Paris Marathon - Celebration!!

After the race, we took the afternoon to rest and clean up before a little night of celebrating!  First stop was an Irish pub to meet our friend Alison.  Alison trains with our group in London but she is between races, so just came to watch and cheer in Paris!  Can you see the little Eiffel Towers on her dress?  So cute and funny.

Next stop - dinner!! We had pizza nearby and a lovely bottle of bubbly to celebrate our big day!

This seems like an Amy picture-fest, right? We just kept taking turns taking photos for each other, so we don't have many together!  After dinner we met up with our friends Mike and Dan for dessert.  They also came to Paris for the weekend to cheer us on.  Mike had trained a little bit with Laura and joined us on our last long run - he ran the London Marathon a week after we ran Paris.  We had crepes for dessert, because when in Paris - why not?

On the way back to the hotel, we were lucky enough to see the sparkling lights on the Eiffel Tower, so we stopped for one more photo op.

I always love Paris and this trip was no exception.  Will definitely be back to do this race again!!

Paris Marathon - Race Day

Race day in Paris!!  We stayed in a hotel just five minutes walk away from the Arc de Triumphe. The race started on the Champs Elysee and would end on another street just a block or two away. The morning started out very clear and sunny - almost too sunny for my taste on marathon day, but it thankfully wasn't too hot.

In the starting corrals!  This was a huge race - they said 50,000 people registered.  We were in the 8th of nine starting corrals and we waited an hour to begin running after the official race start.  That was lousy for standing around. But good because when we started the road was not crowded at all, which is unusual for most races espcially of this size!

I don't have many pictures from along the race. It's difficult to stop and take pictures if your goal is finish as quickly as possible. The course was fantastic though! We ran along the side of the Louvre, by the Hotel de Ville, by Bastille and into Bois de Vincennes, a large park. We were in the park for 5-6 miles. On our way to the park we saw another friend from London running the race. We also saw several friends who came for the weekend to watch. I even happened upon a friend of my cousin's from Houston! I met her and her fiance at a wedding in Finland last summer. They live in Paris and she was on the roadside watching the race!  Later I found out that he was running it and would have been very near me in the pack. Small world!

One picture to me was very important and I had decided in advance to stop and take it no matter what.  Even if I didn't beat my time, this picture had to happen. 

It was worth it, don't you think?  I did!  And on the upside, I still managed to beat my time by four minutes!  Laura and I stayed together until around mile marker 18.  At that point she was feeling pretty good and I went through a bad spot, so we split up so I wouldn't hold her back. I rallied and still managed to finish about ten minutes behind her and we met up in the finishing area. 

We made it back to the Arc de Triumph and felt very triumphant indeed!

Seoul Incheon Airport

My flights to/from Cambodia were on Korean Air, so the connection was in Seoul. I had a couple of hours in the airport on the way.  They had some funny restaurants!

They also had nice entertainment.  There was a cultural center with a small stage and I heard a couple of musical performances.  There were also two grand pianos in another atrium and two young pianists took turns playing solos and then duets together.  

Before my flight home, I came across this procession of the "royal" family. 

Paris Marathon Weekend

I'm going to interrupt posting on my trip to Cambodia and South Korea to post these few items about the Paris Marathon!  Because I already have them drafted and it would take me a little more time to finish up the ones on Seoul.  Will return to that in a couple of weeks after my next big trip...

I've been training for the marathon in Paris pretty much since I hit the finish line at the Disney Marathon in January.  It has been a good motivator to get me out running during the darker and colder months.  I also trained with my friend Laura and we were both aiming to beat our best times so that was good to have someone else along for the ride.  The week leading up to the race, I got this in the mail...

from my friend Erin!  Erin is also friends with Laura, so Laura got a box as well. Not only were these cupcakes pretty, they were delicious too!  I probably had a half a dozen of them on my own over the week before the race and I think all that "Good Luck in Paris" icing helped me out!

Laura and I took the Eurostar to Paris on Friday afternoon from London. We had dinner at a fantastic French place just down the street from our hotel. Both of us ordered the hake from the prix-fixe menu.  Hake is fish.  This is what came out...

He is pretty fierce, no? Can you see his teeth?  Well, scary looking but Monsieur Hake was delicious!  I sent this picture to both my niece/nephew teams in got the appropriate "ew gross!" reaction I was hoping for.  :)

Saturday morning we made a stop at the race expo to pick up our numbers and race packs. The expo was great with lots of exhibitors and stuff for sale.  Pretty much just like in the US, except all the races advertised were in Europe. We got lots of brochures and ideas of where we want to go next!  Oh, and they served lots of cookies and wine at the expo.  And full sized bread rolls.  I love France.

