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Published: November 18th 2008
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First and foremost let me try and explain to you how excited I am to finally be in Cambodia. Before Katy and I left for this trip, we would go down to Borders Books and sit for hours looking through the different travel books and everytime I went there I always took out the book on Cambodia first. Every single time! I don't really know why I had a crush on Cambodia but I just did. I was interested in the culture and I wanted to see all the different temples. Well, after only 3 days here I have experienced quite a lot and have seen many of the temples inside Angkor Wat.
I flew into Siem Reap, Cambodia on the 15th of November (Katy arrived earlier in the day and picked me up from the airport) and as soon as I stepped foot outside the airports doors, I fell in love. The air was warm and humid and the people were extremely friendly. Minus the fact that there were a million bugs outside the airports doors, I was happy to be here.
We are staying in an area called Psar Chaa which is known to have many "french-era"buildings.
It looks like a smaller version of the "French Quarters" in Louisiana...you know, Mardi Gras. Anywho, we are staying at a place called Shadow of Angkor and the people that run the hotel are super nice and are willing to help you with anything that you need, oh and the internet that they have at the hotel is free!!! The only downside is that it is super slow and that's almost an understatement. But I use to check my e-mail and do other quick little things. For my blogging needs, I had to go somewhere else and pay but oh well, who cares. It's only like $2.
And that's the other thing! They use American money here. It's crazy. I forgot how funny our money looks compared to that of Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. Very strange haha. Cambodia has it's own money called Riel and it's like $4,000 Riel to our $1. Usually if you pay for something and you need change back, they will give it to you in Riel...I think that's how you spell it.
Okay, now I feel like I'm babbling...I'll get to the point of my blog which has pictures to go with it =)
I'm sure some of you have heard of Angkor Wat and if you haven't...no worries cause I'll tell you about it:
Angkor Wat is the largest and most breathtaking of the monuments in Angkor. It is also widely believed to be the largest religious structures in the world. Angkor Wat is famous for its Apsaras (also known as heavenly nymphs). Many of the temples of Angkor, including Angkor Wat, are under construction. They are being restored daily.
On our first day of temple seeing, we went to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (Tom) and Ta Prohm.
Angkor Thom is about 10 square km. in size and was build by Angkor's greatest king. At the city's height, it may have supported up to one million people in the surrounding region. Angkor Thom is enclosed by a wall 8 meters high and 12 km in length. I'm telling, this place is huge! It took us about 3 hours to walk around it and take pictures. There are many smaller temples within Angkor Thom such as Bayon, Baphuon, the Royal Enclosure and Phimeanakas, Terrace of the Leper King, Terrace of the Elephants, and many others. The ones I mentioned were the
ones that we saw.
Ta Prohm is a temple of towers, closed courtyards, and narrow corridors. This monument of Angkor has literally been swalled by the jungle. There are giant trees growing out of and on top of the temple. It's actually very breathtaking. This is also the temple in Cambodia where Angelina Jolie filmed a portion of her Tomb Raider movie (the first). And yes, of course I took pictures of that part =)
Today we went to Preah Khan, Preah Neak Pean, Ta Som, and the Eastern Mebon.
Preah Khan is one of the largest complexes at Angkor. It is a maze of vaulted ceilings and beautiful hand carvings on the stone walls. This temple and Ta Prohm (from the day before) are my two favorite so far minus the fact that I totally ate it today while walking on the mossy covered stone walkway...yeah it was hilarous.
Preah Neak Pean is pretty much a giant pool surrounded by four other smaller pools. It wasn't that exciting but I took pictures anyway =)
Ta Som is considered the "Donald Trump"of ancient Cambodia (but neither Katy nor myself can really figure out why). The most
impressive feature at Ta Som is the gigantic tree that completely overwhelms one of the entrance ways.
And lastly...the Eastern Mebon. It would have been on an islet in the center of the Eastern Baray but it is now very much on dry land. You will notice in the pictures that the bricks are dotted with neatly arranged holes which helped to attach the original plasterwork that is no longer there. The base of the temple is guarded at its four corners by carved stone elephants.
Alright, I hope this is all good information and I hope you enjoy the pictures. Love you and miss you all!!!
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Kim
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So Exciting
Cambodia? How very exciting. They boys are loving the pictures and we're enjoying the history lessons! Oh, the Full Moon party looked like LOTS of fun!! Stay safe!! xoxo Kim