Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

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After a little while without much culture Mark and I decided to go all out and visit some of the finest Temples in the world. We have not been dissapointed. 9 temples in one day took it out of us but they are incredible to see.

We started the day at 6.30am and got ourselves downstairs to find our driver for the day, known as Sukon, I think! He drove us in his little Tuk Tuk to see Angkor Wat, the largest and grandest of all the temples. It features on the Cambodian flag. After paying the hefty $20 to get in we walked all around and marveled in its glory. The Taj Mahal may be impressive but this is a very close 2nd. The scale of the temple is incredible. IT is believed that 1 million people lived in the area at a time when only 50000 lived in london.

After this we headed to the Angkor Thom area. The next stop was the west gate into the vast city. The entrance contains 54 gods on one side and 54 demons on the other. The actual entrance consists of four massive stone heads which face in four different directions. Amazing!

Next was the Bayon temple, with its 54 towers and 216 partially smiling faces it too is impressive. Every where you look there are faces looking back at you.

After this we went to the Terrace of Elephants, which was used as a giant viewing platform for public ceremonies, only to find it shut for a very special reason. The King of Cambodia had decided to pay a little visit to give a speech and meet with some french Diplomats. Apparently no one ever sees him so we felt very special as he drove past us in his Mercedes surrounded by bodyguards and being cheered by thousands of people. It made the day just a little better.

Once we calmed down we found our buddy who drove us to Kleangs and Prasat Suor Prat, 2 smaller temple buildings near each other.

Next was Ta Prohm which was surreal to see. The entire temple is a cracked and broken ruin with trees growing through the rocks and out of the top of some of the buildings. Amazing thing to see.

After a great little lunch we headed to Ta Keo and climbed all the way to the top. I have pretty long legs but the steps were monstrous and like a ladder. After carefully negotiating up and back down we found Sukon, we always managed to miss him and he would run after us, strange.

Banteay Kdei and Sra Song we4re next on the list, more ruined temples but with a massive lake nearby.

Last stop was a small but well preserved monument and then we were off back home.

Feeling very tired from traipsing around and clambering over ruins we relaxed in the hotel for a while before heading out for a meal and a few drinks.


meanwhile.....

Dale has not done any culture for a long time.... I had managed to keep Bijal in bed all-day, feeling rough from the previous nights antics.

Fudge and I took a long walk in the morning/afternoon and waited for the arrival of Kaveh. Kaveh was meant to have been in Bangkok on the 1st, but had managed to confuse am and pm and had therefore missed his flight! When he finally did arrive, we got him settled in and went out for some food.

Somehow, we ended up again on the street of Khao San drinking in the same cocktial place. However, our drinking group has now increased in size further still. Bijal had befriended a canadian guy in Gulliver's and he had joined for the evening. Our group now had seven people from seven different countries. Kind of nice really!

The evening was ended in the most disturbing way possible. Corey, Kaveh, Fudge and I decided to go and see what Bangkok REALLY has to offer. We hit one of the red light district and went to one of the 'shows'. Probably scared for life, the taxi ride home was a lot quieter than the trip there! Not sure whether corey will ever talk with us again!

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