Saw this while I was out for a little day-before-the-race-warmup run.  Because this is how one carb-loads in France.

We had a proper pasta dinner at an Italian place just next to our hotel.  Me and Laura all pasta-filled and ready to go!  I don't know why I have the crazy eyes.

Banners on the Champs Elysee, where the race would begin...

The weather really could not have been more beautiful the day before the race.  It kinda killed me to have to stay off my feet and that I couldn't go out and enjoy this spring day in Paris! 

Pre Rup

This was my favorite temple in Angkor - Pre Rup.  

I can't explain exactly why I liked it the best. We went there first the second morning out, so maybe I was just fresh and more interested at that time of day? 

It wasn't crowded at all, which was nice after the latter part of the first day - when every temple had tons of people visiting.  

We were able to climb up to the top and enjoy the really beautiful views all around.  I wish my camera did justice to how green and lush and beautiful the area was. 

Looking down the stairs from the top - very steep!  Some of them I had to use my hands to steady going up and the steps ranged from 6 inches high to a couple of feet high each. 

My company for the day! 

Banteay Srei

This is Banteay Srei.

I came very close to not seeing this temple. It is located about 15 miles away from the main cluster of Angkor locations. Most people travel there via tuk-tuk, but I wasn't sure I wanted to make the long trip alone.  Enter my new friends from Pub Street!  One of the girls I met was travelling in Cambodia with her mom and step-dad. At dinner she mentioned they were going to Banteay Srei the next day and I casually invited myself along. I felt so rude doing it, but she was super-nice and said they absolutely had room in their tuk-tuk for a fourth person. We made plans and they picked me up at my hotel the next morning. 

Banteay Srei is primarily built from pink sandstone, casting a pinkish hue on the whole site. It has some of the most elaborate carvings of any of the Angkor sites. The intricate beauty and small size of the buildings within the site have lead to the nicknames "Citadel of Beauty" or "Women's Temple."

It was built in the 10th century - much earlier than Angkor Wat or Angkor Thom. Banteay Srei was constructed by a counsellor to one of the kings as a Hindu temple. It was largely abandoned between the 14th and 20th centuries. The temple gained visibility in the archaeological community after a well-publicized theft of some statues from the site (that were later confiscated and returned).  Theft has been common at these temples and lots of Khmer artwork from Angkor can be found at museums, in both Phnom Penh and around the world. 

This group of monks arrived during our visit - they were very young, probably teenagers. I loved that I was able to get a few photos of the bright orange robes in the temple area. Some of the most iconic photos of Cambodia are similar scenes of monks at these historical sites.  They were very casual in their manner, almost like kids on a field trip. 

Really glad in retrospect that I was able to make the trip to see this temple - it was one of my favorites!

Siem Reap Pub Street

After a LONG day of temple visits, and low morale of losing my phone, I wasn't really planning to do anything in the evening.  But another solo traveller on my tour invited me to meet up with a small group for dinner, so I figured all was not lost for the day!  We went to Pub Street.

They put up those giant neon signs at both ends, just in case you miss it!  Just kidding.  It's a pedestrian only street full of restaurants and bars.  I got the impression that almost everyone was a tourist. I think that's part of why I was feeling more comfortable in Siem Reap than I did in Phnom Penh.

There were about six of us for dinner and this was a lesson to me in "how to meet people when you are travelling alone." I was invited by Barbara from my tour group. She had made the plans with a couple she met on her bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. In Siem Reap, she also had bumped into a friend she knew from Australia, who was also invited.  Small world, right? CRAZY to run into someone you know from Australia while sight-seeing in Cambodia.  Finally, the couple from the bus - they brought another girl they met staying at their hostel. This is how you meet people.  You meet one and then introduce you to someone else, who met someone else, etc.  Lesson learned!

 

We had dinner at a street type of restaurant.  I can't exactly call it street food because they had picnic tables, waiters and menus.  But it was all outdoors and even the kitchen was just a large grill over to the side of the tables. 

I had fried rice and chicken skewers.  It was really good!!  And cheap. Even with a beer added on, I only paid about $4. I actually came back here to eat every night I was in Siem Reap!  This was the bar for the restaurant, so they did have a drink fountain.

