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Siem Reap, Cambodia – Day 2
By jeni | September 4, 2008
So…I figured out that I have a hard time writing the “and then, and then, and then,” posts, so this may not be exactly in chronological order anymore, but that’s not the point really is it? No, the point is to talk about all the cool stuff we saw and did in Cambodia. Yeahzors. As John would say.
Anyway, we’ve established that waking up early is not exactly this couple’s strong suit, but we did it again so we could see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, which apparently is one of the “must-do” things even though I’m kind of of the mind that you shouldn’t really be obligated to ANYTHING when you’re traveling, you just do what you decide to do and then that’s what you’ve done. And hopefully you liked it.
Well sunrise, even though it was early and I was shiny from all the bug spray and sweat and sunscreen, was fantastic. Amazing. Right up until the camera battery died. And then it was daylight and it was time to go eat breakfast. But before that it was truly amazing. Once again, pictures don’t really do it justice, but here’s one.
Yeah so maybe this is going to be one of those “and then, and then” posts after all. So, the camera battery was dead and it wasn’t even 8 a.m. What were we going to do? Well we decided to go back to the hotel and charge it. It was so so tempting to just get back in bed, but we persevered, charged the battery, had some eggs, and headed back out to see Angkor Thom. We still had a lot of exploring at Angkor Wat to do, but we decided to save it for Saturday.
The walls of Angkor Thom – wow. Amazing. Only bummer was, lots of other people thought it was going to be amazing too. Stupid tourists. Oh, wait…
From Angkor Thom we saw Bayon, Baphuon, Phimeanakas, the Elephant Terrace, the Leper King Terrace, Preah Khan, and Ta Phrom. Yeah, it was a long day, and it probably doesn’t make sense for me to write a whole new guidebook since Lonely Planet has already done that, so I’m just going to start putting in some photos. I hope you like them. We do.
See all the faces? That’s Bayon. John loved Bayon.
I can’t tell you how many really steep stairs we climbed up for people with really really tiny feet. Feet the size of children. Little children.
The coolest thing about Preah Khan is that there is a perfect center, from which you can look in any direction and see doorways to the end. The doorways get shorter and shorter toward the north, because that’s where the king was. And as you approach the king, you have to duck your head lower and lower. Bow down bish!
Oopsie, I think some stones fell down. This made me nervous. If one of these stones falls on your head you will die. Dead. But luckily we are still alive.
Okay up next, Ta Prohm, which you know if you’ve seen Tomb Raider. I myself haven’t seen it but plan to soon after seeing this amazing site. It was one of my favorites. And, it was the place we met a really great Belgian couple, who we ended up hanging out with the rest of our time in Cambodia. They were on holiday for a month traveling Asia, and had just finished camping in Chiang Mai, Thailand, wandering through Bangkok, and spending some time sailing in the Mekong delta. Super cool.
Yes, this is a tree growing on top of a building.
After I took this picture this tree root picked John up and tried to strangle him. He got out okay though.
Awesome.
More happened after Ta Prohm, like a nap, dinner with A. and A. (names withheld to protect the innocent)Â a tuk tuk ride from a driver who was most certainly not sober, and watching some really weird Cambodian TV programs, but those things are not nearly as exciting as killer tree roots, so that’s all I’ve got for today.
XOXOXO
Topics: Cambodia, friends, sightseeing, traveling | No Comments »
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