Thank you Pop-O and G.G.!)
• A silk black and silver purse
• A dark blue wallet made out of a fishbag
• A beautiful set of Prismacolor colored pencils
• A plastic triceratops
• A gorgeous clay box with a butterfly on the top (Thank you Hannah!!)
• A Sculpey-making book (thank you Abby!!)
• A sudoko game
• A 1 gb memory stick (Yayayayay!!)
  
• There was other stuff, too, but those were the highlights. Oh, I also got an early present from Meow, two books, one was How to Write Science-Fiction (it had Darth Vader on the cover and Spock on the back!!!), and the other was How to Write Fantasy (Gandalf was on the cover!!!). Lots of lovely presents...

After we opened the presents we watched a few movies (those soppy Christmas movies that have to do with dogs and mean adults that I really don't care for), so I went on the computer (on Christmas, yes, I was on the computer--mostly messing with my memory stick as well as chatting with a few people). We ate tuna sandwiches and cookies (yes, more cookies!!) for lunch, and then for dinner we had chicken and scalloped potatoes. Yum yum.

Overall it was a lovely Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Wielder of the Ring of Adamant

I am making this post for the sole purpose of announcing to the world that I, Manwathiel, am now the wielder of the Elven ring, Nenya. I finally was able to pick it up from the silver shop, so here it is!
I'm afraid that I wasn't able to get a very good pic...the lighting was awful. But anyway, my Nenya is based on the Nenya from the movies, although it has some subtle differences. I had it made out of solid silver and it is absolutely beautiful. I am very happy to finally have it... I could have probably made it a size smaller, but ah well, if my finger gets any fatter at least I'll still be able to wear it.

So I now wield an Elven Ring of Power. Fear me.
*dances away happily*

Oh! And you know the best thing? It only cost me $15.

In a Writing Mood...

I tried to edit part one of my fantasy. It does not want to be edited. Ah well, I am not in an editing mood today, I am in a writing mood...

Ah, well do I remember that journey... Sea, all around us! Sky above. Nothing more to be seen around us for as far as the eye could see... I remember now how beautiful I had thought it was, how serene, how quiet. Beauty, I had called it. Beauty and peace. Now I laugh to hear such words. Yes, it was beautiful, yes; peace filled our first days at sea. Beauty and peace… More like to war and destruction they were! The beauty and peace were the forerunners of such hardship that I cringe when I look back on it. I look back on it now and I think and I wonder. What was in my mind when I went on that accursed journey? What made me leave? Was it Jason? Or was it myself? I did not know. I still am unsure. But I went on that journey, and it is useless to try to change the past unless you are Fay, and Fay I am not. But would I change the past, had I the chance? Much good came of much hardship… But the tale goes on, it always will.

Yes, that is the prologue for part three of my fantasy... What was the journey? I am still learning that. What was the hardship? I have yet to find out. I have many questions about my own writing... There was a war? What destruction? I do not know. But the tale goes on...

Which Character?

Well, my old poll has come and gone. I was surprised at the results, there actually are people out there who wouldn't spontaneously combust if I forced them to watch Star Trek!!! So I'll leave that poll up there for a bit for people to see...but on to the new poll.

Many of you know that I'm currently going through a Arthurian Legends craze. Thus the new poll is about the major characters from various Arthurian Legends! Note: I am only doing good characters. Vote for your favorite at the poll on the right! Bios and pictures of each character below:

Merlin--also known as Myrddin, The Emrys, and Merlinus, Merlin was the great Bard of Britain, also called the Soul of Britain. He existed before Arthur ever came to be a character of story. Merlin is responsible for many of the stories of King Arthur, including the story of how Arthur became king. Merlin is a mysterious character with many different views about his birth, life, character, and demise.

Arthur--High King of Britain, Arthur's story is usually roughly the same from version to version. There are, however, conflicting views about his birth and his death. The most common story about his birth is that he was the child of Uther Pendragon and was taken away by Merlin at his birth. Arthur is regarded as being the greatest King that Britain ever had. The legends say that he will return one day when Britain is at it's greatest need.

Guinevere--Arthur's queen, it is debatable as to whether she should even be considered a good character, but she was good in the beginning. Guinevere was said to be the most beautiful woman in all of Britain. She was also regarded as having a sharp wit and being clever and wise.

Sir Galahad--The holy knight who at last discovered the Grail, Sir Galahad is one of the most important characters in all of the Arthurian Legends. He was the greatest knight of the Round Table.

Nymue, Lady of the Lake--There are many ladies of the lake in various Arthurian legends, but Nymue is the chief among them all. She is sometimes, surprisingly, said to be bad, but in most legends she is good. She pops up in the oddest places and is almost as meddlesome as Merlin when it comes to the stories of the Round Table. In some version she dies, killed by a knight, in others she lives on.

And that is all! I could have put more characters, but I settled on these. Vote for your favorite on the poll on the side.

In The Olden Days...

I recently have taken up the hobby of writing with a quill pen and ink. It is an interesting hobby and I enjoy it quite a bit. I write in my leather-bound book (the book in the picture) which has nice brown paper inside and a very rough binding, and I use a quill pen that I made out of an eagle feather. For ink, I have a little pot of ink left over from a calligraphy set that I bought several years ago. When I run out of that I believe that I'll have to start making my own ink! I've begun doing a little research into that...just so I'm ready.
Needless to say, my handwriting is hideous even when writing with a pencil or a normal pen. Thus, I think I'll keep my quill-pen writing to myself. But even if I'm not about to show it to anyone, it's still fun. It really gets me into the feeling of being somewhere in the past where they only had quill pens. And I like it better than writing with a normal pen.
At any rate, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this hobby! It certainly is fun.

