The famous "Angkor Wat" |
First break of dawn at "Angkor Wat" |
First glow of the Sunrise at 6:45am |
We arrive at the eastern facing outer wall of Ankgor and find our own corner niche perch to await the sun-god’s appearance. There are a handful of other visitor’s, who must have come from the normally used West entrance, already positioned in sunrise perch.
Illuminated crowns of "Angkor Wat" |
The four of us still in awe by the magnificent sight of the Sunrise |
The "Angkor Wat"sun-perch |
We then continue in an easterly direction, opting to follow the small circuit today. Mike and Karin decide to go the big circuit as they only have one day for the entire region. They have bitten off a huge challenge as the mid-day sun is HOT.
A bit of goofing around at "Sras Srang" before we separate for the rest of the day |
Back to the Angkor area: Small Circuit Route: Temple Day 1
We continue on the small circuit. This is about 17 kms which means almost 60 kms in total effort (thanks to our siesta stop).
Starting around 2:30pm, we visit Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom complex, and finally Bayon for sunset.
The overgrown "Ta Prohm" Temple, Angelina was here too |
They look like the tentacles of an octopus that has found its prey and latched on...frozen forever. Their roots snake through the interiors and appear sometimes on the exterior again. It is the miracle of nature. I will let the pictures tell the story to do it full justice.
Sunset at "Bayon" |
We connect with Karin and Mike at the hotel later and discover that they were there on that crowded, small hilltop.
The next day, we decided to take a day off to rest our bodies after this long bike trip. Yes, we haven’t been doing this sort of thing in a loooooooong time! And the bikes are adequate, perhaps fine specimens of bikes used 100 years ago? Forget gears, suspension, and well oiled smooth turning wheels, every pedal stroke is happily confirmed by a squeak from the bicycle. But its got a basket and bell!
Plus we wanted to have a bit of time together with Karin and Mike in a more relaxed setting not overwhelmed with exhaustion. Plus a healthy dose of shopping and eating also needed to fit into this visit, right?
Big Circuit Tour: Temple Day 2
Today’s venue: Ta Prohm (again), Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean, Preah Khan, Bayon.
Today, we decided to have breakfast first and then take the entire day to explore, sans siesta. So, we depart at a late 7:30am just before the thermometer started to rise.
We decide to return to our favorite temple, Ta Prohm, to see it again in the morning light and hopefully with less visitors. Our first day, we saw team Korea everywhere. Today is surely team China’s day. And China is a helluva lot bigger in size.
Julane at "Ta Prohm" in a peaceful spot away from the big tour groups |
The modes of transport for tourists vary widely. There are large buses which were usually only one quarter full (unless it was a group from China!). Plus, there are large 12 seater vans and normal vans, private sedans, motorized rickshaws, and bicycles. We found that bicycles were generally used by westerners of all ages. I was impressed by the number of the grey haired crowd cycling about too, because cycling is only part of the effort. We probably walked about 5 kms exploring the temples on foot and some of that involved steep steps, very steep indeed.
We will let the temples speak for themselves. They are awesome.Here a few pictures of the highlights of day two, more temple pictures are at the end of this blog entry.
Julane at "Pre Rup" watching the mobile trash recycler pass by |
Patrick can re-cycle too |
Having Fun at "Pre Rup" |
Hello, NO! I'm not part of the artifacts |
The Monks are having fun too ... |
... I guest they are tourists monks? |
... Taking pictures at "Preah Khan"... |
Also Patrick is enjoying "Preah Khan" |
Great light at "Angkor Wat" |
If you want to dive into the history of the great Khmer kingdom which began around the 9th century to the early 13th century, I suggest reading more on Wikipedia
Patrick is obviously fascinated by the history of Angkor. Or maybe just tired from the cycling? |
Dust and smoke are our two worst demons on this trip. Cambodians burn litter and also use fire to clear their fields in order to plant crops. So there is smoke always in the air. Then, whenever we are “out and about” on our bikes, we also need to contend with pollution from over-loaded vehicles belching and wheezing as they try to move forward, their diesel engines badly tuned. These fumes are mixed together with the exhaust from numerous motorcycles to create a lethal cloud of haze. The worst pollution is when a car decides to pass a slower moving vehicle and needs to use the imaginary emergency lane which is basically a dirt edge. A tornado of dust immediately springs to life. So imagine the life of a bicyclist who is incidentally at the bottom of the traffic food chain. We are the little ants among the giants. Patrick and I invested in a set of those surgical face masks to help us in our travels, (note: even the locals use them). Did I mention that we take showers very often?
The driving style of the locals is not like too many other places that we’ve ever visited-kinda like Italian motorcyclists on steroids. We eventually learned the proper driving technique, which entailed going against the flow of traffic until you can cross the street to the other side and then continue moving in the correct direction. But the one thing that you don’t do is waiting at a corner to cross (unless there is a proper traffic light there), otherwise you will get nowhere slowly.
Sweeper, dusting the temple |
After discussing dirt in great detail, this paragraph might sound a bit strange. There is very little rubbish lying about. The streets are actually quite clean. There is basically an army of sweeper covered from head to toe in protective gear and armed with long-handled twig-brooms: they are constantly sweeping everything, all the time. You can spot them initially by the little cloud of dust that engulfs them, but like genies they eventually appear through the haze when the earth is bare of dust and debris.
Sweep, sweep, sweep... |
Generally, they were sweeping leaves and dust into piles. Hundred of people employed to sweep dirt around the Angkor area. What an unusual concept! I guess they are helping to eliminate dust clouds too! I rarely saw litter anywhere at Angkor, even in Siem Reap. And when you did, it was swept into neat piles waiting to be erased from the scenery. Phnom Penh is not quite the same…nope.
Going Farther Afield: Temple Day 3
Heading to "Bantaey Srei", the 75km trip may is a bit too far for our legs |
So nice not to pedal for once. |
We arrived at Bantaey Srei at about 7:45am and there were about 50 people already there but no big tour buses yet.
"Bantaey Srei" before the masses arrived |
This is a small temple complex but it is considered to be one of the jewels of the region. It is an unusual, pinkish quartz sandstone of exquisite detail (most of the best sculpture work from the other temples resides in museums now).
There are many intricate carved scenes from Hindu mythology found here. We spent about 45 minutes enjoying the setting, and on our way back to our tuk tuk, we encountered hundreds of people just arriving. This small temple was comfortable with 50 people but I can’t imagine how these crowds will fit in. Perhaps they queue up? I was so happy that we arrived when we did. At the car park, there were loads of buses and even more people on their way in. Yikes!
Queen of "Bantaey Samre" |
We arrive back at our hotel just slightly past 11am. Relax and organize a bit. Then take our trusty bikes, in the late afternoon, and head back to Angkor for our last visit.
Last pose at "Angkor Wat" before leaving for Phnom Penh |
Time to say good-bye to a very special place!
... next stop is Cambodia's Capital Phnom Penh.
... and here the additional pictures for the Temple buffs.
Angkor Wat:
Showing the massive size of the Temple complex |
The usual "masses" during the day. Early morning or late night is THE time to visit Angkor Wat |
Banteay Kdei:
Ta Prohm:
Ta Keo and Victory Gate
Bayon
Ta Som
Neak Pean
Preah Khan
Banteay Srei
Banteay Samre