Sunday, April 29, 2007

Angkor Wat

The day after Clint's arrival we caught the 6hr bus up to Siem Reap to see the renowned Angkor Wat temples, spending most of the day in transit. The next day we were up at 4:30am to make it to main temple in time for sunrise, which was anticlimactic thanks to a few rain clouds but worth it none-the-less. As the sky lightened and the rain began to fall we ducked into the and spent a couple of hours wandering the corridors, exploring the various rooms, climbing stairs, and staying dry. Despite the large number of tourists the temple was so large that it was fairly easy to find secluded spots away from the masses.

At such an early hour we hadn't really thought about the possibility of rain and so were without rain jackets when the downpour started. It was a bit prohibitive to our site seeing at first but we were thankful for it later as it kept the heat of the day at bay. Of the 20 or so temples (a number I vaguely remember and could be making up) in the area we managed to squeeze in a good 5 or so. The temples were absolutely amazing with the standouts being the Bayon temple (my favorite), with over 100 giant heads carved into the temple and the 'Tomb Raider' temple (where the movie was filmed apparently)which has been largely been overrun with large trees growing from the walls. We had planned to spend sunrise to sunset temple viewing but by 2pm were fairly well exhausted and headed back into town.

Feeling tired and achy Clint suggested we get a massage, so we found a small place and each threw down $6 for an hour long massage. I have to say that after my massage in India I was a bit disappointed; the massage felt as if hundreds of crabs were clawing at me and all I could think was 'how can people think this is enjoyable? surely no one does'... of course afterward Clint's first words were of how amazingly good that massage felt.

Photos: Angkor Wat

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What Seth is neglecting to mention here is all of the grunting, groaning, and giggling, he did. Good gravy--it was like listening to a giddy 80 year-old man.