Embedded Files
Cambodia Day 1
Today's Travel:
Car: 10 kms
Map: Today's trip
Met by our guide, we were taken to our hotel for the next few days, the Royal Angkor Resort. Very pleasant check-in with cold towels, a delightful lime juice drink and a lovely lounge to sit in while we went through the formalities.
We'd booked to get here a day early so nothing to do except check out the hotel and get rid of the jet lag, then get ready for our first taste of Khmer cuisine.
The view from our room
The view out the back. Note the size of the pool against the person at the side.
There are a lot of elephants in Cambodia. This one was at the far end of the pool
An elephant's eye view of the hotel
Dinner at Viroth's restaurant.
Cambodia Day 2
Today's Travel:
Walk: 2 kms
Car: 25 kms
Map: Today's trip (car), walking, car,
Today is our first Temple Day, specifically, the ancient temples of Angkor. This is another Bucket List item for us both so we're eager to get going. Our guide Barady picked us up and off we went. Something I hadn't really thought about was that the main temples are really just outside the town, so while it was just a short distance on the ground, it actually took ages due to this being the end of the Buddhist Pchum Ben Festival.
Consequently, all and sundry were out in their 'Sunday Best' to honour their ancestors at the temple, then have a picnic.
Not a bad place for a picnic.
We finally got to cross the moat to the first set of temples.
You may not be able to see them, but there were quite a few Lotuses (Lotii?) and Water Lilies in the moat. All delightfully peaceful. We entered by the East Gate.
Once we started walking, you realised how hot and sticky it was - my phone kept telling me that it was '31, feels like 38' and 'Humidity: 90%'.
Our first temple was more of a guard house, but after a few hundred metres more...
The triple towers of Angkor Wat.
Started in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple, it transformed towards the end of the 12th century to a Buddhist shrine and has continued as such to the present day.
Here are a few detail shots of the galleries.
a) Long gallery - about 400m across the whole facade with no supporting cross beams
b) One of the female carvings
c) 2 dancers, The reddish colour was added in a later dynasty to make the carvings 'look better'.
a) Tiny detail - this is about 75mm x 55mm or 3" x 2"
b) These look like they've been turned on a lathe, but they're actually all done by hand!
c) Temple goddess.makes an appearance
One of 4 pools, presumably for either religious or bathing purposes. No plumbing for filling or emptying them have been found.
Buddhist monk giving blessings in return for a donation.
Angkor Wat from the other side
We left via the South Gate with its good and bad spirits. These are the good ones all looking particularly righteous, while on the other side of the bridge...
...are the far more interesting bad guys.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse