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Full Day in AngkorWe got up early to another buffet breakfast but this time I had my precious all bran and I had 2 bowls delighted with the fact that I may be blessed with a bowl movement. Bloody rice and food here is not helping my situation ha ha! Actually I'm laughing. Anyway at 8 we met Kim and Tim and headed off to see the temple of temples Angkor Wat the largest and most popular of the sights. When we arrived there were tourists but nothing hectic. The walk up to the gates (all 5 of them) was cool as we were preparing ourselves for the sights to come. The architecture was amazing but the stone work was heat stopping as like Bayon yesterday every detail was precise and complicated. As we stepped into the city area my camera died on me so I now had no camera. Luckily George had two so I hijacked one for the rest of the day. There were hundreds of Apsaras (dancing ladies) on the walls of the gates. We continued on into the village to the side of the temple where there was loads of villagers cooking for the monks, nuns and priests. We met some of them back at the gate too. The place was buzzing with locals all preparing dinner for the monks. We bought some merchandise (books and t-shirts) from a stall and headed into the Angkor Wat Temple. This temple was more of a Hindu influence but it was in reality a mixture of both religious influences (Budism and Hinduism). It was a colossal structure. I mean my eyes were unable to take in the full view. There was so much to see in it, the top level had been closed to tourists since November so we missed it. Apart from the sheer size it was the outer walls that had the most wow factor especially the heavens and hells of Yama. The 66m long carving had 32 hells and 37 heavens. Very gruesome hells which left nothing to the imagination. After this we saw the churning of the sea milk which is my favorite even though I could only see half of it because it is under restoration. We walked to the east gate and we were collected by our tuk tuk and taken to our next destination Ta Prohm. This temple was the main one in Tomb Raider. Ta Prohm was so cool the trees were growing in on over every on the temple. They looked like honey had been dropped from the heavens, oozing over the walls on to the ground. It was so beautiful. A lot of the temple was in ruins but I think it added to its delicate beauty as nature had fully taken it over covered in a green moss. This was definitely my favorite. We had lunch and recharged our batteries. We popped into a few more temples one of which I got blessed my a Buddhist nun and given a red tread bracelet to bring me luck. The people selling things were funny at the most but sometimes they were too much. This tiny little girl who could barely speak sold me a flute. How could I refuse I nearly cried she was so cute. The icing on the cake for the end of the day was going to the hotel of hotels where one night will set you back $700. This was the place Angelina Jolie stayed when she was shooting Tomb Raider. It was goregous so simple and classy. It was one floor so from the road all you see is a white wall. We had coffee that came with gourmet slices of cakes and biscuits. A fabulous moist chocolate cake, along with a passion fruit tart and a blackberry cake as well as some handmade biscuits. It came to $7.50 each but worth it as next we got to see the room she stayed in. All the new block was the same with a private pool in each. I turns out she booked all 12 rooms in the new block but only used 2. The room was fabulous so classy and well laid out. The mini bar was James Bond worthy and the shower was glass looking on to the garden and small pool. I know now what way I am going to design my room when I build a house. Definitely go and see this place because you shall see how the rich live. After this we were driven through the rain to the Artisians d'Angkor where children and adults are trained in art, carving and stone work. The place we very impressive esp the antiques making section. You can really be fooled with some of the stuff out there as these guys had it down to a fine art. They test people from the villages and countryside to see if they have any artistic talent and if so they train them properly. The prices in the gift shop certainly reflected the enormous tourist trap it is but it is nice to see everything being made. Kim said he's good-byes to us after this and recommended the Khmer Family Restaurant for good Khmer food. He wasn't wrong we got great food there.
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