On my last day in Siem Reap I had a morning to fill before heading off to the airport so managed to fit in some more temples. In the first one you can see my guide who was with me for both days, he was a really nice 25 year old local called He Narath who helped his mother sell breakfast by the road at 4am before going to work as a guide. At one point our tuk-tuk was overtaken by a Toyota Camry which I saw him staring at as it went by. As he noticed that I'd seen him looking at it he said "what a lovely car" (I wasn't really in agreement but never mind) a comment which he then followed up with "but I'll never be able to afford one". They're $10,000 USD over here and he has 2 jobs which means he works 4am-4/6pm every day. I made a mental note to increase his tip... Leaving was very hard too as it was such a nice place. It was made even harder when I went to shake my tuk-tuk driver's hand when he dropped me off at the airport. He looked at it, then looked at me then gave me a hug instead. (The police nearby found it highly amusing as there was at least a foot and a half's height difference). Then he backed off, beamed the huge smile that it seemed to wear like it couldn't be removed then hugged me again. Very strange and sums up why I adored the Khmer people. It's a bit strange being back in Singapore and walking past British people who would rather get hit by traffic than return a stranger's smile.
Either way we decided to head off to some temples slightly further from town and having picked up some palm fruit (amazing stuff, basically chewy fruit with refreshing liquid inside like a capsule) and some very sugary cane juice we headed off to the first temple whose name I can't remember but which I will call Brian as it's just easier.
The view from the top of the above temple
The next set of pictures are all from the pink temple which is around 900 years old. How the carvings are still so intricate I've no idea but it makes for an amazing sight.
The temple with it's surrounding moat as seen from the outer wall and it's main entrance:
A depiction of Shiva placing a mountain onto the Daemon King who was trying to disturb his meditation:
I can't remember what this one was about so I'm going to plump for it being a record of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield's second fight from 1997. well that or John Terry's latest night out...
An elephant statue standing guard on the temple of Ganesha. I was all carved from one piece of sandstone which is quite good work seeing as the block it was carved from must have been huge and came from over 60km away.
The centre of the temple with the ever present protective lion statues:
The Southern entrance to the temple. The statues on either side were used to hold candles which would've made for a pretty impressive walkway at night time
Another tree eating a temple
Looking back through the centre of the temple from the southern doorway. The central corridor runs through the entire length of the building and consists of 27 different towers. All in all quite impressive.
The carving at the top of the door above. I think it's based on a cctv still captured on the M25 last year after a massive pile-up.
Looking back through the centre of the temple from the southern doorway. The central corridor runs through the entire length of the building and consists of 27 different towers. All in all quite impressive.
The carving at the top of the door above. I think it's based on a cctv still captured on the M25 last year after a massive pile-up.
That's it. I'm off to Hong Kong tomorrow for another epic conference where I'm sure there will be shenanigans aplenty, then it's back to work for a few months. Bit boring really as I'm quite enjoying the whole travelling and not working thing.
keg
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