Favourite Places

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Siem Reap Day 3

the evening of the previous day was spent at a hotel restaurant, where for US$11, we were treated to a buffet dinner as well as a cultural performance.we enjoyed watching the graceful Apsara dancers, upholding a dance form which originated from the time of the ancient Angkorian empire. in fact, e apsara dancers of yore were celestial beings, and carvings and sculptures of them adorn the temples as well as the royal palace in Phomn Penh. we however, were most awed by the degree of hyperextension of their wrists and digits...trust medical students to be impressed w this kinda thing...
this is a more modern, courtship dance. nothing to do with sweeping ceilings.

alrighty, on to day 3 proper. more temples of angkor on the itinerary. first up, Bantaey Srei, aka the women's temple. the carvings on the walls were all done by the fairer sex, and how it shows! gracefully executed curliques, exquisite attention to detail...it was a very pretty temple! i liked it alot. the pics here just don't do it justice...



next, we drove abt 30km out of town to visit Kbal Spean. this is actually a riverbed in a valley, & the special thing abt it is that it's adorned with carvings of one of the Hindu deities, as well as hundreds of "lingha", which are symbols of the union of male & female as well as fertility. they look like phalluses, & i used to think they were symbols of masculinity, until mohan explained otherwise. it was a fairly long trek in the jungle to reach the river, & made more exciting by the fact that there are still landmines in the area. thus we had to ensure that we did not stray from the path.



The linghas...

splashing arnd in the clean, natural river water. felt so cold & refreshing. in that crazy heat, was so tempted to cup my hands & drink the water. oh btw, the orange color is a trick of the sunlight. it seemed like e river was glowing from within.


huge milipede we met on the way back down. as thick as a medium sized sausage.

finally, we went to a temple which used to be the columbarium for the kings, called Preah Rup.
the lil boy atop the temple did a roaring trade with us as he managed to sell off 4 sets of postcards. i just love it when we meet these local kids all arnd the area. the older ones will act as guides & tell us more abt the temples. apparently, many of them are descendants of the original temple inhabitants!
the least scary way down is by butt.

another temple that we visited the previous day, but i've forgotten its name. this one was interesting because in the compound are 2 pools, one of which is huge and was meant for the bathing pleasure of the king and his concubines. when we climbed to the topmost part of the structure, we met 2 boys who looked our age but were actually 12 and 19. we made friends w them & they guided us at the top. they even taught us a bit of the Khmer language. at the end, as we prepared to go down, they asked whether we could give them $1 "for school".
hahaha is that emotional blackmail or wat!

bigger than olympic sized swimming pool. did e king have that many concubines? tsk...

just for u harti! we asked our van driver to stop by the post office so we could mail u ur postcard. i think it's hilarious that we're back & e postcard has still not arrived!

later, after some R & R at our respective places of lodging (them at their 4star hotel w swimming pool & free massage, us at our humble hostel) the 8 of us set off for angkor wat again, this time to catch the view during sunset. had to wait arnd for quite awhile by e pond. though the wait was made bearable by enterprising locals with a tantalising offer - buy a drink for 50cents, get a chair to sit on!
this lil kiddie kept trying to sell his postcards unsuccessfully to all e tourists who were milling arnd & waiting for nature's show to begin. the tactics he employed were a bit aggressive. he would just shove his wares on your lap. many of the pple he approached treated him as though he was a buzzing fly. but his cute-as-a-bug face tugged at mo's & my heartstrings, & we bought a set from him, although they were all a bit muddy!


scroll down this series of photos & see angkor wat glow orange as the sun sets. absolutely stunning.



lots of mokeys in the area...


later tt night, we wandered arnd the old market area of siem reap after bidding goodbye to e 4 dudes who would be making their way to Phonm Penh the next day. went to an internet cafe (US$1 per hr) to book our hostel for Phonm Penh. so backpackerish! cool eh!
quite happening at night!

Posted by Adila :: 11:17 PM :: 0 comments

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