Felt much better today so we headed back to see the major temples of Angkor Wat. Our tuk-tuk driver (mr ba) picked us up around 9 and we made the lovely drive up to the temple complex. I have to admit that being driven around all day for $15 is pretty nice!!!
We checked out the best of the best today: Angkor Wat, The Bayon, Angkor Thom, Terrace of the Elephants and our favorite Ta Prohm. It was hot though. Indescribably hot. We drank as much water as we could and still managed to go 8 hours without a bathroom break. This was only possible because we were constantly leaking fluid from our pores.
The temples:
Angkor Wat was amazing. There are much more beautiful temples here but the sheer size of Angkor Wat is awesome. It took us about 3 hours to get through it, though we took numerous breaks to avoid heat stroke. Oh and we didn't even get to go inside the main temple. I guess they picked today of all days to close it down for cleaning. Ugh.
The Bayon: probably in my top 4 temples here. This is the temple with all the stone heads carved on it. Its pretty tall and encompassed a very large area. Some really cool carvings all around the walls and plenty of places to get lost. Our only complaint was the smell. It seems to be a problem at many of the temples here: urine smell. I guess when nature calls nothing is sacred :(
Angkor Thom: this is just an enormous walled city with some spectacular old things to check out. The Bayon is on here as are some other popular places. The gates to get in are marvelous! Giant stone structures Just wide enough for an elephant (but the locals are able to cram an 80 passenger bus through).
Terrace of the Elephants: über-cool terrace a out 10 feet high with beautiful ornate elephants all over. The corners generally have 3 elephant heads coming out with long trunks reaching the ground.
Ta Prohm: definitely in my top 2. This I the quintessential Indiana Jones / Tomb Raider temple. The structure has been left largely as it was found last century. A jungle temple if there ever was one. Enormous trees have taken over everything and are destroying the temple. Perfect example of nature reclaiming the land. It would be so easy to spend a few hours here just getting lost in the crumbling halls and dark prasats. It also helped that we got here around 3:30'ish when the sun had started to fall and the crowds were dying down. We took a ton of pics here and did some rock climbing as well!!! Loved this temple!
We decided on a cuisine change for tonight since our dinners lately have been either pizza or fried rice. So we headed out to KFC!!! You read that right ... KFC! Had some 'real' chicken, French fries and a drink for $4.80! Oh and they had A/C!
Tomorrow we're gonna go horseback riding and maybe rent bikes. Should be a lazy day but who knows what the day will bring. Also gonna book our onward travel, probably down south I the beach somewhere.
Pics:
1) Carolyn at Ta Prohm
2) Ta Prohm
3) Rejected at Angkor Wat
4) The Bayon
5) Carolyn at Angkor Wat
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