The final stop of our three week Vietnam/Cambodia adventure was certainly the piece de resistance. Beginning with sunrise over Angkor Wat and ending in the ancient city of Angkor Thom, we spent our last two days hiking up steep stairs, sweating in the scorching heat and learning about the interesting blend of Hindu and Buddhist influence throughout the Khmer Empire as far back as the 9th century.
We started our first day at the legendary Ankgor Wat joining hundreds of eager tourists looking upon the largest temple in the world. The bas-reliefs carved in the 12th century are so well preserved they could have been carved yesterday.
After Angkor Wat, our driver took us to Ta Nei, a seldom visited temple that ended up being one of our favorites of the day. Off the beaten path, this temple was completely overgrown with trees and roots and empty of the tourists that plagued Angkor Wat. We literally had the whole place to ourselves! We then continued on to Ta Keo where we had to climb some scary steep steps up to the top of the temple for a very worthwhile view at the top. After Ta Keo, we moved on to Ta Phrom, also known as "Tomb Raider" as it was featured in the Angelina Jolie movie from a few years back. I never understood why she and Brad Pitt adopted their first child from Cambodia, but after realizing that she had filmed on location here for close to a year (and seeing the adorable Cambodian children), it all makes sense now!
Our last stop before lunch was Pra Roup, a temple designed a bit differently than those we had seen thus far. It was built out of brick and was covered in lion statues. Oh, and there were more stairs to climb!? After a brief (and pretty unsatisfying) lunch of Cambodian fare, we continued on for the final two temples of the day. The first was Banteay Srei, a beautiful pink sandstone temple about 45 minutes from the main Angkor Wat area. At this point, we'd seen so many temples that I sadly have to admit that they all sort of started blending together. The last stop of the day was Banteay Samre. I think I was too hot at this point for my brain to work properly, so I can't remember what made it special.
After our long day of touristing, we went to the pool at Le Meridien for a swim and to cool down. The fun had really only just begun though because we had a big night ahead. The hotel recommended a place call Mahob for dinner which was fantastic - one of the best meals of the trip! Laura and Gemma ordered steak which came out on a hot stone for them to cook it themselves. I had tuna tartar with mango and a chicken curry that was delicious. Oh ya, and George ordered beef with fire ants. Ewww! (Actually, I had a bite of ants, and you can't really even tell they are on your form.) After dinner, we went to Phare, a local circus troupe that tells the story of the Khmer Rouge struggle through dancing and acrobatics. It was a really amazing show that brought us all to make generous donations at the end to help the students of a performing arts school in Battambang revive the Khmer culture that was lost during Pol Pot's regime.
Laura's flight was earlier than ours, but we didn't cover Angkor Thom and Bayon in our tour on the first day, so we woke up again at sunrise to beat the crowds to the ancient Khmer capital city. It was well worth it. The New Years celebrations brought our the locals in full force. The whole city was buzzing with partying Cambodian families and worshipers alike. Different from the other temples we had seen, Bayon has all these really cool heads on all of the towers. Historians don't actually know what the significance of the heads are or who they are meant to represent. We wandered around Angkor Thom after Bayon to Baphuon which is a pyramidal representation of mythical Mount Meru that marked the center of the city that existed before Angkor Thom. Unfortunately, we couldn't go inside because we were in shorts and our guide had misinformed us about the necessity to cover our shoulders and knees. We ended our Siem Reap experience by walking along the Terrace of the Elephants and through the grounds (and New Years parties) back to meet our van. Our time in Cambodia wasn't enough. I left wanting more. The people are so kind and seem so happy despite their tragic past. I will have to come back one day and explore some of the beaches!
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