Advertisement
Published: June 13th 2010
Wednesday morning we had a few hours to see some final sights in Phnom Penh. Our first visit was to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. There aren't many pictures to share as the inside of the temples were off limit to cameras. The architecture was stunning and we saw an impressive collection of gold and silver statues, mainly of Buddha. The floor in the Silver Pagoda was cover with silver tiles.
The bus ride to Siem Reap was uneventful, long but rather comfortable. We found our lodging and had a decent night's rest at the Golden Mango. Our travel from the bus stop to the hotel gave us our first taste of the extreme poverty outside the tourist areas of the country. Enormous piles of garbage were pushed into the center of the street. Many of the streets off the main roads were dirt and filled with potholes.
Thursday was our first visit to Angkor Wat. We hired a guide and tuk tuk driver for the day and set off for the massive complex. It's difficult to describe the enormity of Angkor Wat. There are numerous temples that are built throughout the area that was first developed some
1200 years ago. We opted for the small tour that focused on three main areas: Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm.
We started with Angkor Thom which is the largest structure in Angkor measuring some 900 square kilometers. Our guide showed us the highlights and told us much of the history. The pictures from this section are of Bayon, Baphoun, Terrace of the Leper King, and the Elephant Terrace.
The next section was Ta Prohm. It is the only temple that was cleared of most of the growth but they left some of the trees intact. These trees are known as the 'strangler fig' and grow on top of an existing tree eventually taking it over. Part of the movie Tomb Raider was shot here.
The final visit of the day was to Angkor Wat. Although the entire site is know as Angkor, Angkor Wat is only one of many temples throughout the complex. A depiction of the temple is on the Cambodian flag and is the symbol most associated with the country. Depending on the view you can see all five or only three of the main spires. Unfortunately there was some repair work going
on and green scaffolding can be seen from most of the pictures outside the temple.
Friday we hired our driver from Thursday and continued our tour of Angkor. Our first visit was to Banteay Srei about 40 km from the hotel. This site is known for its pink sandstone buildings whose intricate carvings have withstood the test of time. The pictures can't do it justice but like everything else at Angkor the craftsmanship was really incredible. We then rode another 9 km up to see the 1000 Lingas carvings at Kbal Spien upon the suggestion of some Canadian travelers we met along the way. It was a grueling climb up to the top but the site offered some very interesting carvings, mostly underwater, that were based on Hindu Gods.
We spent today, Saturday, on a miserable bus ride to Bangkok. We made it and I'll report on Bangkok in a few days.
When I added pictures for this entry the captions got all mixed up so many of them are not accurate. I might try to fix them when I time later. It's just a major hassle to attempt now.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0777s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
SooKerLee
MAHAMAD SHUKRI SAID
Phnom Penh
How to go to HCM city in vietnam from Phnom Penh ?