What an extraordinary place Angkor Wat is. I really wish I could share photos with you but you will just have to visit it someday or take my word for it. Angkor Wat is a vast assortment of temples dedicated to the Buddhism that includes the largest religious building in the world Angkor Wat.
The next day George and I just chilled and got ready for the experience of Angkor Wat. We walked around a bit but really just relaxed culminating with a seeing hands massage...$5 an hour full body massage It is a really fabulous massage given to you by blind. I think because they can not see they just use their hands to find the pressure points and it feels great. It also helps these people be self sufficient which is a win-win for you and them.
When the time came to go to the temples of Angkor Wat we hired a tuk tuk for the day and were on our way at 5:30 in the morning to see the sights. We were there for sunrise but it was a cloudy day so no sunrise. A little upset that we woke so early for nothing but the fact that we got to explore the first temple all by ourselves was quite the experience. So here is George and myself walking through Ta Prohm (where they filmed Tomb Raider) with not a single person around in almost complete darkness, I feel like I should have had a big torch and be standing next to Indian Jones or something. The temple itself is in the thick jungle I guess you could call it and has kind of been left so there are gigantic trees growing out of the rubble, it is quite a sight. We spent around an hour there then got in our tuk tuk and were on our way to the next stop which were two right next to each other...Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang.
Those two were alright but not really anything crazy special. We sat down and chilled around Sras Srang for a while and were bombarded by several little girls asking to come in their shop. The deal is they ask you where you are from and then spit back the capital and President/P[rime Minister. At first it is alright but then over the course of the day you get the hang of what they do so I started testing the little kids. I would say I was from here and there and surprisingly they know a lot of capital cities throughout the world. Algeria is one the stumped one of then and she looked at her cheat sheet and it wasn't on there so she just smiled and laughed...pretty funny.
After hanging for a bit we went to Bayon which was quite large. It was nice cause we kind of worked backwards so people were filing the other way so it wasn't as packed as I was thinking it was going to be. Bayon was meant to be the center of the city back when i9t was built in 1200. There are over 11,000 figures around the area of Bayon and the northern library has a giant laying down Buddha kind of placed in the side of the building. Unfortunately the temple was not really architecturally sound so the top two tier collapsed and they are restoring it. all you can really see of the Buddha is the head but still pretty cool, kind of plays with your eyes cause sometimes you can see it and other times you can't...like magic eye things. After a few hours of walking around there we came to the mama of all temples...Angkor Wat.
This is the largest religious building in the world and it is really amazing. It is be masterfully restored and it is an awe inspiring sight. I truly can't describe how cool this place is. It is as big a the forbidden city and it is utterly unbelievable that people would make such a structure and abandon it 200 years later. The amount of detail in Angkor Wat is incredible, not only is it large but the outer hallways that are each abut 200 meters long there are epic battle portrayed in carving. It must have taken forever to complete.
After a few hours there we decided we were Angkor Watted out...don't know if that is a saying. It was really cool but I think had I to do it again I would have hired a guide because we were constantly wondering things that we just could not answer but I was really glad to see it. Most people stay til sunset but there was not going to be one...because it was cloudy which in the long run was quite good because it was a lot cooler. We were there for about 9 hours and tired so we just went home. I took a nap and we got ready for a night out again.
The following day we went shopping a but and just relaxed again and then had one more big night out until this morning when I got on a bus to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh seems pretty crazy but it is only going to take one day to get my visa for Vietnam so might do the tourist stuff... killing field and S-21 and then be on my way down to the beach. Just to give you an idea of what kind of place this is there are no real traffic lights, people just go and their are wild monkeys at my guest house. Kind of nuts...but I will let you know more later.
When the time came to go to the temples of Angkor Wat we hired a tuk tuk for the day and were on our way at 5:30 in the morning to see the sights. We were there for sunrise but it was a cloudy day so no sunrise. A little upset that we woke so early for nothing but the fact that we got to explore the first temple all by ourselves was quite the experience. So here is George and myself walking through Ta Prohm (where they filmed Tomb Raider) with not a single person around in almost complete darkness, I feel like I should have had a big torch and be standing next to Indian Jones or something. The temple itself is in the thick jungle I guess you could call it and has kind of been left so there are gigantic trees growing out of the rubble, it is quite a sight. We spent around an hour there then got in our tuk tuk and were on our way to the next stop which were two right next to each other...Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang.
Those two were alright but not really anything crazy special. We sat down and chilled around Sras Srang for a while and were bombarded by several little girls asking to come in their shop. The deal is they ask you where you are from and then spit back the capital and President/P[rime Minister. At first it is alright but then over the course of the day you get the hang of what they do so I started testing the little kids. I would say I was from here and there and surprisingly they know a lot of capital cities throughout the world. Algeria is one the stumped one of then and she looked at her cheat sheet and it wasn't on there so she just smiled and laughed...pretty funny.
After hanging for a bit we went to Bayon which was quite large. It was nice cause we kind of worked backwards so people were filing the other way so it wasn't as packed as I was thinking it was going to be. Bayon was meant to be the center of the city back when i9t was built in 1200. There are over 11,000 figures around the area of Bayon and the northern library has a giant laying down Buddha kind of placed in the side of the building. Unfortunately the temple was not really architecturally sound so the top two tier collapsed and they are restoring it. all you can really see of the Buddha is the head but still pretty cool, kind of plays with your eyes cause sometimes you can see it and other times you can't...like magic eye things. After a few hours of walking around there we came to the mama of all temples...Angkor Wat.
This is the largest religious building in the world and it is really amazing. It is be masterfully restored and it is an awe inspiring sight. I truly can't describe how cool this place is. It is as big a the forbidden city and it is utterly unbelievable that people would make such a structure and abandon it 200 years later. The amount of detail in Angkor Wat is incredible, not only is it large but the outer hallways that are each abut 200 meters long there are epic battle portrayed in carving. It must have taken forever to complete.
After a few hours there we decided we were Angkor Watted out...don't know if that is a saying. It was really cool but I think had I to do it again I would have hired a guide because we were constantly wondering things that we just could not answer but I was really glad to see it. Most people stay til sunset but there was not going to be one...because it was cloudy which in the long run was quite good because it was a lot cooler. We were there for about 9 hours and tired so we just went home. I took a nap and we got ready for a night out again.
The following day we went shopping a but and just relaxed again and then had one more big night out until this morning when I got on a bus to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh seems pretty crazy but it is only going to take one day to get my visa for Vietnam so might do the tourist stuff... killing field and S-21 and then be on my way down to the beach. Just to give you an idea of what kind of place this is there are no real traffic lights, people just go and their are wild monkeys at my guest house. Kind of nuts...but I will let you know more later.
