More Temples

We completely wore ourselves out seeing Angkor Wat. So we didn’t get up so early the next day. Mr. Sith came to get us at about 9.00 and we went off to see Preah Khan which is one of the furthest Temples on the royal circuit (as they call it). Preah Khan is a huge sprawling complex that was once a Buddhist University. With over 1000 monks in it’s walls. It goes on and on and some of the carving and stone work are amazing. Some of the buildings have fallen down but again there is a lot of reconstruction going on…. It was fun to go from room to room and be out of the morning sun…. and there were no huge stairs to climb…
We then went on to Preah Neak Pean Which they think was a type of hospital…. There’s not a lot there. The Temple stands in the middle of a large pond area which was once in the middle of a Boray (Reservoir /Lake) which would have fed Preah Khan with their water. This is now all dried up and in a very run down state compared to some of the other temples. There are also alt of bullet holes in the stone work left over from the war…. As we left here Aisha was really ill so we decided to call it a day and get her to bed….
While the girls rested…… Beat each other up and fought over which Nintendo games they wanted!!!!…. Russ went off for a wander to see Wat bo which was just round the corner from the guest house. This is an Active Wat which he said was very pretty.
We decided Aisha was well enough to go out again the next day. (You can also only use your Temple tickets on consecutive days… which is hard work) So we thought we would go a bit further a field to Banteay Srei. All the guide books said this was one of the best Temples to see as it is made from pink sandstone which has held the carving a lot better than many of the other temples…. They are not wrong. It is well worth the hours drive in a Tuk tuk to see….. And it was nice to get out of the town although you still get coaches of Japanese Tourist and Hawkers selling Scarves
We were going to go to Kbal Spean ( The Lake of 1000 Lingas… which are phallic symbols carved in to the river bed to make the water fertile) which is another 10 klm up the rd and then a half hour trek through the jungle. As Aisha had been ill we thought it best not to….
On the way back to town we visited East Mebon which is one of the older temples. Pre Rup which is huge and has grasses growing out the top of it’s towers… The girls were both fed up by then so we left them with Mr. Sith as we ran over the rd to have a quick look…. When we got back they were surrounded by kids with their scarves and post cards all giggling at this funny western girls beating each other up in the back of the Tuk Tuk… finally we went to Ta Prohm…..
Ta Prohm ia where Tomb Raider was filmed and it is stunning. The jungle has taken over much of the site which is close to the size of Angkor Wat. It is so big we got lost . Unfortunately Russ’s battery ran out on his camera but I got loads of pictures. There are HUGE Bayon trees growing out of many of the buildings, and there are long corridors that run from one end of the site to the other. Much of it has fallen down but there are numbered stones all over the place where they are rebuilding a lot of it. I heard a gide saying there were over 30 towers there although many had collapsed. One of the best things about Ta Prohm is the size… you can wander round and see very few tourists cos it is just so big….
The Following day we stayed in bed very late and didn’t do a lot. We visited the new Museum which only opened a month beforehand. It has one room with 1000 Buddha’s in which is quite something and some of the Buddha’s that had not been looted from the Temples. It is still being put together so there were a few empty spaces but it was nice to see some of the stuff that would have been in the temples. So much has been looted over the years it is very sad to think many pieces have been lost forever.
We had an exhausting but fantastic time in Siem Reap. Our Guest house (The Two Dragons) was great and our Tuk tuk driver was excellent. If you go there I can recommend them both….
We are now in Ayuthaya in Thailand. Before we head to Laos… Another Blog will follow soon I am sure…. But I have sore fingers so I think it will be someone else’s turn….
If you are ever there use Mr. Sith as his commentary and comments were excellent and he is also very reliable. His contact details are sithsuon@yahoo.com (855)12980578

---

---