Cambodia: Day Five

And now the day you have all been waiting for...

We have reached Day Five of the trip, which is
the probably the most interesting to everyone
else as it is the day we would be visiting Angkor
Wat and some of the other wats in the area.

As mentioned in Day Four's post, we were told
that visiting the temples in the morning hours was
best. This was very sound advice as the lighting and
morning air really added to the ambiance of the temples,
and also made for really great pictures. Plus the temperature
was a lot cooler and nicer during that time of day.

After we arrived to the park and purchased our tickets,
we made our way to the wats. We would visit the Bayon
temple first, but not before driving by Angkor Wat itself.

In this picture you can see the front gate of the wall that
surrounds the temple. If you really look closely, you will
make out the mote that surrounds the outer wall. Let me
tell you, this was no dinky European mote.

The outer wall plus the main temple in the background.

This is the entrance leading to the Bayon Wat.

Soldiers churning that ocean of milk.

This is Bayon Wat.

Marc and I in front of the temple.
(one, if not my favorite, pic from the trip)

Mom and Dad's turn to pose in front of the temple.

We then proceeded to walk around and wander the temple.
You can climb all up around (except certain parts blocked off)
and it such amazing experience to explore these temples. I mean,
these were built during the 12th and 13th Centuries!

Dad pointing out one of the many apsaras. They
are basically guardians of the temple...nymphs if you will.

Such detailing that has been preserved
over hundreds of years.

Another favorite picture of mine.
Like I said, the lighting was perfect for picture taking.

After exploring Bayon, we drove around a little as
we made our way to another wat in the area. To get to this
temple you had to walk in a little ways from the road. As
we made our way through the trees, there was a bridge. On
one side the water was pretty normal, but on the other side
the water was covered in a thick layer of moss/algae.

This is our praying mantis friend on the bridge.
Hey, bugs can come to worship at the temples, too!

This wat is actually famous as it is one of
the locations in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider films
(in the first movie, I believe).

As you can see, the trees have kind of taken over.

After being bombarded by a kids and women
(and some men) trying to sell us stuff (we some of
them were successful) we made our way to the big
kahuna himself...Angkor Wat.

Mom and Marc as we make our way to the temple.

Let the exploring begin!

If you look closely, you can see tiny Marc.

Marc and I had our picture taken with "real" apsara.

Look a monk! These are still working temples you know.
Monks come daily to come worship Buddha.

These boys were obviously not there to worship.

I with his lion friend. They have the same smile.

Lily pond by the temple.

After much exploration, it was time to get lunch
and then catch our bus to Kampong Cham. We did
also make a quick visit to the local church building.

At the bus "station" we said goodbye to our driver
(who by the way is the branch president in the ward there).
Here sure was helpful and was so great for taking us around.

Then we were off on yet another bus ride. Here I
am coming out of the bus during one of our pit stops.

During this trip I decided to purchase a mango.
It looks cool (I really like how they cut their fruit),
but I really didn't like it all that much. It wasn't ripe,
which is probably due to the fact that Joe Fox (aka
Tom Hanks) was not around to wish ripeness
upon my mango. Too bad.

We arrived in Kampong Cham in the early evening and
met up with a gongbay driver to take us to the hotel. We
actually ran into the elders there, one of them being one
of Marc's old companions when he had been in Battambang.

As there is not a whole lot to do in Kampong Cham, we just
stayed at the hotel, which definitely was the least comfortable
of all the hotels we stayed at. It definitely was not a Ritz-Carlton,
let alone even a Holiday Inn. Let's just say that we could not get our
adapter to work in the outlets and the shower was the bathroom
(not even a designated shower area in the bathroom...just the shower
right above the toilet). The sad thing is we spent quite a bit of
time there that night as we did not go out to get dinner or anything.

Anyway, that is the end of Day Five and our adventures at Angkor Wat.
Only two more full days in Cambodia...