2 more days of Angkor


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January 7th 2008
Published: January 7th 2008
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Hello from Siem Reap!
The last two days in Angkor have been just as incredible as the first. Yesterday we had a Tuk Tuk drop us off at a gate near where we ended the day before and treked through Wats for the better part of the day.
We first stopped at a couple of smaller temples that were nothing special besides being built around 1000 AD! It is fun to explore all the nooks and cranies, finding bas-reliefs that I hadn't seen before or walking through seemingly endless hallways with connecting rooms. It never gets old.
We then walked for what seemed like an hour to the next major temple, Ta Prohm. I was super excited to see this one because one of the pictures in the Lonely Planet showed a giant tree growing out of the top of one of the structure, with its roots flowing down to the ground. And I saw that! The whole temple had a very weathered atmospheric feel to it. It just seemed so ancient, even more so that the rest of the temples we have seen. Most likely it is because of the many trees growing out of the walls and building, and the abundance of moss that covers the stones. It all makes for a feeling of experiencing something that has adapted to its natural environment without any cleaning or manicuring by humans. I liked it.
We then walked for a long long time to reach another temple that was not built up, but very spread out, with many corridors and rooms linked together.
Then for sunset we took a Tuk Tuk to Angkor Wat to see how it looked in the fading light. Pretty much what you would imagine. The same thing, but with a tinge or orange. As I walked around the temple I had a nice conversation with a monk. He had been a monk for over a year, was from the country side, and now lives in a monastery with 26 others. He spoke broken English so we didn't quite understand every question we asked each other, but still it was a very tangible experience for me. I was talking with a monk and Angkor Wat! I mean comeon what could be better?
Today we wanted to see a couple more Wats, but they were pretty far apart so we hired a Tuk Tuk for the day, which is actually not that much more than taking a Tuk Tuk from Siem Reap and back. It cost about $12 in total.
Our first stop was the area of Angkor Thom, which we did not see all of when we were there the first day. We explored a step pyramid type Wat and then a smaller Wat with a few huge trees growing out of the steps. You can see from the pictures. Freaking amazing!
We then took our Tuk Tuk to Preh Kahn which is an enoromous flat Wat that had many passage ways to explore. Then we hit a Wat with some intertwining Naga. Sweetness. And relaxed at the last Wat for the day to watch the sunset. The names are all blending together so I can't recall the name, but most likely it had the word Preh or Wat in it.
Oh yeah and I tried some frog tonight. It was very boney and tasted like chicken. I don't recommend it because of all the work I had go through to get any of the meat. I'll let you know how my stomach handles it tomorrow.
Daniel


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