Last day in Cambodia

Our last day in Siem Riep started early for me as I got up to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat again. It was a bit cloudy so the colours weren't as good as before, I explored the parts of the temple I missed the first time through then headed quickly to Bayon before all the people turned up. Someone was flying a quadcopter over parts of it with a camera, I found it amusing but it was quite noisy.

I still prefer the Bayon carvings to Angkor Wat's, there are more and they're in better condition comparatively. Also large parts of the Angkor were cordoned off as there was a German restoration team working. I wandered out of the Bayon complex and passed through some of the smaller areas within Angkor Thom; like The elephant and leper terrace which had some lovely carvings 

After that I heard back to the hostel. Had a late breakfast, then Nicola and I went and found a local geocash site before heading to the airport for our flight Ho Chi Minh. The hotel we're staying at is really nice, we're in a dorm room again but it's all girls this time and breakfast is complimentary. But we decided after we had dinner to meet some of Nicola's friends from KOTO and go to the flower street as part the Tet festival which ends tomorrow. One of the girls, Ngoc (Nee-ow) invited us to her home for dinner tomorrow (monday) and to the beach on Tuesday. It was a good evening we saw all the different displays, it reminded me of the exhibition hall at the Royal Easter show in Sydney. And ate sweet pancakes (coconut, sesame seeds and sugar sheets) which were really tasty. Nicola and I had dinner in Cafe Ciao, it was busy but the waiters were friendly and helpful. Catching up on sleep and blog posts is now my main priority.

Angkor Day 4: Beang Meala, Rolous group & Floating villiage

An early start for a 2hr drive to Beang Meala, this is a remote mountain temple that has been badly damaged and partially reclaimed by the forest.

It was absolutely amazing, we got there early and had an individual guide so she took us all over the complex, which meant that we were climbing over collapsed roof stones, through windows/doors and over rooftops with some areas having boardwalks or planks to walk over. Multiple doorways and windows had roots growing over them which made for some great photos. We were almost finished as a few coach loads of Chinese tourists starting filing through and the basic tour. Some of the stairs were so steep you wondered about your footing but they are sturdy. I wish I has a gopro on myself so you could see first hand what I mean.

From there we started to long drive back to Siem Reip via the Rolous group. These temples weren't in the best of condition we saw Preah Ko (which was mostly rubble with the towers standing) and Bakong which was in much better condition, it's a very tall building and the stairs aren't in the good a condition as well as being quite steep. 

The floating village was all right. It's nothing spectacular and I'm pretty sure it's a bit if a scam when they try and get you to buy food for the local school. It was at the end of a long day so a quick dinner and an early night was called for 

Angkor Day 3: Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean & Preah Khan

Today was a late start (9:30), I must say that I'm getting a little addicted to dragon fruit here with breakfasts; that and I found out where they keep the Vegemite. We headed out again to the west baray area for our first stop, passing the Srah Srang lake on our way. 

Pre Rup was lovely and had very few people. It's listed as a mountain temple and is supposedly dedicated to four different deities. It's a mix of brick and sandstone with many steep stairs leading to the upper levels. There were plenty of lion statues as well, some even with the heads attached (its a rare sight). There were even some nice carvings of Devata, Lakshmi, Vishnu and Shiva on each if the smaller towers on the top level.

From there we headed up the road to East Mebon, this is built in a huge (now) dry reservoir of up to 55million cubic meters of water. Because of the water the temple doesn't require any moats or enclosures and doesn't qualify as a mountain temple as there is no real 'height'. There are elephant statues on each corner of the main levels, some are in better condition than others (not helped by people climbing on them). There are goddess' and gods carved above doorways and finer work that had lost its stucco plaster work.

We continued up to Ta Som, a smaller forest temple that potentially held 22 divinities. It is in a fairly bad state and a lot is overgrown but the carvings are amazingly detailed. It has a simple layout but it can be difficult to navigate the fallen rubble. An entire doorway on the east (?) entrance is covered by strangler fig roots, it doesn't obscure the face tower but adds to it. 

From there we headed to Neak Pean, which is more monument than temple to be fair, it's based on a lake system although you can only walk around the front of the complex as the central path is blocked the stop people getting near the water. 

From there we drove to Preah Khan, this is a huge complex full of twisting passageways and rubble. Strangler figs and silk cotton trees have reclaimed some areas. Both entrance ways are lined firstly with boundary stones with Garuda's engraved then naga's over a false moat. There was a small building before the main complex called the 'house of fire' a small temple for starting rituals before heading into the main complex.

Inside there were large sections of damaged pillars and roofs with rubble all around, most fairly safe to clamber over to tech a new area. The carving detail is wonderful and quite well preserved. 

