Temples of Siem Reap

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Sun's brother Sang picked us up early at 5:00 am so that we could experience sunrise at Angkor Wat. Approaching the temple in darkness was mystical, watching the sunrise over the spires was breathtaking. The complex itself is extensive and the largest of all the temples. This 12th century relic is full of symbolism, there are many detailed carvings depicting Hindu mythology of Heaven and Hell and life eternal such as the churning of the the ocean of milk. We visited many other temples till Sunset, I will only mention some here. I really liked Ta Prohm for its tall trees with their huge roots that have entangled themselves among the ruins. There is an undescribable atmosphere here, so close to the jungle, there are many butterflies flying around of all shapes and sizes. Leaves fall gracefully all around you from these tall amazing tress, the place is beautiful. Another impressive temple is Bayon within Angkor Thom. The many towers (52 to be exact) with their huge craved faces are unique and seem to stare at you all around. I like Ta Keo, which unlike the other temples is undecorated but has many levels all reachable by stairs. Our day at the temples was long but out of this world we must have seen over 6 temples too many to name all distinct and to think there are many more we didn't see. We definately hit the big ones though. During our drive we stopped to feed some monkeys, Dapri was more brave than I . Before we ended our day we invited Sang to dinner and he took us to a local Cambodian restuarant in the countryside. We ate on the ground which is traditional in our own bungalow over the water with hammocks for resting, it was a great meal and an awesome end to our day.

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