Tuesday we were off early with Rambo (2), our Tuk Tuk driver, to see and experience the wonder of Angkor Wat. The 'lost city' of Angkor is the heart and soul of the Kingdom of Cambodia. We started at Angkor Wat, the mother of all temples. It's surrounded by a moat, the central temple consists of 3 levels and each level has a square surrounded by a gallery/walkway. The central tower is 55mabove the ground so there are many steep steps to get to the top where you see the greatest carving - the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. This carving depicts 88 demons on the left and 92 gods with crested helmets on the right, 'churning up the sea to extract the elixir of immortality'. Many people were sitting and drawing/sketching this wonder.
Bayon is known for its 216 faces watching over the visitors to the temple. It is believed that the faces resemble the king himself (Avalokiteshvara).
Angkor Thom was built by Angkor's greatest King, Jayavarman VII. This temple houses the important monuments of Bayon, Baphuon, the Tertace of Elephants & the Terrace of the Leper King.
Ta Prohm was used as a set for the Indiana Jones movies - Tomb Raider & Two Brothers. This temple has been left to its natural jungle state. The temple is a maze of narrow corridors, crumbling rocks, and the roots of the trees seem to be growing right out of the stone walls. Very hard to believe these monsterous trees can anchor themselves to this maze of stonework.
We were glad to see a lot of the temples were being reconstructed to their original state so that this will continue to be a tourist attraction for Cambodia.
Once again the history of this ancient wonder and the beauty of its temples left us in awe.
We met Holly and Jan at the Old Market Bridge, it was exciting seeing familiar faces. Two months in Thailand has certainly been good as they looked great ( tanned and smiling). How much better could it get??? Had drinks and supper with them and exchanged travel stories. Great evening, hope we will be able to catch up with them again in Thailand.
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