Detailing in the hall of dancers, potentially defaced Buddha's

At about this point my camera died so any photos posted here were taken on my iPod. The passage through to the central sanctuary was a little crowded but the sanctuary itself was quite simple.

Pillar in central sanctuary, Preah Khan. Not original sculpture, original may have been removed by a subsequent king. 

I had only explored about half of the complex and I had been there for about an hour. I headed out the west gate and got a snack of a whole pineapple (they have small sweet ones here) and waited for Nicola to come through. We then headed towards Angkor Thom for lunch then drove by Angkor Wat and headed back to the hostel. We relaxed an I had a swim. Then headed out to dinner and got an early night as tomorrow is going to be a day full of long drives

Angkor Day 2: Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm

Today we did, what's called the short circuit. It includes Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and Prasat Kravan. 

We started by watching the sunrise over the pools in Angkor Wat, there were lots of people by the left lake and not as many by the right. I got some lovely pictures that I will consider having made into prints to hang at home. After the sun had risen we joined the crowds in exploring the architecture around us. The crowds made it less enjoyable and harder to take photo's, while the site itself is huge so were the numbers of tourists. I would suggest going mid morning to avoid the rush.

Onto Angkor and the Bayon, this another large complex and is a popular photo choice as it has hundreds of stone faces carved into the buildings in honor of Vishnu but but based off of the face of the Khmer king. While dodging the tourists was still an issue, it was completely worth it. The facades and carvings were wondrous and camera draining.

Ta Keo and Ta Prohm were full of tourists as well (there's a pattern emerging) and they were not in good shape. Many boulders and broken ruins stood around which did allow us to explore the majority of the complexes rooms with relative ease. It was still hauntingly beautiful but not in the same league as others we have seen.

Banteay Srei and Prasat Kravan were nice albeit smaller, still made from red stones and in fairly good condition but much simpler than their counter parts. I found out that Prasat Kravan was built by a nobleman not a king hence the simpler design and being on one one level. 

After getting back and having a refreshing swim in the hostel's pool (comparatively freezing to air temperature) we freshened up had an early dinner and wandered the markets for a bit before returning and relaxing before sleeping.

Angkor Day 1: Banteay Srei, Kbal Spean & Banteay Samre

Edit to last nights post, we made some friends with some of the other girls in our dorm and went out for dinner, street pancakes (banana & chocolate) and had a drink (G&T) before returning to the hostel as we all had earlyish starts. 

We started at 8:30 and drove to pick up our 7 day Angkor pass (US$60) then headed out to Banteay Srei. This is also known as the woman's temple, it's carved from red sandstone and dedicated to Shiva (Hindu goddess of destruction). While not much remains the carvings that remain were beautifully ornate and detailed. Parts show Hindu gods and deamons as well as the infamous monkey king from Ramayana, others show dancers and fine floral patterns.

We then jumped back on the toktok and headed further out to Kbal Spean, a mountain river with a carved riverbed showing Shiva and other gods/royalty as well as circular carvings all the way down the river to the baby waterfall. The walk to the top was signposted as 1500m, it wasn't an easy climb as some areas are very steep and the path is littered with rocks and tree roots. But you'll be breathing heavily even at a steady pace, granted it was quite warm around 12-1pm. All in all a lovely spot, well worth the walk. 

After eating lunch with our driver we set off again this time heading for Banteay Samre another Hindu based temple, most likely dedicated to Vishnu. Built around the same time as the Angkor Wat it shares similar architecture but on a comparatively smaller scale. We were shown a new area by one of the tour operators (manning a shrine) of an area that had been damaged under one of the inner towers. They're completely hollow and this one had bats living inside, the robbers had knocked in some ornamental pillars that acted as a screen. 

One of the gateways and the ornate carvings ontop 

The inner courtyard and pillars

Some of the detailing on the sides of the gateway

HaNoi to Siem Riep

After a lazy breakfast of Pho and packing up our gear, we headed out to find an early lunch at 4 mountains restaurant  (recommended by the hostel). We split a wheat noodle with beef and a glass noodle with crab, both were very tasty and filling. The place itself was nice and comparatively quiet, rather easy to loose yourself in thought as motorcycles pass by. 

After that we did a final check of our room and then checked out and awaited our ride to the airport. The flight to Siem Riep was essentially uneventful, it's similar to Europe where you can get on a plane and in 1-2hrs be in another country. Although I will say that the Siem Reip international airport is a very beautiful building (traditional rooftops and the like, I'll grab a picture on the way home) built so you can admire as you walk across the tarmac.

Our driver was lovely ad delivered us safely to our hostel (Siem Riep Hostel). 

View from our dorm window

He will also be available as our driver for the next 5 days. So we're going to shower, eat dinner and then plan out our day tomorrow since we start at 8:30 sharp :)