20 April 2010

The Temples of Angkor

The journey to Siem Riep has been quite eventful as already implied in my post about bus journeys!  But we did eventually arrive there after travelling on various buses for the better part of Thursday! 

The guest house we had booked at turned out to be rather nice despite our rather inauspicious beginning when Liz saw a rat tail poking out of the ceiling in the first room we were ushered to!  We felt better when we were given an alternate choice..although there were a few holes in this ceiling too!  Now if the silly cats in the place had been doing their job…I would definitely say this is a great place to stay!

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We had pre-arranged with a tuk tuk driver to pick us up at 4.30 in the morning..so we could make it to Angkor for sunrise.  Yes, we are hard core travellers!

We spent most of the day on a temple tour and we did feel a little templed out by the end of the day. However, I must say the temples here are absolutely amazing and Angkor is truly one of the world’s most fascinating places to experience.  A few pics for your enjoyment..

Angkor Wat are the largest monuments of the temples at Angkor!  An amazing combination of spirituality and symmetry!

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This also a great opportunities for shooting pics of interesting people.  A few of my favourites.

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Siem Riep 15-16 April 20101

The temples of Bayon at Angkor Thom present a collection of 54 gothic towers with 216 enigmatic faces that some say resemble Cambodia’s legendary King, Jayavarman VII.

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And my favourite, Ta Prohm, the temple that is being swallowed up by the surrounding jungle!

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Modern day artwork is for sale in little markets that dot this town.  They don’t even come close to emulating the intricacy of the ancient artwork on display at the temples…

Siem Riep 15-16 April 20104

I’ve been having a bit of fun exercising the right side of my brain for a change.  It’s been dormant for too long…..

 Siem Riep 15-16 April 20105

We must go beyond textbooks,
go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness
and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.
-John Hope Franklin


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