The Temples around Angkor Wat

SO... what a day!  Up at 5 am for the tuk-tuk drive in the dark to see the sunrise.  We walked into Angkor Wat in the dark (again with thousands of other tourists) and sat down on a small stone temple to wait for the sun to come up.  It actually got light long before we spotted the giant red sun rising over the temple and then everyone starts clicking away!  (It was a little cloudy so it wasn't terribly impressive but it was definitely an event even though it is everyday!!!! we can say we saw it!)  

just a few people waiting to see the sunrise!

"here comes the sun..... da da da da!"

We dashed off to have breakfast at one of the stalls (pancake and honey) then found our tuk-tuk driver again (called Hab) who took us to Ta Prohm - yes, that's the famous temple in Tomb Raiders and also Lara Croft!  It was beautiful to see it as the sun shone through the leaves and the jungle awoke - birds singing, cicadas and crickets making a lot of typically tropical noises.

Ta Prohm

She gave us incense sticks and a bracelet for good health

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

The temple area is vast - about 18km x 13km so the tuk-tuk drive sometimes took 15 mins between some of the temples.  Next stop was the Chao Say Teroda, then Thommanon then the Angkor Thom South Gate and next the Bayon Temple - of course, the infamous Bayon temple was a 'must' but it was extremely crowded with Japanese and Chinese visitors, so we didn't stay very long - but it is absolutely stunning with all of the 37 faces that are still standing.  By now, it was really hot, about 36°C and it was only about 10.30am! 

Bayon Temple

Bayon Temple

Bayon Temple

Then on to the Angkor Thom city - there are about 12 temples in this area and we decided to visit Baphuon Temple, the Terrace of the Elephants, Phimeanakas and the Leper King Terrace with a stop for a coconut juice (a straw stuck directly into the coconut) somewhere in the middle! Unfortunately everyone is hassled all the time by people trying to sell scarves, trousers, books and little kids trying to sell bracelets and postcards.  

"where you from?"  

"France" 

"I know capital France Paris!  You give money me I go school - my school charity - you give money charity - I go school speak English....." and on and on......

Without even haggling the price, we had one young girl start with 10$ for 1 silk scarf and she gradually dropped to finish at 5$ for 2 scarves - we hadn't said one word!

Baphuon - Now where do these bits go?

Leper King Terrace

Two final temples before we headed off home - the Preah Khan and a quick look at Neak Poan - but we were so tired we got back to the Guesthouse by about 3.30pm.  I think they call it "templed out!"

Preah Khan - Hall of Dancers

Peace

I will definitely go back to see more temples - Banteay Srei was supposedly made by women as the details are so intricate so I would love to see that one but it is 45km out of Siem Reap (1 hour drive) so I'll plan that for another weekend.

en français:  je suis vraiment désolée mais je n'ai pas fais de traduction cette fois... j'ai pris 6 jours pour correctement mettre ces photos car j'ai eu pas mal de problèmes! Mais je pense que les photos parlent pour eux mˆemes.