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You should have seen poor Poev's face when we said last night that we indeed did want to start at 5am...and you should've seen mine when the alarm went off, LOL! To enter the area, you always have to drive through the ticket admission where you purchase tickets. This is the initial checkpoint and then they check your ticket at every temple as well. We pulled in at 5:10am to see masses of people getting off of busses, in line, etc. to purchase tickets but also thousands (literally) of moths flying everywhere...especially under the lit area where you must wait in line for tickets. I will say that we have been fortunate with the bugs here so far, they haven't been too bad, (annoying as bugs always are but not horrible). This however, this was something for the eye and even Matt looked over at me and said "that's intense, not sure I could do that." They were flying all around people's heads in a frenzy...crazy gross!
We wanted to see sunrise at Angkor and Matt was hoping for some good pictures, but as with all sunrises and sunsets they are luck of the draw. The sunrise pictures were not
what he had hoped, but again what I love about travel...I can't remember the last time I watched the sun rise. By that I mean literally sitting and watching from the time it was barely light to those quick seconds as the sun ascends above the horizon...it's remarkable and something we should all slow down (and wake up) to see more!
After the sunrise, we headed to Ta Prohm which outside of Angkor Wat itself is probably one of the most recognizable temples (also in Tomb Raider) because of the large Banyan trees that are growing amongst the ruins. We were so lucky to get there early as all of the other 5am tourists (what looked like thousands) were piling inside of Angkor Wat. There has been quite a bit of restoration done to temples to try and preserve, hold up collapsing structures, etc.... Having been to Egypt, you can see what a toll rain takes on structures like these. Again...you wonder what they were in their day? Anyway, Ta Prohm was fantastic and I am sure it will be one of our favorites after touring more of the temple sites.
We did a big loop of temples
A budding artist
She was drawing a picture in the dirt, we gave her a $1 and told her she was very good. to the East of Angkor including, Banteay Kdel, Pre Rup, Ta Som, Neak Pean, Preah Khan, and Mebon (yes, I needed the guide book to remember the names). By this time it was close to noon we were feeling pretty tired and hungry. Not to mention walking around these temples is no joke! It's just like when we went to Machu Picchu, I wonder how many accidents and potential deaths there are a year? You are scaling rocks, and up/down all sorts of "stairs" and formations walking around. It's tiring, but it makes you feel even more like a true explorer!
We went back to the hotel for breakfast, yet another perk of staying here. You can come back anytime before 2pm and still get your complimentary breakfast which is quite the spread! I think we ate like starving people and then laid down for a 2 hour nap that ended up being almost 3 :-/ We went for a quick swim in the pool and then met Poev to take us to Phnom Bakherg for sunset.
Phnom Bakherg is on the top of a "mountain," I use quotes here because I think it may be the only
large hill here in Siem Reap...it's pretty flat. But, walking up there felt like hiking in a sauna and when we reached the top to climb the stairs to the temple, I had to put on another top to cover my shoulders (Buddhist disgrace, LOL). So by the time we were at the top, top we were sweating bullets. We also realized that the sunset wasn't going to be great in the Angkor Wat direction because there was a huge thunderstorm rolling in and super dark clouds. Matt doesn't much care about regular sunset pics and there were 5,000 people up there, but at least it's the only place with a real aerial view of Angkor Wat. We headed down the mountain and encountered the rain storm on our tuk tuk drive back. It was actually kind of fun to get soaking wet like the rest of the locals, even though Poev kept offering to put the plastic zip covers down....we just lived it up and smiled in the rain like the rest of them do!
Dinner was Pub Street again at a place I read was one of the better stops. We ordered Fried Spring Rolls, Pork Fried
Rice, Pomelo Salad with Prawns (AMAZING), chicken with hot basil, and stir fried morning glory. Draft beers were $0.50, which brought our dinner bill to a whopping $14.50....we were stuffed for less than the price of 1 typical American meal (or 2 beers, LOL). We did a little shopping and I indulged in a foot massage from one of the many screaming vendors for a whole $2 for 30 min (awesome!).
Matt wandered around and took some photos of vendors selling bugs to eat (Mmm Mmm Good!). One of the standouts here and at the markets is Durian fruit. Now Matt LOVES the smell and I HATE it....It's the most disgusting fruits ever. Not only is it covered in spikes on the outside (side note: Flying from Thailand they had a sign that said notify airline security if you wish to bring as it could be used as a weapon, LOL!), but the fruit on the inside are in the shape of these gross little nodules....eew. Here is the Wikipedia Description....I think I'm married to a weirdo! LOL
"The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour that is strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people
regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance; others find the aroma overpowering and revolting. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage. The persistence of its odour has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia."
We just wandered around the area until it was time to meet Poev at 9:30pm, and again despite best intentions of travel blogging we felt exhausted from the heat and hiking so hit the sack.
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Tom
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I love the humidity
Sweat, bugs, and Durian flesh.....what else would anyone want....lol Sounds like the food was pretty good this trip. When was the last time you spent so much time either in a pool or the Ocean. I think you will sleep like babies on your flight home......safe journey...love mom and dad!