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Published: February 24th 2010
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This morning we raced down for a quick breakfast as soon as the dining room opened at 7.00am. Luckily we are still not very hungry so we were happy to just have a quick slice of bread with jam before meeting Vi at 7.40am. We were aiming for 7.30am, but we’re still a bit slow and lethargic and we just couldn’t manage to get ourselves organised by 7.30am. It is lucky that Vi is so patient about sitting around waiting for us!!
After a 30 minute ride in the blissful cool of the morning we arrived at the East Gate of Preah Khan (Sacred Sword), another large temple complex beyond Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Although this is one of the less visited temples the children trying to sell us stuff were the most persistent yet!! They pestered and badgered us mercilessly to buy bracelets, etc, but we managed to resist their pleas.
It is not easy, but Kerry has told us in the past that buying ‘stuff’ you don’t want from them is counter-productive. Nathan also confirmed that encouraging them makes them more likely to skip school and miss out on an education. And it becomes harder and
harder for them to make a living selling their wares to the tourists as they get older and less urchin-like.
With the sun at our backs, we ventured into our second temple. Ongoing restoration work at Preah Khan means that it is in a much better state of repair than Ta Prohm. Once again it is hard to describe the temple in words - the photos are much more powerful.
We met Vi at the West Gate and he drove us to Ta Keo. This temple was never finished so there is little decoration, but it is still a very dramatic structure with four corner towers arranged around a 50 metre tall central tower. The ‘Lonely Planet’ guide says that no-one is certain why the work was never completed, but it seems likely that it was due to the death of Jayavarman V. However, for the more romantic at heart, Vi told us that the temple was never finished because it was struck by a thunderbolt. This was considered a very bad omen, so work ceased and was never resumed. There is simply no way of knowing which story is closest to the truth.
With our
energy flagging a bit we had Vi take us back to town for a massage. Before the massage we had to have our feet washed which is fair enough because it is impossible to keep them clean here. Honestly, I would have paid US$10.00 just to have my feet washed, it was so lovely to have them feeling fresh and clean again!!
However, after the foot wash we were escorted into one of the massage rooms and asked to change into pyjamas for our massage. Bernie just managed to fit into his very striking striped pyjamas!! We had asked for a hard body massage so they gave us a pretty good pounding with hands and feet. When the massage was done the women were very quick to ask for a tip so Bernie gave them US$1.00 each making the grand total for a one hour, full body massage to US$11.00 each - still very cheap! There are probably cheaper massages to be had, but we didn’t want to inadvertently end up in an establishment offering more than a massage!!!
Refreshed from our massage, we had Vi drop us back at the Kool Hotel for a relaxing afternoon. We
even managed a little bit of lunch today. We have been getting by on just breakfast and dinner as our stomachs continue to recover! So we had a tough afternoon doing a bit more lazing by the pool and relaxing in our room.
We even ventured into the town tonight for our dinner rather than take any more meals in our hotel. We ate at the Central Cafe where I ordered a pizza magareta and Bernie ordered fish and chips - since we are under doctor’s orders to avoid spicy food! Besides which, I’m still not sure that I feel quite up for anything too exotic.
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Wade & Valerie
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Great Reading
Hi Tracey & Bernie, Great reading your adventures, excellent photos Bernie, would love to see them sometime. We have a new little boy Manchester - Raven. We are off on three weeks holiday from Saturday, will catch up with you afterwards. Take care, Wade & Val.