It's the Craziest Time of the Year

Well...it is! Just in this past weekend I have gone to the ISPP International Day, Advent Day #1 at Church, and the Christmas Fair. So perhaps I should start at the beginning...

International Day:
The day started out with my family rushing to ISPP where we found Abby dressed up in full Maori garb. Ok, not really full Maori garb, but she had a tattoo-like thing on her chin, feathers in her hair, and a shirt that said "Kiwis in Cambodia". The day went by with me eating way too much food, standing in way too many lines, and having a complete blast. Abby attempted to teach Kristine, Lisa, and me how to use the poise (I think I spelled that right), long string-type things with pom-pom-like things on the end. They're pretty hard. The highlight of the day was when the New Zealanders came on stage... First they sang a couple of Kiwi-songs, and then the girls did the poise. It was great. Abby was especially great. All those flying pom-poms looked amazing. Fleur, Abby's mom, did the poise too. After that all the guys came out and did the haka (I know I spelled that wrong). That was also great. Not to mention hilarious! Todd, Abby's dad, was really into it...and oh it was fun to watch. There were three little boys in the front who really did not know what they were doing. They were adorable. After the Kiwis went off stage we ran around doing all sorts of things...wandering around, pooling our money to get Hannah some lunch, eating ice cream (Ok, so I ate ice cream), and so on. We also went through the strenuous (not) process of finding New Zealand on a globe. Oh, how difficult.

Christmas Decorating:
After getting back from International Day we hung out with Hannah for a bit. But after she left we broke out the Christmas decorations! We fluffed the tree (a difficult task), figured out which lights worked and which ones didn't, strung lights around the tree, strung tinsel around the tree, and decorated the tree! It was very fun, we had Christmas music playing and it was, as I said before, fun and Christmassy. The tree looks great and we have lights, tinsel, and wreaths scattered all around the house.

Advent Day #1 at Church:
At church, since this is the first day of advent, we had the first verse of the candle dance, which was lovely, the kid's choir, three soloists (Jeanette, Greta, and Abby), and a puppet show (starring....Kristine!!). Jeanette, Greta, and Abby sounded absolutely beautiful and the kids were adorable. Everything went reasonably well, although the sound system was, as usual, way off. My dad led the service, and everything was great. The sermon, also, was very good.

Christmas Fair:
After church we rushed out to the annual Christmas Fair! All of my good friends were there, so we hung out and did what girls do best (or at least what people seem to think that we do best)...shop. I spent way too much money, but oh well, that's what happens to me every year at the Christmas Fair. I got some great Christmas presents for people, as well as some nice candles and a leather book for me. I think that the most interesting part of the day was definitely when I dragged Hannah (literally dragged) across the room to the lady dressed up like a reindeer in an attempt to get us some candy canes. The lady gave us a huge handful. Hannah forgave me for dragging her. Anyway, the day was great and very fun.

Yes, I have been busy lately. Too busy to update my blog much.... I'll try to do better. Merry Early Christmas, everyone!!

A Day In the Life of an Author

Yes, most of you already know that I, Manwathiel, am writing a novel. Well, I'm actually writing several, but then, there are the novels, and there is The Novel. Now, The Novel, is a fantasy that I have been working on for a little over a year. I was writing part two for NaNoWriMo and I believe that I finished that part last night. Over the course of writing parts one and two of this story I have come to a shocking realization: I have little or no control over my character's lives.
Yes, it's true. My characters are constantly doing things that I do NOT want them to do. Take Kazan, for instance. (Yes, I know that most of you don't even know who Kazan is, but bear with me) Kazan was never supposed to exist. He started out as simply an old man who was getting in Ariadnë's way. He was meant to have maybe one sentence in the whole story. But then what happens? *poof* I have a shape-shifter on my hands! I never wanted a shape-shifter in my story, he was just suddenly there. So what did I do? I tried to get rid of him, send him back to the palace where he wouldn't trouble my story any further. But then what does that annoying Kazan do? He starts popping up right and left, just where I least expect him! I no longer know whether to trust characters of my own creation. Is Liros really Liros? Or is he Kazan disguised as Liros? Is that big white owl really just a big white owl? Or is it Kazan? I no longer know. I have no control of whether or not Kazan pops up, or what he does when he pops up.
Then there is Melana, yet another character who is not supposed to exist. She started out as a Lady of the Lake-type person (probably as the result of me re-reading King Arthur). But then what do I find out? She can read people's minds! I did not know that. I did not want her to read people's minds, but read them she does. Melana's character goes on to reveal that she is a Fay (or a Fairy), and that she was abandoned by her people. Now I am left with figuring out why she was abandoned, and what she was doing at The Myst in the first place! I did not want her to be abandoned. She just was.
And then there was the mute woman. She started out as some random kid's mom. Then I found out that she was mute. I had no idea why she was mute. But she was mute. And then, horror of all horrors, she started talking! And now I am left with figuring out why she was pretending to be mute, who she is, and why she started talking! She, also, is not supposed to exist.
Just when I think that I am almost finished with my story, characters start heading in the opposite direction, Kaisan starts quoting poetry, and Ariadnë starts ranting. I did not intend for those characters to do what they do, but they did. I find that I cannot stop them either. Am I really the all-powerful author? Do I really have control over my character's lives? Or am I merely telling the tale the way they want it to be told?