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Published: November 27th 2010
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We met our actual guide in the hotel lobby, and the driver from the night before. He explained that we would go to the entrance gate by bus and then take the bikes from there. When we got to the ticket booth, we had to have a photos taken which were digitally scanned onto our own passes which we had to keep with us to show at the entrance to each of the temples we were going to see.
Once we had our passes, we got onto the bikes and set off for the first of the temples he wanted to show us in the complex, which was Angkor Thom meaning Great City. We cycled past Angkor Wat. Founded by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century, this was the largest city in the Khmer Empire at the time and is protected by 8m high wall which is 7.5 miles long with a wide moat and impressive causeway. Along the causeway leading to the south gate is a snake with seven heads. Over the top of the gateway, and forming the reason this temple complex differs from Angkor Wat are the four faced Buddha heads. We cycled through the
gateway towards the temple, and as we walked round we saw lots of carvings on the walls depicting daily life and also the story of the battles and victories over other civilisations which are shown as having differeny hairstyles, length of ears and facial hair. It was reminicent of what we had seen at Kajaharo in India. There were lots of the four faced heads to see and photograph (over 200), and we continued to follow the temple round. We saw two terraces - the Leper King and Elephant Terrace, and what we realised is that there are a lot of the aspects of the temple which have been renovated over the past century by the French, and in some cases not very well, and where they have had bits missing, they have just filled in in with a bit of concrete. Lots of the original important statues are not here at Angkor, but in the main national museum in the capital Pnom Penh.
After this, we cycled to one of the many restaurants that are located within the complex which was run by a French chap. As usual this was a set menu, but with a French BBQ
theme rather than Cambodian, and he recommended we stay away from the chicken as it was a bit tough as they run around a lot. It was one of the nicest meals we had tasted, and a welcome change to noodles.
After lunch, we cycled the short distance to the main event - Angkor Wat. It was equally as impressive as Angkor Thom and the iconic towers published in so many magazines and many post cards and have even made it on to the national flag were just as we had hoped when we booked the trip over a year ago. We walked over a moat via another causway and one thing that strikes you is the size of the place. Angkor Wat literally means "City which is a Temple", and is the single largest religious monument in the world. The layout is based on a sacred design of the Hindu cosmos. A five towered temple in the shaped like a lotus bud and representing Mount Meru, the mythical abode of the gods and the centre of the universe stands in the middle of the complex. The outer walls represent the edge of the world, and the moat is
the cosmic ocean. There are over 2000 engravings of apsaras or celestial dancing girls. Lots of the panel tell Hindu stories such as that of the moon eclipse and also the struggles between demons and gods. We were given time to climb to the top of the central sanctuary, and take pictures, including one with the reflection in the moat.
That night, our guide arranged for us to go to a night of traditional Cambodian dancing with a buffet. The food was a mixture of all sorts, and the noodle soup was made to order by one of the chefs portion by portion. The dancing was a little of one of Cambodia's favourite sayings - same same but different. After the meal, we headed off towards where the driver had indicated the night market was. After having a quick look round, we headed off for a drink before making it back to the hotel.
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sherry
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Fab pickys love the buddist monks! make sure you're wrapped up when you get home its freezing here!!