Neil Dana, reporting from Siem Reap, Cambodia: ANGKOR RUINS   What I didn't tell you before about the dictatorship of Sihanouk from 1941-71, was he based his ideals and philosophies on the ancient Khmer civilization that built all the Angkor Ruins from the 9th-14th centuries.  The Angkor Kings were godlike.  In fact, they revered themselves above God, and the population believed they were higher than God. It is from here that the root of Cambodia's problems stemmed.  However, we all have problems, and everyone is far from perfect.    Anyway, I spent four days going to quite a few different Angkor Ruins, and truthfully, they were the most intricate ruins I have ever seen.  The amount of time and detail that went into every stone throughout all the temples is unbelievable!  The Angkor Ruins are famous for their stone carvings in all the ruins, and they certainly live up to their reputation.   It is hard to believe that people can actually create such magnificent structures.    On my first day of checking out the ruins, I awoke at 5:30AM and went to the Angkor Wat temple, which is the most famous and largest of all the monuments.  When I arrived, I was quite surprised at how many people were there to take photos of the sunrise.  There were about 300 people there ready for the sun to come up.  The sun was going to come up behind the monument, and everyone was on the west side to see the silhouette.  I decided to go in the temple before the sunrise and go to the other side, the one that the sun would actually shine on, and get in before the crowd.    I am so glad I did just that.  There wasn't anyone around, and I had the whole place to myself with all the heavenly nymphs. I must admit, the heavenly nymphs are my favorite carvings in the Angkor Wat.  I'm not sure why?    Anyway, the place is immense!  The stairs are steep, and if you fall, you've had it, so you need to be careful.  There are different corridors as well, the outer corridor and the inner corridor, and you can walk around them, but it takes quite a while.  Around the inner wall is what they call Bas-Reliefs, carvings that depict ancient epic events.  They surround the entire center of the temple and are 800 meters in length.  As you walk up the stairs into the different areas, there are different statues and wall carvings, too many to describe.  In fact, these ruins have so much to offer, you really need to go there yourself to really understand.  You can also get a book and read up about them, but I am not going to try and attempt to describe all the different intricate carvings I saw; it is too much to recreate.  You can, however, check out the pictures I have included, and it will give you an idea of many of the beautiful things I experienced.   I will tell you that I spent five hours in the Angkor Wat that morning and was completely enthralled.  I was just in awe and felt the amazing magnificence that man can be.  I met a cool monk there as well, and he showed me around for a while and was a very nice guy.  He did ask for some "help" afterwards, and I expected that and gave him a few bucks.  As with any religion I can think of, the followers depend on the local community for money.  If you go to church back home, doesn't a hat or pot go around for donations?   I also ended up going to some more temples throughout the rest of that day and the other days.  Bayon was a temple that has the ENORMOUS faces of Avalokiteshvara, which was quite a sight.  Many of the temples are made of soft sandstone and bricks, and have been restored over the years.  They have done a really good job at keeping the recreated work from looking too new and unreal.   Another really amazing ruin as well was Ta Prohm, and a few other similar ruins that have not been renovated or kept up.  The ruins have been overtaken by the jungle, and there are huge trees that have grown into the walls and destroyed many structures.  But to be able to see it, as it is, untouched by human hands since they were created, is rare to see anywhere in the world.  The Angkor Ruins are so large, and there are so many of them, that there are not enough resources to keep them all up.   Just in the immediate area, there are two roads that circle many of the main ruins.  One is a 17 km road, and the other a 26km road that you encircle and stop off at different ruins along the way.  And then outside of that, there are roads that go off in other directions towards other distant temples.   Two of my other favorite locations were about an hour and a half ride away along an old dirt road out in the countryside.  One is known as the ruins of Banteay Srei, which they say must have been carved by women, because the carvings are so intricate, only a woman has the patience and delicate touch to accomplish such fine work.  Also, the doorways are much lower than the other temples.  And yes, the carvings are incredibly intricate!    And further up the road is Kobal Spien, which is the River of 1,000 Lingas, and is where the old king used to bathe. I took the liberty of taking off my clothes and going under the waterfall and bathing as well; and I must say, I did feel like a King.  Although, that is nothing new:)  Also in this river, there are hundreds and hundreds of carvings in the actual rock bed of the river.  They are circular carvings, representing a phallic nature.  It is a really beautiful, remote location in the middle of the jungle.  In fact, if you take the road further north, it is really dangerous due to land mines.  