October 27th
the next two days we tour the City of Angkor, day one in the smaller wats and day two at the  larger Angkor Wat (Scared  or Capital city) ancient temple.  the temples were built between the 8th and 13th centuries and range from single towers made from brick to vast stone temple complexes. A great deal of restoration is taking place supported by countries such as Germany, China and India.  the restoration is similar to building a 3dimensional puzzle, India has a unique presentation of how the pieces fit (or rather made to fit) which is noticeable on the temple carvings. our first stop was at the north gate of Angkor Thom (Angkor big) I climbed the small moss covered stone hill, stopping mid way, I felt a sting on my foot, a quick swipe and another sting, look down and there is a black ant on my foot and many more rushing about. I let out a screech,damn that hurt. why do I always get bit?  Anyways I continued to the top, took my pictures and back to the bus to examine my wound.   our bus navigated through the narrow gate, originally made for elephants, our bus had inches on either side.  two gates on the east, victory and ghost (funeral); the west execution gate and south the trade gate; today they are all tourist gates. the Baphoun is a pyramid temple built between 1050 & 1066 in the representation of mt. Meru, it has a unique 131 foot reclining buddha on the side. the Bayon built between 1181 & 1220 has 3,936 feet of Bas relief carvings depicting every day life in cambodia in the 12 century, 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 coldly smiling enormous faces of Avalokietshvara which oddly resemble king jayavarman vii. The temple exudes power and control with a hint of humanity.  preah Khan (Sacred Sword).  since the discovery by the French in 1860 (not the first), the jungle embrace the temples, over grown roots upheaving the carefully placed stones hundreds of years earlier.  The temples were made from volcanic rock then covered with sandstone then intricately carved.  Over the years locals and tourist polished the carvings by rubbing the breast of the Aspara or by making rub reliefs.  the 350 meter long terrace of Elephants was used a giant viewing stand for public ceremonies and a base for the King's grand audience hall. the walls are decorated with life sized Garudas and lions and large elephants.  aspara are heavenly nymphs or goddesses and seen  in many of the temples relief carvings. Garuda is half man, half bird is the vehicle of vishnu and was used with his old enemy  Naga to promote religious unity. Naga is a multi-headed serpent, half brother to Garuda, and controls the rain and thus the prosperity of the kingdom.  it's extremely hot and humid for us westerners but not the hottest it can be in Cambodia, I cannot image more than this.  around lunch were getting what I termed "temple tired".  we stopped for lunch, Megan and I shared Amok, served in a coconut and fresh spring rolls.    In the afternoon we toured the Hindu temple Banteay Srei, (ladies temple), dedicated to Shiva.  It's cut from a stone with a pinkish hue.  One of the few regional temples not built by a king, it was build by a Brahman around AD 967 which is being challenged.  A quick stop at the mine museum which I declined and spent swinging in a hammock along side the locals. Sareth rocked me not so gently I felt dizzy.  We raced by bus to the Pre Rup temple for sunset, I watched the sun set over the rice fields thinking we are not going to make it, sure enough, we arrive at the temple, climb to the top as the sun made it's way below the horizon.