Wednesday, June 13, 2007

ok i seem to be on a roll! sorry, e last entry has no title...shld be Siem Reap Day 1.
so day 2...it was e 1st day of our visit to e temple ruins of e ancient city of Angkor. it’s not just abt Angkor Wat, as i found out! many many more beautiful temples adorn e area, as e god-kings of e ancient Khmer empire sought to outdo each other. according to lonely planet one needs at least 3-4 days to fully appreciate e temples of Angkor. a 3 day pass cost US$40 each.

we started out w visiting e mother of all religious structures, Angkor Wat. had to leave at 5.15 in e morn to catch ‘Sunrise at Angkor Wat’. for that, we had to add a US$20 sunrise surcharge. hah! btw even though like 90% of e Cambodian population now practises Buddhism, e ancient temples are actually Hindu temples, & e reliefs & carvings on thier walls depict scenes fr epics like Ramayana & Mahabarata.

ANGKOR WAT

the lake and moat tt surrounds e temple...1st glimpse of angkor wat in e distance...

our guide then brought us in to climb e structure, these are e 1st of many steps & stones...

one of the bas-reliefs on a side of the wall of the temple
once inside, we had to climb a very steep incline of stone steps to get to e highest level of angkor wat. unlike the other levels, there are no nice stairs here. signs tell u "climb at your own risk". yet, this did not deter us from wanting to climb to the top of angkor wat.
ningz the spiderman. while e rest of us advanced slowly but not so surely, this fella lightly trod on the steps, w/o losing his balance. he has zero fear of heights...mo & i were relying on ningz to grab us & guide us...just look at this photo! i got e quaking legs feeling already...it is way scarier & higher than it looks.
evidence of our gruelling climb...red faces beaded w perspiration...




this scary ningz again...
now this was really interesting...part of e wall carvings on the gateway into angkor wat...mo & i could not figure out how on earth e ancient Khmer people knew abt e existence of dinosaurs...werent they a recent discovery, from archaelogical digs & all that?
more beautiful angkor wat photos coming up as the next day we came back again specially to see it during sunset. on that day though, after we visited the largest religious monument in the world, we went on to one of the weirdest - the Bayon temple in the ancient city of Angkor Thom.

BAYON This is the road & gates leading in to Angkor Thom. One side is lined by devils, the other by gods.
We chose the side of the gods...

There u have it, the many faces of Buddha of the Bayon temple.



according to our guide, this is supposed to be a typical spot where they make tourists take photos that look like they're kissing the face in the distance. unfortunately, here u see bingz rubbing noses w it instead...dey! this is not eskimo lah! (i just had to use dey)
the smiling Buddha that looks like ningz...we took one of him close-up smiling just like e carving but i think it dint turn out...

is this guy amazingly talented or what?


TA PROHM

Now this temple is where a certain Angelina Jolie (or as our guide earnestly said, "Angelie Jolina") filmed Tomb Raider. i know nuts abt e movie but it occured to me that when she was filming in cambodia she must have spotted & decided to adopt e lil Maddox kid. ok but aside fr being associated w her, this temple is extremely interesting cos it has been taken over by trees which grow from it & on it. e trees are 300-400 years old. whereas the temple was bulit in the 8th century or sth...


woe betide he who clumbs on the structure!

Posted by Adila :: 2:25 AM :: 0 comments

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