After dinner, we went dancing at a nearby club.  Then wandered up Pub Street just to observe all the general craziness.  We were listening to a live band outside one place for a bit and noticed that some of the tuk-tuk drivers were hanging out there.  I'm sure they were looking to pick up customers, but one in particular was dancing too and we thought that he was pretty funny!  So when we decided to head home, we hired him and this was his tuk-tuk: 

A Batman tuk-tuk!  Perfect ending to a fun night!

Ta Prohm - Tomb Raider

This was our last temple stop for the day.  This one is called Ta Prohm, but is frequently known as the "Tomb Raider" temple.  The movie Laura Croft: Tomb Raider had some significant scenes filmed on site here, so many people recognize it from the film.  I've never seen it. Angelina Jolie plays the lead character.  She actually adopted her oldest child while she was in Cambodia filming.  Just fyi for those of you who read People magazine! 

 

Anyway, here is the temple.  This one wasn't like the others in that it was mostly ground level and did not have the temple towers like the others we had visited today.  It was originally built to be a Buddhist monastery and library.  

The main feature of this site is that it is very overgrown with trees. HUGE trees! 

The site was abandoned after the Khmer empire fell in the 1600s. It was really not disturbed at all until the early 21st century when restoration and conservation projects of the Angkor temples began in earnest.

Ta Prohm was intentionally left as it is to show how completely the temple and forest can become intertwined.  The only restoration has been to maintain the structure so that it can be safely visited.  It is difficult to see in these photos, but it was a very large space.  We easily wandered around for 30-40 minutes inside the main walls of the complex.

Bayon Temple

This is my tour guide for the day, Art. His a certified guide of the Angkor ruins. If you went on your own to Angkor (as in, not with a tour), you can stop at the front gates to hire one of the many guides waiting for work. They have to complete some extensive study programs and testing before they are certified. Art is certified and also works for the cycling company, so he has scheduled work.  He is probably a better guide and certainly better paid than the guides waiting at the gates. 

 

We are standing in front of Bayon Temple - the main worship temple in Angkor Thom. It is famous for having faces carved into the top of every one of those pillars in the background. Originally there was a moat here as well, but it has mostly dried up.

Like Angkor Wat, there were carvings on almost every inch of stone.  Art told us some of the stories and myths that were shown, but I can't remember most of them. 

Most of this one was ruined for me - this is where my phone was actually stolen. So I forgot most of the facts we heard.  Our visit was cut short because my group stopped sight-seeing and tried to help me look for my phone.  Then we were occupied with finding a security guard and looking for the thief.  Considering all that, I was pleased to see I had a couple of good photos of the "faces" on my camera!  None of the funny ones though, like me standing nose-to-nose with one of the faces. 

Around the Angkor Archaeological Park

After sunrise and the walk around Angkor Wat, our guide took us for breakfast. I knew breakfast was included with our tour, but I was expecting some croissants and drinks. They had a white tablecloth spread and really nice meal for us!  We ate in this really nice outdoor pavilion.  There was toast, yogurt, cereal, fruit and even an omelet station! 

After breakfast, we hopped on our bikes and started riding. We rode a couple of kilometers to Angkor Thom, which means "Great City." This complex was built in the late 12th century by the Khmer King Jayavarman the 7th. Our guide called him "Jayavarman Seven."  Not "the seventh". It would be like calling her "Queen Elizabeth Two."  I don't know why I thought that was so funny!

 

Angkor Thom is a full city space, with lots of temples and structures included in it. It is surrounded by a large moat that I'll show a little further down. We rode near the perimeter walls and it was about 3k long on each side. A small temple near one of the corners of the city...

Here is the moat.  It was more like a man-made lake. We saw many local children swimming it in and some small canoes and kayaks. It was really beautiful and swimming seemed like a great idea - even by 9am it was very hot and humid!

I know I keep lamenting the loss of my phone, but after the posts from this day, I will stop.  I just feel compelled to describe some of the amazing photos I took and you aren't getting to see!!  This was maybe one of the best.  This is one of the side gates into Angkor Thom. You can see the great faces built into the top of the gate - which is the theme of the next post on Bayon Temple. You could walk or ride a small vehicle through this gate, so our guide (Art, I never said his name before now!) took photos for each of us riding our bikes through the gate. I looked so sporty and touristy and fun! I hope that thief is enjoying my great photos on his (stolen) phone somewhere. Jerk. That could have been my new profile picture.