Decent nights sleep, we’re getting in the habit of waking up early which I’m happy with as it means we’re not wasting the day. Decent breakfast and the met our driver from yesterday at 9.00am and he advised that we’d be out for about 5 hours…bit of an understatement in the end!!
I have to say right now instead of the end of this post that this was an extraordinary day of sightseeing, I loved it so much, the temples were incredible and just stirred the imagination and references to films, the obvious being Tomb Raider and Raiders of the Lost Ark!!
Anyway, the first one we went to was Angkor Wat, we weren’t going to bother with a tour guide and refused the first one and then had second thoughts so went back and got another guy. Much to the fury of the first one who came chasing over and even videoing us, a bit disconcerting but we lost him shortly.
Our guide was good, but if a strong accent so you had to concentrate a lot when he was talking but we’re glad that we did use one as it wasn’t expensive, he told good stories/information and he was very good at getting photos sorted for us. I even learned a trick using the pano option for portrait photos instead of landscape! That was worth the money alone!!
So, Angkor Wat? It was huge in scale and size. The surrounding most was big enough but within it the grounds were vast and the temple itself was simply amazing. I don’t have the words for it, it was just majestic. It was build in only 37 years around the 12th century and has likely undergone various restoration projects over the years to have it in its current state.
We were shown so much and had so much explained that we’d not have any idea about, for example the engravings along the walls and pillars, so very, very interesting. I loved every minute of it.
Loads of photos of course. Lot of people there but no overcrowded, and lots of people fully dressed up with proper photographers and their reflective equipment etc.
What was pleasing is there were little restrictions in terms of where we could go, so you got a really good feel for it all and you were not being herded around and feeling crowded.
Have to comment on our guide, at one point he had a funny turn, I can hardly describe it other than he went into a sort of trance and moving round in a circle backwards for about 15 seconds. We had no idea what to do and just asked if he was okay when it passed, but he didn’t seem to have any recollection of it. Very odd indeed.
I don’t want to go on too much, it was a great start and I genuinely think that it’s better than Rome, Pompeii or Athens. Might have to reconsider that quote in the future of course!!
We spent 2.5hrs there and I could have stayed longer, but we had many more temples to visit. Our driver just kept dishing out the water and wet wipes and moving us from one place to the next, it was VERY hot today too so when we were within the ruins there was no breeze and we were just dripping sweat!!
So onwards we went, I can’t say all the temples we went to, there are plenty of photos and even though each one we went to appeared to be similar there were obvious differences. Although the main similarity was the design, very square with loads of corridors. What also surprised us was the size of them each time, they just appeared to keep going on and on
Even the travelling between temples was enjoyable as the roads and bridges have all these monuments set up and the craftwork is amazing.
There were 2 additional temples that deserve comment, the Bayon Temple which was full of the 4 faced Buddha, everywhere and every column it seemed, it was fantastic and we got so many photos. It was eerie and exciting at the same time, I just kept imagining what it would have been like to discover these places that had been there centuries and I bet had been reclaimed by the jungle and appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.
The other temple I really liked was Ta Prohm, this is referred to as the Tomb Raider temple and it is a great example of how the forest has no respect for humans and their buildings as there were so many trees growing over and within the walls, trees that had to be hundreds of years old in their own right too
Tash was flagging by now, she was happy to find shade and let me wander around. Which I was grateful for as I just had all the energy I needed from adrenaline and excitement of being a kid in these ruins with my imagination!!
We did stop for lunch but we had ice mango smoothie and I had coffee, both were lovely and just the pick up that we both needed.
We started to get round the last few quicker as time was getting on and they were similar in many ways and were that bit smaller. What did strike me is the space these places had, it was quite a walk from the entrance gates to the temples and they felt like they were in the middle of nowhere, it just also seemed strange how there were so many within a small(ish) radius of each other. Why?
When we’d done all we could, although we didn’t do the one that Tash wanted to which was a bit annoying but you can’t do them all so we made our way home for about 4.30pm, a long, tiring, dusty and exhilarating day.
Back at the hotel we were straight down to the pool, it was busy down there, and had some food and drinks (it was happy hour..what would you expect??)
Tash couldn’t resist a cheap offer of a massage for about $13.00, which she said was excellent so she’s happy with that.
Got ready for the evening and also packed ready for moving on tomorrow then out into town, we tried to avoid Pub Street but still headed in that directly as it’s hard to miss, and we found a nice restaurant nearby so went in there and had two mains and rice and nice beers so that worked out well. Didn’t want a heavy night so that was sufficient and we popped into 7-11 to get some provisions for tomorrow as we will be travelling all day until about 9.00pm and want to make sure we’re not to buggered by lack of food and water.
A really great day, something I’ll remember for a very long time indeed.
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