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Published: November 29th 2010
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Another day at Angkor was instore for us today. When we got up in the morning, we saw on the news that there had been a disaster at the Water Festival in Pnom Penh. Their festival lasted three days, and on the last day there had been a panic on a brdige when someone anounced it was about to collapse when it wasn't and over 350 people had been trampled or lost when they tried to escape by jumping into the river.
We were going to be back on the bikes again at some point during the day and our guide gave us the option of what we could do and how much cycling we wanted to fit in. To our surprise this cycling thing doesn't seem to be as popular as we thought as he confessed that he'd been a tour guide for around the past 10-15yrs and this was only his second ever time taking a group on bikes. That said, he did say he was enjoying it. We set off to the temple complex which was about 30km away. We didn't cycle the whole distance, but were able to see all the houses are built on stilts
in case of flooding, they have no electric and no water supply, so donations from foreign tourists and charities pay the $200 to install a well at a house and they use a car battery for electric that they keep having to charge up at a charging station further up the road. We also noticed how many houses have the national flag outside them, and seem to be very proud to be Cambodian. We passed some children selling handmade crafts, and they struck a note with Dad as one even followed him on her bike to sell them to him. We also saw that the women in these villages make and sell a lot of raffia ware along with sugar palm which they boil up and sell in solid or liquid form. Our guide took us to a very decorative temple he called the Pink Lady temple - Banteay Srei, because of the colour of the pink sandstone. It was unlike any of the other stone at Angkor and the detailed carvings were amazingly intricate on each of the buildings. Our guide explained the various stories depicted in the carvings and whilst only a small complex of buildings made up
the temple the intricate carvings made up for it as they were very impressive.
Once we had taken our time to look around we then were on the bicycles again to Phnom Bakheng where we saw where funerary activity took place. We were able to climb to the top of the temple complex, although the steps were rather challenging as they were not only steep, but deep as well, and see that they have let the surrounding vegetation continue growing rather than cut it back, as the temple used to be visible from other areas of Angkor, but is now covered by trees.
Next on the tour was a smaller temple Prasat Kravan, which is like a smaller version of Angkor Wat with five towers, and a reflection on a lake. This was one of Mum's favourite temples, and they were setting up for a dinner to be held within the temple grounds and floodlights. We headed back into town for lunch to the Foreign Correspondants Club, where we had a very nice lunch, and then continued to the next temple.
We walked upto the famous temple of Ta Prohm, made famous by the Tombraider films, and
even on the approach, it felt like it was a more mysterious than the other temples we had visited. Again built by King number 7, this was originally a Buddhist monestary. When discovered with the other temples by the French, a deliberate attempt was made to preserve Ta Prohm in its existing condition, and cutting down as little of the jungle as possible as it may have collapsed some of the buildings. As a result, the temple buildings remain smothered with the roots of giant banyan trees. There were lots of opportunity for photos, and some great trees spread over parts of the temple unlike anything else we had seen. You could certainly see why it was used for films.
After we had been to Ta Prohm, we returned to Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset from the top of the temple over the Angkor complex. Unfortunately, cloud covered the sunset, and despite waiting and hoping it would clear, it conspired against not just us, but the other hundred or so people that had gathered to watch as well.
We returned to our hotel, and arranged to meet later to go to the night market we had briefly
visted the night before. After working up an appetite and a definate thirst, we headed to Bar Street. After eating, we went to check out the 50cents a glass beer, and that was at almost every bar. Some were selling it for 75cents - expensive we thought!. The bar we visited also had tshirts that were a take on favourite brands, i liked Cambodia - probably the best temples in the world. Russ went to try a foot massage and pedicure, by dangling his feet in a fish tank and letting small fish munch at them! After a few beers, we went back to the hotel as we had a early start and long drive to the capital in the morning.
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