Friday 12th June 2009, Siem Reap

Having never had to get up at 4:30am before, today was a struggle!! The reason for getting up this early was Angkor Wat and sunrise. We had pre-arranged with our free pick up tuk tuk driver to do the temples with him. So at 5am we jumped in his tuk tuk and headed for the Angkor temples. First stop was the ticket booth. It was $20 for a day at the temples and you had to show your ticket before entering the temples. The ticket also has a picture of you on it and if you rip or loose your ticket you have to pay another $20 to re-gain entry. So they were fairly precious tickets!!

Sunrise was to be viewed at Angkor Wat. We arrived at about 5:30 and after walking some of the way in, it appeared to all that the best spot to watch the sun rise was at the lake side. This also meant we were in prime location for the ladies with coffee. For a dollar we got a coffee and a seat. Not bad! Sun rise was about 6am and was good but not quite impressive. The reflections off the lake were cool though. After sun rise we then explored Angkor Wat until about 7:15am.

Angkor Wat was built by Suryavarman II in r 1112-52 to honor Vishnu, his patron deity and to be his funerary temple. It is the largest religious building in the world. A lot of it was destroyed during the civil war and the Khmer Rouge as with a lot of the temples. A lot of restoration work is happening through out all the temples. Angkor Wat was pretty impressive and a large area to walk around.

Once back on the tuk tuk we then went to Bonteay Srei temple. This was about 39km away from Angkor Wat, that hopefully gives you some idea of how spread out the temples are. They actually cover an area of about 200km. Before seeing the temple we had some breakfast at one of the cafes and then entered the temple at about 9am. Banteay Srei is a lot smaller than Angkor Wat and some of the other but it is considered by many to be the jewel in Angkor's artistic crown. There are lots of elaborate carvings on the doorways and walls and whilst walking through the doorways it felt like you were walking through a mirror. After seeing the temple we followed a sign for a view point. This view point was across a large lake and was quite attractive. We did try to walk around the lake but it wasn't really sign posted and between the 3 of us we only had 1 bottle of water. By now it was scorching!! There is also the worry in the back of your mind of land mines (to be explained later) on some of these paths.

From Banteay Srei having escaped the extremely persistent kids wanting to sell all sorts we then headed to the Land mine museum.

The land mine museum is part of the Cambodian Land Mine relief Fund (CLMMRF) and was set up by a guy who as a child was recruited by the Khmer rough as a child solider. In the war he had a lot to do with planting the land mines not that he wanted to but because he was told to. He believes he was about 10 at this point but couldn't really say as he doesn't know when he born. Children who were recruited were normally sent to the front line to do the dangerous parts so as to save the adults from doing it. Nobody knows how many land mines there really are as so many were put in place through out the civil war and the Khmer rouge and no mapping is available. I can't remember the guys name but he is well known for his work with land mines and before funding was available he used to go out on his own and de-fuse the mines. He regularly used to get phone calls from various villages asking for his help and still does. Cambodia has a big problem with landmines and there a lot of amputees around the country due to the land mines. Land mines are designed to mane not kill. From all his work de-fusing the mines he kept a lot of the parts and equipment for the museum him and his wife set up.

A lot of the museum is about education as well as history.

Originally the museum was nearer Siem Reap but as it got bigger it has moved to about 20km outside the town. This is also because they run an orphanage for amputee children whose families can't afford to keep them and also street children. They live here and are also educated at the local school as well. Some still have families but not all of them.

After the land mine museum we went to Pre Rup temple before having lunch. After lunch we then went to Ta Prohm temple. This was most definitely our favorite. On arriving at the temple its appearance reminded me of the Hansel and Grettle house and on entering it, it was a maze of knocked down walls with enormous trees growing inside. It was fascinating and amazing all at once. This temple was the one used in Tomb Raider. Not that I've seen it!!

We ended our temple day at Angkor Thom and Bayon. Bayon had some amazing sculptures and stone carving all the way through out. By now we were fairly templed out so after walking around all 4 walls of Bayon we jumped back into our tuk tuk and very soundly asked to be taken home. We exited through the south gate of Angkor Thom and on the way saw lots of wild monkeys.

We arrived back at 4:30pm (so 12 hours of temples!!) and after a pineapple slushie we had a nap before using the net and having dinner at the guest house. Bed by about 11pm as early start tomorrow.