Angkor Wat
on Mary In Cambodia (Cambodia), 07/Mar/2010 16:20, 34 days ago
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Don and I visit Angkor Wat.On Saturday last Feb.27th. Don came to Sisophon to visit me. He crossed the border at Poipet, where I met him and we took a taxi back here. Two hours is long enough to see the sights of the provincial town of Banteay Meanchey and have lunch. Don agreed. We headed for Siem Reap, stopping on the way to have a look at two of the schools I work in.Siem Reap is a small town, made famous by its proximity to the world heritage centre of Angkor Wat. Angkor means Capital City or Holy City. Because Siem Reap caters for large numbers of tourists it is cleaner than the rest of Cambodia and has some good hotels and restaurants. We booked in to‘Terrasse des Elephants’ a comfortable hotel with some unusual features. Bathroom. Fancy a shower?After breakfast on Sunday we hired a tuc tuc, decided on our itinerary, including where we would watch the sun set, and set out to explore. The temples are truly amazing. The most spectacular of these is the temple that gives the area its name‘Angkor Wat’, Built in the 12th. Century, it was constructed as the state temple of Suryavaman 11. Extensive battle scenes and carvings from Hindu mythology, including many‘Apsaras’ (celestial dancers) adorn the walls. Half way up those steps in soaring temperatures we realised why the wise set out at 5am.Bayon Templewas next on the list. . On the way we passed Angkor Thom Bayonis the temple of the giant faces.I’m told this is a unique example of Angkorian art and architecture. It is impressive. By this time we were beginning to suffer. Our drinking water was hot, sun-set was a long way off, our feet were aching, Don bought a hat. We woke our tuc tuc driver from his nap and set off for temple number 3. Ta Prohm This ruin is worth visiting if only because of the way the jungle has grown through it. Many parts of it are held together by the roots of the trees,2 30 pm and we’d had it. The bodies couldn’t take any more. We’ll watch the sun set over Angkor Wat another time.
