Siem Reap, Cambodia

December 2nd, 2012

It was a record hot night when we left Tullamarine at 1 a.m on Friday Nov 30th and so the hot weather in Cambodia has not been too difficult to cope with. Our hotel is near the Old Market and so our first move was to wander down to the market where I was impressed with all the tropical fruit such as mangosteen and rambutan. There are no shortage of cafes and so they are competitive, $2 or $3 per dish and 50cts/400ml of local beer. It is the weekend and so a lot of the tourists are Vietnamese or Thai just here for the weekend. Also lots of Chinese tourists.

Next morning we walked a bit further afield and found the Praea Prom Monastery (Turns out we walked the long way round as it is actually next to our hotel!)

In the afternoon we started our serious temple inspections with Angkor Wat. It is huge. The moat is 190m wide and 1.5km x 1.3 km which gives an indication of how huge the complex is. It was built in the 12thC and originally dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu but later became Buddhist.

This morning we were up at 5 a.m.to see the sunrise over the temple and have spent the rest of the day walking around various ruins, each of which has its own special feel.

Very smiley faces at Ecstatic Pizza. According to Lonely Planet it is because you can order 'ganga' in the pizzas.

In the grounds of the Praea Monastery which is the richest in Siem Reap and is home to many students attending the monastery school as well as a 500 year old reclining Buddha, There are also gold statues covered with plastic bags - practical but not aesthetic!

Ankor Wat viewed from a tethered balloon.

Ankor Wat reflected in one of the ponds.

3 monks relaxing in the late afternoon at Ankor Wat.

Sunrise at Ankor Wat.

Water lilies at sunrise. By 10.00 a.m. they are gone.

Two of the 3000 Apsara or heavenly nymphs.at Ankor Wat.

Several of the temples have lots of bas relief freezes either telling the story of the Ramayana - the Hindu epic or depicting the various battles between the Khymer people and their neighbours.  

 These bas reliefs at Bayon depict every day life in 12th century Cambodia, including this barbeque.

The Bayon temple, part of the holy city of Ankor Thom. There are 56 towers each of which has 4 huge smiling faces. A Japanese team is working on restoration here.

It was the Inaugural Ankor Wat half marathon and there was a huge field and they needed vast quantities of water. We had to take a back road through the jungle to avoid them.

Ta Prohm is very atmospheric as some of the largest trees have been left to show how the jungle swallowed up the buildings.