Cambodia : The Temple Circuit Part 2

I have a confession to make.

Maybe it's because I have left this a little bit too long and I didn't make any notes whatsoever and I don't have my guidebook with me at the moment - so I may have misidentified some of the temples here.

(Oh okay, those are just petty excuses for my short-term memory)

Nevertheless, here's the other half of the temple circuit. Let me know if I need to correct anything, ya?

Can't recall which gate - Ta Prohm.

Ruins, intentionally left unrestored.

Massive fig and silk-cotton trees growing on the temple complex differentiate Ta Prohm from others. This temple was made famous by Ms Croft. The downside of coming here during peak season is that people are everywhere snapping pictures. The polite ones give way, the rest, well, they just don't care and give a WTH look. Especially those in groups.

Huge slabs of stones form the ruins at Ta Prohm. I think the most appropriate description is 'bongkah-bongkah batu', what's that in English?

Restoration works at Ta Prohm. I noticed that the funding for the restoration at the various temples came from India, Italy, Japan and Germany. By the looks of it, these works will be undertaken throughout 2010 so if you visit this year, you'll see plenty of scaffoldings and barriers and cordoned-off areas at most of the temples.

Waiting for lunch at a stall, facing West Entrance of Ta Prohm.

Terrace of the Leper King. It has a double terrace wall and you walk between the walls/corridor. A persistent little girl stalked me here to ask for one dollar. She said (in halting English) that she was an orphan and was taken care of by monks and needed money to eat. I asked her if the monks fed her, she said 'not enough'.

From the west side facing the bright afternoon sun.

Its beautiful deep carvings, very detailed and in good condition. I wish I could spend longer time here examining them.

The Leper King himself. Whether he actually suffered from leprosy or it was just the appearance of his statue remains a debate.

The Terrace of the Elephants, a wall 300 metres long adorned with carved elephants and garudas.

These most likely represent elephant trunks.

Garudas.

Urm, ...I cannot remember if this was Ta Keo or Pre Rup. I think Pre Rup. I also missed pictures of Thommanom and Chau Say Thevoda, pretty little temples that sit across the road from each other.

Raised stone walkway all the way to Baphuon.

Baphuon, undergoing very extensive restoration works. It's closed to the public at the moment.

I think this was Phimeanakas.

A giant Buddha statue - Preah Ngoc - near the Bayon complex.

Steps entering Bayon.

At Bayon, the last temple I visited before calling it a day (actually later after having some ice cream, I went back to Angkor Wat for sunset).

Picture taken by a French lady, Marianne, who surprised me by speaking in fluent and beautifully accented Malay when I told her where I was from. She used to work with an NGO for some years ago in Rawang and misses the Malaysian food!

Pay to get your picture taken with them. I just sat to rest, as with many other people who I think are also ending the day at Bayon.

Late afternoon, back at Angkor Wat.

One of the guides for a Japanese group was explaining the significance of this carving on the floor of the walkway leading to Angkor Wat. I still don't know what it is. I tried looking around if there were other floor carvings, but it seems this is the only one around.

Very very tired feet finally gets to rest as I enjoyed the sunset.

Cambodia : The Temple Circuit Part 1

"Temple Day" started very early; I arranged for the driver to pick me up at 5:00 am, early enough as in winter the sunrise is a bit later than usual.

The road leading to Angkor Wat was teeming with tuk tuks, motos, vans and buses. We reached there just before 5:30 am and they were already a good 300 plus tourists there, can you believe it. All sitting facing the Wat, waiting in the dark. And I thought I was early :P

They were already there at 5:20 am.

There will be vendors offering you hot coffee or tea for USD1, with a free plastic chair. Got a coffee for myself and sat there waiting too. The kind coffeeboy chatted with me and shared some information about the temple and seasons, helpful really.

Coffee boy, speaks reasonably good English.

The crowd grew bigger and bigger, I think by the time the sun rose, it had reached a good thousand - scattered around, some at the edge of the lake diagonally across on the temple's left, some on the small library building further back, some on the walkways and some even right inside. It was a cacophony of words and conversations. The one thing that's common? Everyone was clicking away, in awe of the ancient towers that were slowly revealing themselves in the morning light.

Most of my pics were too dark. This is one of the better ones. Taken as the skies start taking on a warm glow.

This was at about a quarter to seven.

Happy me.

The crowd was still there - taken from the temple looking out.

The more the merrier.

Once the morning was bright enough I proceeded to venture inside the actual building complex.

And I saw for real what I have seen before in so many pictures and documentaries. Yes, it was my dream-come-true moment :) Cheesy eh?

This entrance is closed for restoration works till mid 2010 if I recall correctly.

More pictures as I traipsed around :

Feeling templed-out yet? :) After absorbing Angkor Wat that morning, I moved on to Banteay Srey, which took almost an hour to reach by moto. 'The Citadel of the Women', that's what the name means.

Banteay Srey's carvings are more delicate and intricate, that's how I can describe it. And its reddish-pinkish shades and smaller size make it stand out from other temples. A simple gallery within the complex has many pictures and information on the restoration works done in Banteay Srey.

I just remembered I have more pics in my handphone but I don't have my cable here with me. Later then. After Banteay Srey I headed back towards Ta Prohm; images from Tomb Raider filled my head. Haha.