Day 53 - Temple'ing in Siem Reap

Woke up at 4:00am and tripped downstairs to meet our tuk-tuk driver...who never showed up!

Luckily there was another driver hanging around, hoping for such a chance, so we hopped aboard his tuk-tuk and cruised out to Angkor Wat for the sunrise.  Cambodians can visit Angkor Wat and surrounding park area for free but tourists are charged $20 for one day, $40 for three days and $60 for a week.  The ticket seller, while taking our pictures for our passes, told Tyler that he could almost pass for a local, that beard and lovely tan coming in handy once again!

These lily pads only open in the morning!

Groups of tourists all vying for the best shot

Back end of Angkor Wat

Our driver showed us where a family of monkeys live, right next to the Wat

Stopping for ice cold water

As we were leaving Angkor Wat our driver, Map (pronounced Mau) promised to take us to his favorite temples after a lovely broken English conversation of, "How many people you like?", Tyler: "What? I don't understand.", Map: "How many people you like to see today?", Tyler: "More temples less people", which Map understood immediately.

We cruised for about 25 minutes in the Cambodian countryside; watching kids trek their way to school, farmers start their day at the rice paddies and women starting fires in their huts.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

A huge man made lake the King used to swim in (its just for him)

Our first temple did not disappoint. Banteay Srei is a 10th century Cambodian temple devoted to the Hindu god Shiva and is known for its intricate carvings.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ty and Map

Red Sandstone = amazing carvings

bas relief carvins

Each pillar around the temple was decorated with these carvings

Inner sanctuary

Replica statues guarding the inner sanctuary

Someone ripped this guy off!

Amazing carvings

All throughout our tour of the temple we could hear music playing...we walked out the back entrance and watched these musicians for awhile, they were all land mine victims and very talented. 

By the time we finished Banteay Srei it was almost 10:00am and tour group bus traffic was horrendo.  We had a quick bite to eat at a newly opened restaurant and when I found the restroom I ran into these two charmers.  They were initially terrified of me, and even after I crouched down and make high pitched noises, this was as close as they got to me.

Watching me leave...

Map pulled up to a roadside hut and introduced us to a woman who was stirring this pot.  She was making palm sugar and Map explained the procedure to us: farmers make several slits into the stem of a palm tree and over time they collect the sap. The sap is boiled until it thickens, then it is shaped into little discs for cooking!

We pulled up to Pre-rup temple, which was built by the Khmer king Rajendravarman in 961 or early 962 and translated means to "turn the body".  Cambodians believe most of the funerals in the area were conducted at this temple.

Entrance to Pre-Rup

View from the top of Pre-Rup

Bas-relief carvings

Devata (demi-goddess) carving

Sitting lions 

As the clouds moved the light in the temple shifted dramatically...gorgeous!

Beauty little side temple

We climbed up to where those folks are behind Ty

Who's there!?!

Could use with a new sign...this one does say Pre-Rup but was pretty faded

After a few swigs of ice cold water we zipped off to Ta Prohm temple, which is famous for being used in the filming of Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie) and I was most excited to see it!  It was built in the Bayon style in the late 12th and 13th centuries and was originally called Rajavihara.

A Devata standing amongst the rubble

Troop of musicians who are also landmine victims playing traditional music

Lythraceae tree

Walkway leading up the temple

One entrance to the temple

Reinforced entryway - most of the buildings are being taken back by the trees!

bigger Lythraceae

Ornate carvings of dancing apsara's

Close-up of same pic

Crane helping put the temple back together...

Walking through the construction zone/temple - vines dangling everywhere!

A silk-cotton tree or a thitpok crawling over the temple
 The smaller trees are either the strangler figs or the Gold Apples.

Boggy marsh next to the entrance of Ta Prohm

Tombraider tree!

Datiscaceae tree

Temple in ruin

Worker taking a break

We had to elbow our way through 100 Asian tourists to get a shot...

Ty patiently enduring the photo...

 

On our way out of Ta Prohm...mayhem!

Trying to avoid the crowds, we drove over to Ta Keo Temple, which is being restored by the People's Republic of China.  Ta Keo is the state temple of Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman, who built Pre-Rup!

After Ta Keo we were starting to flag so got some ice cream bars and drove up to the Victory Gate, which is the entrance to Angkor Thom complex.  Angkor Thom is also known as the Great City and is the last capital city of the Khmer empire.  In the late 12th century King Jayavarman VII had the temple built with the Bayon Temple in the center of the city.

Headless Buddha's (removed by the Khmer Rouge)

This gate has several Buddha faces carved into it - it is magnificent!

We climbed up the Gate for a closer look

Resting 

Taking a small break - yes we are lost!

Found this pretty lake and lost of mozzie's!

Back on track at the Angkor Thom Wall

Terrace of the Leper King

Elephant Terrace

Walls and walls of elephants

Naga's and Deva's!

Baphuon Temple which was built in mid-11th century and is a 3 tiered mountain built as the state temple of Udayadityavarman II dedicated to the Hindu God shiva.

Looking towards Victory Gate

It was quite a climb!

Hallowed halls of Baphuon

Big Buddha temple outside of Baphuon

The Bayon's was built in the 12th century and its most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and massive stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak.

Many faces of Bayon

How many faces can you spot?!?!

Buddha looking over my shoulder at the guidebook

South Gate of Angkor Thom complex

We met Map outside of Baphuon and after some pics at the South Gate we cruised for about 5 minutes to get back to Angkor Wat.  The sky was looking very gloomy and it did rain for about 5 minutes (a welcome relief) as we trudged up to the huge complex.  Map was very excited to show us around the jewel of Siem Reap but after so many temples, a lot of sun and a ton of walking we were both a little temple-d out.  After refueling with a Coke and two ice cream bars we started our trek through Angkor Wat.

 
Pathway leading up to Angkor Wat

View of the top tower from within the Temple

Women wearing tank tops are not allowed to climb up to the tower, Ty and Map did the climbing for me while I rested at the bottom

let's play Where's Megan!

Buddha along a corridor - his head was removed by the Khmer Rouge

We Did It!!

Done Temple-ing!!

We headed back to the tuk-tuk with Map doing his best to sell us on another day of seeing temples.  It wasn't the best time to ask as we were both exhausted and we had been sight seeing for almost 12 hours straight...he offered to take us to the dog slaughterhouse, or the hot air balloon ride nearby or anywhere but we tried to gently turn him down.  Once back at the hotel he again tried to get us to sign up for another day with him; again we turned him down.  At that point we settled up with him for the day's trip and we gave him $40 for the day, which in Cambodia is a huge amount of money and made him so happy he literally jumped up and down in happiness.  He had told us that his wife had just had a baby and that they were saving for their own place so we just couldn't haggle with him.  He was an amazing tour guide and definitely made our day much better by being our own personal photographer, assistant, translator, tour guide and comedian!

Back at the hotel we showered after a nap we walked to Il Forno, our favorite Italian restaurant. I believe we were in bed by 9pm.