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Published: March 18th 2010
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Monday
We brought a 3 days ticket for 40 US$ to see the ruins of Angkor Wat. On the first day we left our Hotel at 5:30 am ( some still call it holiday) to see the sunrise. For the first day we hired a tuk tuk for 20 US$ for the whole day. Already on the street we could see, we were not the only ones, who had this idea. It looked like a rally with thousands of protesters, but almost all of them stayed about 500m away from the West-Gate, to watch the sunrise. This was our chance! With only few other tourists we entered Angkor Wat and had it almost for us alone. At the beginning it was still too dark to take photos but the atmosphere was incredible.
To Walk around Angkor Wat at sunrise with only very few other tourist is really amazing. It is mystic. It got even better when we left Angkor Wat on the East-Gate. We could watch how the sun changed the color of the buildings. Every minute it looked different, at the beginning Angkor Wat had a red touch, with the rising sun it turned into yellow and so on. Still
there where only few other tourists around, so it is possible to escape the crowd. After Angkor Wat we went to Tat Prom. This is the temple where several Hollywood movies were made and where giant trees are growing on top of the buildings. As if the nature wanted to show us that everything that is made by human beings has only a limited lifetime. The next Destination was Baron. What we find amazing is that really every temple has it own character and the atmosphere was always different. After enjoying Sunset at Angkor Wat we went back to our Hotel. It was a beautiful but also an exhausting day. Altogether we spend more than 12 hours driving and walking around the ruins.
A long day!
Tuesday
This morning I woke up with the feeling that something is wrong with my stomach. I don't want to go into the details but I must have eaten something that my stomach does not like.
But it did not prevent me from going to the Center of Siem Reap again. After walking for 2 hours, I gave up. I had even fever now. We went back to the hotel and I went
to bed again. I was totally exhausted. I slept until late evening but I felt better now.
Wednesday
I am, okay again!
Once again it proved how good it is to travel with your own nurse.
I think it was not the food that made me feel sick, it was more the sun. Obviously I was still not used to the sun and the heat. What a surprise after being here for only a few days. Probably we started too fast but how can someone start slowly when he is in Angkor Wat ? We just could not stop it and had to see as much as possible but my nosiness was not as strong as my body.
Once again we started with the sunrise and went to the east side of Angkor Wat. The sunrise was again awesome. After that we went to Preah Khan, some more old stones. Some huge trees where growing on top of the buildings. The atmosphere was very mystic. Only few other tourist were there so we really could enjoy the temple. We also went to Banteay Srei and to the Landmine Museum. It took a long time to get there and to
be honest it was not worth it. But maybe we have seen to many old stones by now.
But our favorite ruins are Angkor Wat, Bayon and Preah Khan.
It was good to come to Siem Reap and to see Angkor Wat and the other ruins. They are really one of the top highlights in Asia but why only in Asia and not in the whole world ? I did not expect to get so impressed.
I don't know very much about the background history of Angkor Wat and all the other temples.
The reason why Angkor fall is not quiet clear but for sure there must have been more than only one reason. One reason was the climate change in the 14. Century. The monsoon was shorter and it brought less rain. The same climate change that intensified the impact of the Black Death in Europe and China implicated the dramatic weakening of Angkor Wat. One of the other reason was the human inability to supply the area with enough water. Something like windmills were not known to the Khmer.
What I find very interesting is the fact that Angkor Wat and the Maya culture in
Central America more or less perished at the same time. Scientist think that there is a connection between both events.
Next stop Battambang
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Beata and Tomek
us At Home Abroad
great view;-)