Our next stop was a place called Siem Reap, home of the magnificent Angkor Wat! So more of less as soon as we had got to our room and ditched our bags, we were off to see if we could catch sunset!
But first, we had to pick up our tickets. These were photo id's and Gill wasn't paying attention when it was taken, which resulted in a very amusing ticket! A mixture of half asleep and irritated from queuing in the humidity, combined with her head tilted over to the side, she did not look impressed! But it made for a very funny photo.
But we did make it through the numerous checkpoints and then we saw it. From across the water, the 5 towers dominated the skyline and looked very impressive for a 1000 year old structure. And as the sun began to set, a golden glow illuminated Angkor Wat and it glistened across the water.
Soon after the sun had set, the heavens opened so we had to run for shelter as a thunderstorm ensued! This kind of set the tone really. Up to 95% humidity and as that increased and became nearly unbearable, the torrential rain followed. This happened a lot of the next couple of days.
The next morning we thought that the weather was good and that the storm would have cleared the air, so we got up for sunrise to see if we could take one of those iconic photos of Angkor Wat. We didn't. In fact, it just rained and turned from black, to dark grey and then to light grey. No reds, oranges or purples in sight.
But we wandered around the building itself. Inside, there aren't many artefacts left as the Khmer Rouge stole/destroyed them all in the 1970's but there are still lots of carvings all over the walls. It was still quite impressive. We even found a carving of a ladyboy, which means it has been going on in this area for many years, not just a recent Bangkok tourist attraction!
The Angkor complex, all 150 miles squared of it, houses hundreds of temples, with the Wat itself as the jewel in the crown. We went to loads of them with lots of different names (and tricky spellings!) but the main ones were the Angkor Thom, elephant terrace and the Tomb Raider one! The latter was by far our favourite.
Set deep in the jungle, this lost city is now totally overrun by trees (and tourists...) as nature tries to fight back. The trees are growing out from under the walls, through the walls and on top of them and buildings too. In a powerful display, they have toppled huge parts of the temple and are trying their best to destroy the rest too. It is also the scene for Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tomb Raider. So after getting very excited pretending to be Lara Croft, we took some photos and kept on going.
This was easier said than done. Because of the maze of winding tunnels, twisting trees and piles of rubble, we got totally lost and couldn't get out! Luckily, there were no boulders or baddies with guns today. After wandering past the same bit 4 times and getting several bits of conflicting advice from locals, we finally found the way out.
At 4pm we were meant to be meeting up with Gary, but we heard nothing. By 6:30 and still no news, we decided to go for a wander to the night market as it had stopped raining and his hostel was over there. This turned out to be only a brief pause in rain as when we were halfway down the road, we got soaked! Hopping from shelter to shelter, we made it to the market, had a wander and dinner but there was still no contact from Gary. Then, we got an email saying some poor excuse about a much delayed journey that nearly caused himself to chop his own head off with bordem, but it did give us a hotel name. Turns out, it was only half of the name so none of the local tuktuk drivers had even heard of it. And as for being right next to the night market, we found 4 and it wasn't next to any of them! So at 10pm we gave up!
But the next day we did manage to meet up and went down to see the sunrise (take II). This time, it was much more spectacular! Clear skies and many more colours.
A chocolate banana pancake later, the 3 of us toured around loads more temples in the baking hot sun. It was wonderful, seeing awesome scenery and reminiscing about good times! We even went down to the floating village, and had a private boat tour. There are a lot of hammocks in Cambodia and most people were swinging in one as we motored past. We even saw a floating school, market and church! All very interesting and even just to see the flood water was spectacular!
As the sun was going down, we thought we might as well pop back to see the sun set over one of the temples. This temple was up on a hill and offered views far into the distance. This day was a fitting close to our time in Cambodia, and after saying our goodbyes to Gary over a meal of frogs legs, we went back to pack as we were leaving at 4am (for the third morning in a row!) for the Thai border and Bangkok.
It's been good Cambodia!
But first, we had to pick up our tickets. These were photo id's and Gill wasn't paying attention when it was taken, which resulted in a very amusing ticket! A mixture of half asleep and irritated from queuing in the humidity, combined with her head tilted over to the side, she did not look impressed! But it made for a very funny photo.
But we did make it through the numerous checkpoints and then we saw it. From across the water, the 5 towers dominated the skyline and looked very impressive for a 1000 year old structure. And as the sun began to set, a golden glow illuminated Angkor Wat and it glistened across the water.
Soon after the sun had set, the heavens opened so we had to run for shelter as a thunderstorm ensued! This kind of set the tone really. Up to 95% humidity and as that increased and became nearly unbearable, the torrential rain followed. This happened a lot of the next couple of days.
The next morning we thought that the weather was good and that the storm would have cleared the air, so we got up for sunrise to see if we could take one of those iconic photos of Angkor Wat. We didn't. In fact, it just rained and turned from black, to dark grey and then to light grey. No reds, oranges or purples in sight.
But we wandered around the building itself. Inside, there aren't many artefacts left as the Khmer Rouge stole/destroyed them all in the 1970's but there are still lots of carvings all over the walls. It was still quite impressive. We even found a carving of a ladyboy, which means it has been going on in this area for many years, not just a recent Bangkok tourist attraction!
The Angkor complex, all 150 miles squared of it, houses hundreds of temples, with the Wat itself as the jewel in the crown. We went to loads of them with lots of different names (and tricky spellings!) but the main ones were the Angkor Thom, elephant terrace and the Tomb Raider one! The latter was by far our favourite.
Set deep in the jungle, this lost city is now totally overrun by trees (and tourists...) as nature tries to fight back. The trees are growing out from under the walls, through the walls and on top of them and buildings too. In a powerful display, they have toppled huge parts of the temple and are trying their best to destroy the rest too. It is also the scene for Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tomb Raider. So after getting very excited pretending to be Lara Croft, we took some photos and kept on going.
This was easier said than done. Because of the maze of winding tunnels, twisting trees and piles of rubble, we got totally lost and couldn't get out! Luckily, there were no boulders or baddies with guns today. After wandering past the same bit 4 times and getting several bits of conflicting advice from locals, we finally found the way out.
At 4pm we were meant to be meeting up with Gary, but we heard nothing. By 6:30 and still no news, we decided to go for a wander to the night market as it had stopped raining and his hostel was over there. This turned out to be only a brief pause in rain as when we were halfway down the road, we got soaked! Hopping from shelter to shelter, we made it to the market, had a wander and dinner but there was still no contact from Gary. Then, we got an email saying some poor excuse about a much delayed journey that nearly caused himself to chop his own head off with bordem, but it did give us a hotel name. Turns out, it was only half of the name so none of the local tuktuk drivers had even heard of it. And as for being right next to the night market, we found 4 and it wasn't next to any of them! So at 10pm we gave up!
But the next day we did manage to meet up and went down to see the sunrise (take II). This time, it was much more spectacular! Clear skies and many more colours.
A chocolate banana pancake later, the 3 of us toured around loads more temples in the baking hot sun. It was wonderful, seeing awesome scenery and reminiscing about good times! We even went down to the floating village, and had a private boat tour. There are a lot of hammocks in Cambodia and most people were swinging in one as we motored past. We even saw a floating school, market and church! All very interesting and even just to see the flood water was spectacular!
As the sun was going down, we thought we might as well pop back to see the sun set over one of the temples. This temple was up on a hill and offered views far into the distance. This day was a fitting close to our time in Cambodia, and after saying our goodbyes to Gary over a meal of frogs legs, we went back to pack as we were leaving at 4am (for the third morning in a row!) for the Thai border and Bangkok.
It's been good Cambodia!
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