Day 2: Siem Reap

Now, Day 2 got off to a real early start since we had plans to go see the sunrise at the Angkor Wat today. Having dragged ourselves up at unearthly hours of 3am the day before, today was not much better at 4am.. At least we got a quiet night's rest to some extent..

*Oh before I forget.. there was this crazed German woman.. -_-" We woke up at 4.30am to prep for the day. When we walked out of our roomat 5am to meet our guide and van, we happened to peered down our 3rd storey corridor, this crazed German lady pokes her head out from the 2nd floor corridor, and yells, "Hey, thank you for making so much noise! You've been keeping us awake since 3am! Thank you!"

We were like, "huh?" Whatever man. -_-" It's not us loh. If you're so bothered by the noise, why bother yelling at us at 5am 2 hours after it started? Nuts.*

Remember economies of scale? Well, the 4 of us, plus Mohana & Co, shared a van and guide to the Angkor Wat, and boy, did that help all our wallets.. Anyway, so we picked them up at their guesthouse before driving out to the Angkor Wat. Now, prices at the Angkor Wat have steadily risen over the past few years. So much so that it now costs USD 40 for a 3 day pass. Oof. Pricey.
At least it comes with your own photo on it. (That seems to be a major plus, according to the guide's point of view) But I must admit I was impressed with the logitech digital cameras that the ticketing booths had (which reminds me, they had those at the Cambodian immigration too), which could print out instant photos. Guess technology is everywhere. But hey, photos at 5am in the morning? So not glamorous.

Anyway, we arrived at the magnificent Angkor Wat, only to find that we were not the only ones there..

Angkor Wat - Angkor means capital, Wat means temple. It is surrounded by a huge moat encircling the area..


Beautiful right? A pity about the 2 dark green canvases over the lateral 2 towers - conservation & restoration efforts by UNESCO.


The Angkor Wat lit up by the warm red and orange glow of the sun's fingers..


Check out this picture beside the pond! The reflection of the Angkor Wat in the water simply makes a fantabulous picture.. =P

Speaking of pond, that is supposed to be the water body representing the female sex. There's a mirror image pond on the other side of the walkway representing the male, but somehow it's always dry... *frowns* =P

The Angkor Wat is the biggest temple around. Consisting of 3 main portions, the outer ring has murals lining all its walls..


This one shows the story of the churning of the ocean of milk..


The 2nd layer does not have any carvings on the walls. Instead, they have many Buddhist statues around the area, but a pity most of them were either stolen or damaged by thieves before Angkor Wat became a world heritage site and security became tighter.

The climb up to the 3rd layer was real steep.. Our guide cunningly told us to climb the rock face steps, then told us to come down by the other face's steps, which had a handrail. -_-"


But the view from the top was absolutely marvellous..






After the Angkor Wat, we went to grab some breakfast! =P Where we saw kids selling all sorts of souvenirs, from postcards and flutes, to handweaved baskets, bags and hats..

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Next stop: Angkor Thom!

Angkor Thom consists of a collection of smaller temples, the most famous one being that of the Bayon Temple, with the thousands of smiling faces on it..


Gates into Angkor Thom.. The sides of the bridge leading in, depict the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, with the characters pulling on the long snake..


Gates of Angkor Thom!


The Bayon!


Smiling face of Bayon temple! =)


If the previous photo wasn't clear enough, the smiling faces should be very obvious here..


And here! =) Group photo!

After the Bayon, we took a short walk around Angkor Thom, exploring the other temples in the compound, which included the Phimeanakas and the Terrace of the Leper King, and the Elephants Terrace.

The story behind Phimeanakas and the Terrace of the Leper King, is that long long ago, there was a King, who fell in love with this young lady, and wanted to take her in as his concubine. Now, unknown to him, the lady was a snake spirit in disguise. In return for being his concubine, she had a condition: that the King must visit her everynight without fail. So the King kept his promise very well for the first few months. Then he missed a night cos he was feeling tired. Now he went back the next night, and tried to explain to his favourite beautiful concubine..

But she was very angry, and said that if the King could miss one night, he could miss more nights in the future, and that he had broken his promise to her. In anger, she turned back into the snake spirit, and spit poison on him, which caused the King to become a leper..
(erm, as accurate as my memory serves me, and what I could gather from the guide's accented English)

The Elephant Terrace is the place where the King used to hold visitors and foreign delegates and dignitaries.. The other story around the Elephant Terrace is that facing the terrace, stands 12 pillars, which had ropes tied to the top of them. Dancers had to perform on top of the rope for the king, and if she could survive, she would become the King's concubine.. If she fell down.. well.. its actually quite a height..


The towers to which the ropes were tied to..

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Now after Angkor Thom, we moved onto the 3rd main temple of the day.. Ta Prohm temple!
Now, I'm sure everyone's heard of it, or at least seen it, cos it's the one that was featured in Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft Tomb Raider! =P

(I was obviously looking forward to this temple visit as much as to the Angkor Wat.. =P)

The special feature of Ta Prohm? Trees! Look and you'll understand!

What is markedly different about Ta Prohm, is how Mother Nature has seem to grown into and over Ta Prohm.. The lush foliage, the snaking roots - which grow into every conceivable nook and cranny..


Entrance to Ta Prohm!




Group photo! Look at how thick the roots are? Can be individual tree trunks liao loh..


One of the trees which appeared in Tomb Raider!!


THIS has got to be the most famous tree.. It's also from Tomb Raider! The tree totally grew up and over the wall of the temple, and stretched its proud head high up into the skies!

Oh man, if the Angkor Wat was inspiring with its grandeur and size, and Bayon fascinating with its many smiling faces, then Ta Prohm was beautiful and picturesque, with the trees growing over the temple and reaching for the skies, forming a splendid blend of architecture and nature..
Was a little disappointed that the trip to Ta Prohm ended so quickly, it is a smaller temple compared to the Angkor Wat after all..

Anyway, after a whole day in the Sun, it was time to head back to the hotel for lunch (Linner actually.. Gosh. I tink all the restaurant staff recognise us by the way we go in for lunch at like 3pm.. -_-) and some rest..

Evening programme of a traditional Cambodian Cultural Dance with buffet dinner! =)




And I shall end Day 2's post with a picture from Ta Prohm!