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Published: July 13th 2010
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Outside the Bayon Temple of Ankor Thom
please notice Lucy's cotton bag in true traveler style!
What with Fliss' pink one and pink t shirt the tuk tuk driver could spot us for miles. Ankor Wat was amazing and our experience was helped by the very jolly tuk tuk driver we had who obviously thought we looked liked dizzy girls who could get lost around this vast ancient city, so every time we exited a temple he would be there waving frantically with a big Cambodian smile.
We wandered in and around the temples - the cool damp stone once inside was a welcome relief from the burning midday sunshine. Cambodians clearly do not have the same priority for preservation as we do in the UK as you were practically allowed to climb everywhere! Some of the stairs up to the temples summit were extremely steep and I could not help giggling at Fliss at one point looking like a granny, balancing her pink bag looking like a tourist looser trying to get down the steps...(as I said they were soooo steep!)
It was a shame to see their efforts to restore some parts of the temples - it clearly looked like a 4 year old was allowed to play with some cement and try to replicate sculpted examples of other areas of the temples. We also noticed the Cambodians used this ‘cement’
style to restore some ancient artefacts in the museum - an elephants trunk made from cement had been badly attached to an ancient relic of Ganesha giving the trunk a two toned coloured effect. We found this highly amusing and came to the conclusion that a museum worker had obviously knocked it over, broken it and had restored it- tad-aaaaaa!!!!
We were really glad that we had gone to the Ankor museum the day before to learn about Ankor, its kingdom and the theory behind all the temples - some of the stories/legends behind their beliefs were really fascinating. There were other temples but obviously I have been given strict instruction from Fliss that this blog cannot become too boring and basically sound like a lonely planet guide!
That night we decided to venture out - we literally got 5 minutes down the road (dirt track) when a storm came up and the heavens opened. Fliss the fully fledged backpacker had a cagoule at the ready and proceeded to put it on as we took shelter in an unused shop unit which had no electricity and was pitch black. I couldn’t find my cagoule when i was packing
Ankor Wat
The start of our adventures of Ankor at 6am! in the uk so improvised with my ruck sack waterproof cover - I was a cross between batman and a looser!! It didn’t keep me dry (no you don’t say!)
We stayed in the darkness for 10 minutes but the rain was not letting up - I seriously could have washed and rinsed my hair the down pour was so strong. As we waited we soon discovered that this dark haven was also haven for cockroaches, frogs, geckos and anything trying to get out of the rain -eeeeuuuuuuuuu. After standing there like waterproof freaks for 20 minutes the storm (although by now was impressive to watch) did not let up so we decided to ‘leg it’ back to the guesthouse. In doing so i stood on a thorn which got lodged in my big toe - screaming and hopping this Cambodian couple took pity and allowed us refuge under their ice cream sales brolley, offered me a chair and I pulled out the thorn. Still in pain i limped back (could not run as proposed) and hence got drenched. (very glad for the Germoline I bought with me!)
As we reached the guest house the owner and his family
thought our wet-patched clothing was hilarious- I then discovered that my entire bottom was wet and it did indeed look like I had, had a little toilet accident!!! The owner (well the husband) said that the storm was a gift from God and it was lucky! - yep great thanks this did not help.
Loser Lucy Tour Guide Facts:
The temples of Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 AD, represent one of humankind's most astonishing and enduring architectural achievements. There are more than 100 stone temples in all structures at Angkor today which are the surviving remains of a grand religious, social and administrative metropolis whose other buildings - palaces, public buildings, and houses - were built of wood and are long since decayed and gone.
Angkor Wat, built during the early years of the 12th century by Suryavaram II, honors the Hindu god Vishnu and is a symbolic representation of Hindu cosmology. Its five inter-nested rectangular walls and moats represent chains of mountains and the cosmic ocean.
The next temple we visited at Ankor was Ta Prohm- this has been left as it was found, preserved as an example of what a tropical forest will do to an architectural monument, the temple has been left in the stranglehold of trees. Built in the later part of the 12th century by Jayavarman VII, who was Buddhist has allowed for a very different structure and representation.
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Alex
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Ankor Wat looks amazing - sounds like you're having a fab time (thorns and storms not included). You look like the last picture everytime you come back from the bathroom, one day you will get the hang of taps :)