The Cool Inn was a newly constructed building. So the fittings and the features were expected to be conforming to the current usage. The bathroom had a three feet deep square well like structure unlike the bathtubs we see in the western bathrooms. The modern Indian homes have fixtures like showers. Concrete wells are occasionally used for water storage. Here it was a simulation of a whole body bath as one might dip in a pond. There were some ayurvedic studies why a whole body bath is superior to drenching by parts. I have not studied the health repercussions of temperature and immersion. The big well fascinated me. I did not have time to fill it up for an immersion bath.
After bath, I was ready to look for some breakfast. I had seen signs of "breakfast" in English in a store down the street. Seeing the place was crowded I thought to try it out. A petite young girl with a uniform seated me at a big table in a corner. She gave me a menu in Cambodian. The dishes would have two syllable English rendering next to them. Being lost, I called the girl back and asked if anyone would understand English. She brought a male escort whom I explained that I needed some breakfast. As I normally say, I said "no meat." My elaborate breakfast showed up with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. There was a liquid bowl with an object immersed in it. There were sprouts and carrots in another bowl. There was a yellow cream like substance in the third bowl. And in the big plate there was a lunch-quality rice heap with an omelette stuck next to it. I was enjoying the cultural experience, but was having difficulty to tackle the food. Assuming that the rice and the sprouts to be the least invasive, I tried to slowly chew some of those washing them with the orange juice. A group of about two dozen police officers showed up. One group had slight olive-colored uniform and the other group had a blue uniform. The blue uniform officers did not sit together with the olive uniformed ones. This latter group was in a party mood. They ordered beer and drank freely and ate some food. Initially I had thought that they had come for breakfast to go to work. I was not clear if that was the case. There was hardly a policeman seen on the road anyway. Mr Kushal had come. We are supposed to go Angkor Thom, the area that we had been the previous day. The road again passed through the wooded areas and fields. One went around the the temple of Angkor Wat which stayed to the right. There was a single entrance to the Thom area. The gate was fortified with a tall brick structure and narrow entrance for horse or elephant riders. There was a moat around the 5 km square area. A deep moat is an impediment against possible invasions. Valmiki talks about a moat around the Ayodhya township. The entrance had a bridge over the moat. The two sides of the bridge had the sculpture of the "churning of the ocean" I had seen in Thailand. There was a check point after the gate that looked into the vehicles and cargoes. A person also checked the ticket and punched it. We reached the Baphuon complex. Passing through the trees, I looked at the massive structure in several levels. Not having the technology of support beams the structure is developed through landfills. I had read that it was a Shiva temple in five levels. It is possible that the main worship level was at the top level and the lower levels were used as pilgrim quarters. There was strict security and our bags had to be left out. The temple had steps on four sides to go from one level to the other. Through use, the steps have been slippery and the new restoration has provided steep wooden ladders. The size of the steps were short and the gradient was sharp. This could mean the the people using the facility were probably short and slightly built. I had seen similar gradient in Mayan pyramids. A slight mis-step in such areas could be dangerous. I thought the return journey would have been more difficult than riding up. Every level one rode up led to a terrace with the a stricture offset by about fifteen feet from the edge. Each terrace had a life-size elephant statue in the corner. The landfill possibly helped the elephant to be transported up. The structure had a six feet covered hall way going around the perimeter with fire oblation areas on the corners. From the holes in the walls one would think that they had some technology of plumbing to take water away. There would be an offset of about ten feet when the new level would begin. On the terraced area there were small shrines, now broken. I went up in another narrow ladder and so on until the top level, the top could be about a hundred feet from the ground. There were five temples on the top terrace, one on each each side and there was a central shrine. I was told that the central shrine was converted to a Buddhist temple, but now it is not being used. I met a couple from Sweden on the top terrace and tried to gauge their impressions. They said that they were amazed to see the human endeavors hundreds of years ago. Having learned that that they had not been to India, I encouraged them to visit a few temple towns to appreciate. Two German children were asking their mother why the Temple was not being used. The mother had the generic reply that the people got "tired." It was time to descend. One had to descend in some areas through stone slabs. I followed a Japanese tourist. He had firm legs and was negotiating right as I observed. My bifocal gives me difficulty while taking steps down. It was a relief when I reached back on the level ground!