You start heading up towards the northern border with Thailand, there are still some Khmer Rouge floating around, whom I've heard come out once a year or so and blow something up just to let us all know they still exist.   Oh, and in between the ruins, Richard, my moped driver would take me to various vendors in front of the ruins to have lunch or drinks.  The Cambodian food is decent, not as good as Thai food by any means, but not bad.  And, you end up drinking tons of water, as Cambodia is extremely HOT!!!  It is the hottest I have been on this whole trip so far, just sweating all the time.  I had to buy a hat to cover my face and shoulders to keep the sun's penetrating rays from heating me up too much.  And at the end of each day, I was completely exhausted and worn out. It was hard to fall asleep with a fan that blew hot air over my body all night.  I guess that's what you get for $3 a night.  I could have paid more for air conditioning, but come on! I also ended up going to many other ruins, and they all were fantastic.  The Roluos Group, which are the oldest, date back to the late 800's.  As for all the ruins I barely described, and for the ones I didn't, please forgive me, but there are large books solely devoted to these ruins.  If you are really interested, go and buy one, as all I really want to say is that these ruins are truly a gift to witness and experience.  I have been touched to the core by these ruins, and also by Cambodian culture and history.   It really is beyond my words.  I only hope you can make the time to visit this place some day; it will be one of the greatest places you have ever been, guaranteed!  And if you ever do come, maybe you will remember this part of my story, and you too can help out some local Cambodians.  After a few days of walking around ruins all day, my legs and feet were beat up, and all over the town of Siem Reap, there are foot massage places.  So I decided to get one.  I walked up to one of them, and there were a couple of ladies sitting out front.  One of them asked if I would like a massage and I told her yes, I would like a foot massage.  So she brings me in and sits me down, washes my feet and begins to rub them, which tickles like mad!!  Anyway, she could speak a bit of English and was really excited to speak English with me.  She was telling me how she is trying to learn English, but it is difficult because she doesn't have the opportunity to speak it very often.  She goes to English school in the morning from 6-8, and then works from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. everyday.  She is one of ten children, each of whom is supporting the family, as the parents don't work.  She brings home the most money from the massage place, since she gets tips, which is good.  However, she doesn't like it very much; she wants to get into management eventually.  Her name is Sitha by the way.   I tell her that the more English she learns, the more success she will have in the future since she lives in such a tourist-dominated area, and she agrees.  I ask her if she knows how to use the Internet, as that is a great way to practice English and chat with people.  She doesn't know how to use it and wants to learn, but doesn't have the opportunity.  So as she massages me more, I think, well, I have one more day here, maybe she will have time to go to an Internet cafe with me for an hour and I can teach her.  So I ask her, and her eyes light up like I've never seen before; it was amazing.  "You would teach me?" she asks, as if she doesn't really believe me.  I tell her yes.  She is amazed, and we organize to meet the following morning at 8 a.m. to go to the Internet cafe for an hour or so.  She is so happy, and we continue talking, and she keeps calling me a "good man."    Anyway, the next morning comes and we meet and she shows up with one of her friends and asks if it is ok to teach her as well?  Of course!  Her name is Chai. So I take them both over to the Internet cafe and sit them down at two computers and open up a Yahoo account for each of them and teach them how to use the computer and mouse, and what to click, and everything necessary to use email.  I make them start the computer, open the browser, type in www.yahoo.com, then click the email button, then put in their name and password, etc.  After about 15 times, they really get it without my help.  The lady who works there everyday also helped them a bit, so now I know in the future if they get stuck, they can ask her for help as well.  So after an hour and a half, they get it and are extremely happy.    Then I go over to the cashier and pay for the time, and also pay for 20 more hours of Internet time for the girls so they can use it for a while and really get used to it and practice English.  We are all really happy, and I wish them goodbye, they are so happy, it is great to see.  In just communicating with a local, and putting in a little time and effort, I really hope that I have started and inspired some more learning for them.  I do think it will help them both tremendously.  They live in a very poor area, and a small bit of knowledge and help can go a long way, as long as you can get them to be self-motivated and continue on their own, which I think I have done.  I will keep in touch with them, and it should require them to translate my emails with one of their dictionaries, and they will learn more English and how to type faster, which can only help them in a tourism-dominated town.  After that, I grabbed some food and then decided to head off to the silk farm for a bit of my own education.