Day at the Temple by Zander

We had a really busy day in Battambong. We had planned to go to the ruins of Wat Banan Temple. Kayley was doing the research on this expedition. But she told us that there was a temple that has 90 steps to get to it.   Plus there was a cave that had kids that charged really outrageous prices, on taking you to the caves.  My grandma has been there before and she said that she would wait at the bottom of the hill. I think that that is because she doesn't want to climb the hill. I have always wanted to see Cambodian Temple, because I wanted to see what some of my mom's ancestors went to to pray to the budas.

We got to the Temple you have to have a driver or take a tuk-tuk. A tuk-tuk is a scooter with a trailer that has seat on it to take my family and my Grandma to the Temple. We had to take two. It was a really long drive to get to the Temple. It is not very fun in a tuk-tuk because all the dust goes up into your face. I was so happy to finally get to the Temple.  When  we went through the Gate, the driver didn't stop to pay, so she  chased us to the parking lot and made us pay. I thought that it was kind of funny. My grandma and my dad both wanted to pay the gate person, but of course my grandma wins. They fight over paying for dinner, toll fees, and practical anything that cost money they argue over paying for it. You would think that they would let the other person pay to save money, but they still fight.

To get to the Temple you have to climb up alot of stairs. It is kind of tricky because the stairs are uneven. When we were about to embark, we saw that everywhere around the Temple was fenced off. It was because there were land mines. At the bottom of the hill there was a lady with a metal detector and some fancy equipment to disable the mines. It is sad that so long after a conflict, that they still haven't cleaned up the mess. When we finally got to the top, we took a moment to catch our breath. I thought that if I had to climb all that way to pray then why bother!!! But I had to admit that the Temple was pretty cool. Even though most of the Statues were missing hands and heads. Why do people take stuff from a Temple?  Wouldn't they get punnisched by the buda. My mom sead that it was the Kmer Rouge that did it.  I know that they didn't believe in the Budhas, so mayby that was true. It was pretty cool, but we were careful where we walked, because we didn't want to get blown up by land mines. When we got bored of the temples, we walked down the many steps and decided to go to the caves.


When we got to the bottom, there was a kid that was a "tour guide".  Kayley said that he was going to try to get an outrageous tip when we came back from the cave. My dad said that it would be cool, and so we went.  On the whole walk to the cave, all he said was that we would see some bats. When we got there the actual guide gave us head lamps and told us some crack pot story about some Thai princess that was trapped here or something and took us into the cave. We had to stoop to get to the main chamber.  My flash  light didn't work and started to flicker. When we got to the main chamber, there was an old lady that wanted to get money off us so we could "pray", so we declined. Then the guy showed us some bats. The caves weren't very nice.  There was lots of trash and the walls that use to have pillars were destroyed from people touching them. Since we got bored really quick, we left the cave as soon as possible. When we got back to the entrance. The older guy needed a tip, so my dad and grandma fought over it and she won. So the kid walked us back. when we got to the parking lot, the kid needed a tip, my grandma tried to pay him.  He said that my dad should pay him. When he asked my dad, my dad gave him 500 Riel, which is about 12 cents!!! He didn't take it, he must have been insulted. So he got mad and yelled at my dad.  When my dad walked away. he yelled at my grandma. She lectured him that if you want money then you have to be nice. He walked away.  When we were all back in the tuk-tuk my grandma told me that he cried. We all thought that he should have been a little nice if he wanted to get money off my dad.

After seeing my first temple and having a really interesting experience in some really bad caves, I am enlightened in the Buddhist culture. I saw some old Temple, learned about some land mines, and had a weird experience at the Temples. It is really cool to see an old Temple and see how fit all the monks had to be to be able to pray every morning. If I were them, I would live up there. All in all, I learned allot about Buddhist and learned some lessons on getting money off people.  So I am pretty glad that we went and saw that Temple.