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Published: November 23rd 2007
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Phnom Bakheng, Cambodia
Sunrise at Phnom Bakheng. We flew to Siem Reap & had no problems checking into a nice cheap hotel with hot water showers since we had to do without for our last bit in Laos. We made our plans for touring Angkor Wat & started at 5 AM the next morning. We headed to Phnom Bakheng in our tuk-tuk to see the sunrise. It was nice & peaceful, cool air, very few tourists and beautiful colors on the stone as the sun rose like a big pink-orange globe in the sky. We ate our packed breakfast as we took in the view and snapped a few more pictures before heading down the hill to the next site.
A bit down the road we stopped at the South Gate of Angkor Thom before heading to Bayon. Bayon has some amazing bas-reliefs but is really more known for the 216 enormous faces that seem to be watching you from every direction. It was still early in the morning, so the sunlight on the faces made for some nice pictures. We then spent a bit of time looking around in the rest of Angkor Thom before heading to Preah Khan. Preah Khan was different than the other
Angkor Thom, Cambodia
South gate of Angkor Thom. temples we had seen so far in that it had a very flat layout and a maze of corridors. Much of the stone in the temple had hues of red from the sandstone & was covered in green lichen making the colors amazing.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant stall along the road near Preah Khan. The food was pricey & only ok, but it allowed us to continue looking through temples while avoiding the crowds because many of tourists go back to the city center for lunch. After lunch, we saw Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon & Pre Rup. We really liked Ta Som, where we had our first glimpse of a tree growing right on the eastern gate of the temple. It's really amazing how the tree sends it's roots right through and around the stone. Pre Rup was also nice and would have been a good spot to see sunset, but we would have had to wait quite a bit there, so instead decided to have our first look at Angkor Wat in the waning sunlight.
Many tourists were coming out of Angkor as we headed in & we didn't really stop to
explore Angkor at all, just tried to get to the highest spot to be able to see the sunset over some of the trees. Angkor Wat is not known as a sunset spot, but it was nice to be there when it wasn't all run over with other tourists. By the time we got back to our hotel, it was after 6 PM & we had spent 13 hours exploring the Temples of Angkor on our first day. We were pooped!
We decided to start a bit later the next morning & rented a car to take us to some of the more remote temples. We started 32 km north of Siem Reap at Banteay Srei, which is considered to be the jewel in Angkor's artistic crown. It is small compared to some of the other Temples we had seen, but the intricate carvings were so elaborate & well preserved/restored that it was impossible not to be impressed. We arrived there by 8 AM, but wished we had started a bit earlier because the lighting would have been better & it wouldn't have been as crowded. We then drove on to Kbal Spean, known as the River of a
Thousand Lingas, where we hiked about 30 minutes into the hills to see some really intricate river-bed carvings. It was a nice change of pace from all the Temples we had been looking at. We then ate lunch back in town before heading southeast to see the Roluos Group, the location of the capital before it was moved to Angkor. The temples are older & the biggest attraction there, Bakong, was copied by many of the later Angkor creations. We then headed back to Angkor Wat for another sunset, but this time we were unable to take any pictures because we forgot the camera in the car & had no idea where the driver was. We just ended up relaxing while taking in the views after two long days of exploring.
The next day we slept in & did a half day after lunch to see the Temples we still hadn't managed to take in. We rode a tuk-tuk to Angkor Wat & for the first time spent some time actually looking at the Temple. We walked around the grounds to see the Wat from different angles, spent time examining the bas-reliefs and took in the central temple complex.
Bayon, Cambodia
One of the many faces of Bayon. It was a great time to see the Temple even though it was during the heat of the day because again all the tour groups are in town for lunch, so there were not many people there at all. Next was Ta Prohm, an Indiana Jones-esque temple where Tomb Raider & Two Brothers were filmed. It hasn't been restored at all & the jungle encroaches it everywhere. There are trees growing on many walls & roots in crazy formations. Really makes you realize the power of nature. We headed back to Bayon for sunset, but were a bit disappointed because it was a cloudy day & there wasn't any good afternoon light on the stone faces.
Our last day exploring Angkor we decided to rent bikes & ride around. We left the hotel at 4:45 AM to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. The bike ride wasn't as tough as I thought it would be, but we did have a stretch of road where there were no street lights & it was pitch black out. Ashley donned a headlamp & lead the way. The early bike ride was so worth it because it was very beautiful to see the colors
Banteay Srei, Cambodia
Such intricate carvings! change as the sun rose behind the famous towers and to see the reflection of the Wat in the ponds in front of the Wat. We originally weren't going to see sunrise at Angkor Wat because of the hoards of people that supposedly come to do the same, but it actually wasn't that crowded feeling because the complex is so big. We definitely recommend sunrise at Angkor Wat, it really was amazing. We then biked to Preah Khan to look at it again before heading back into town for lunch & relaxing the rest of the day.
The next day we rode a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Luckily this ride was smooth with no incidences. Once in Phnom Penh, we had to spend a day chilling in the room because Laura got sick with traveller's diarrhoea. When she felt a bit better, we visited Tuol Sleng genocide museum (known as S-21). It used to be a high school before 1975 when Pol Pot's security forces turned it into a detention center. We also visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where the S-21 prisoners were taken to be killed & buried in mass graves. There's a
Banteay Srei, Cambodia
Nice reflection in the water surrounding the Temple. stupa that serves as a memorial & has a glass panel with over 8,000 skulls found during excavations. There were approximately 17,000 men, women & children killed there between 1975 & 1978. Such a sad history.
We also visited the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda. It had a similar look & feel to Bangkok's Royal Palace Complex, but on a smaller scale. There's tons of glitz & glam, the Silver Pagoda is named for the silver tiled floor & houses a solid gold Buddha that has 2,086 diamonds attached, the largest is 25 karats! So extravagant...
We didn't have time to explore the countryside of Cambodia, but enjoyed our time there nonetheless. Next stop is Southern Vietnam...
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Emma
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Beautiful
I can't wait to get there! Thanks for all the ideas.