Siem reap: The gateway to Angkor Wat

Early in the morning we arrived in Cambodia. Expecting the worst it was actually quite ok. Everything looked taken care of and the visa was 20US$ as expected. A Taxi was arranged to get us to town and the guy talked us into staying at the King Angkor Guesthouse. This was a clean place and our base of operations for exploring the ruins.

We decided to start tomorrow so we still had a whole day to spend in town. Siem Reap is a place tuned to tourists, everybody was nice and relaxing, though the Tuk Tuk drivers tend to drive you insane...

Twooo for one dollar..... but for me a job if you say yesss.... so yes???

We went to the market and noticed the nice things on sale: Pig-heads, grasshoppers etc.. Khmer eat everything ;).

When we decided to go back to the hostel the first signs of wet-season started to appear: It rained like hell!! Within half an our the streets were filled with water, and by the time we walked back we were in ankle-deep!!

The next day we rented some bikes to go on our first temple-hunt. We devided our three days in categories: The rise of the Khmer, The height of the Khmer and the decayed ruins of the Khmer.

So it was time to cycle all the way to Rolous for our first encounter with early temples. First we had to go to the office counter to buy our 3 days pass. After some miscommunication with the ticketgirl (we couldn't grasp the advantage of a three consecutive day pass above a three random day pass) we got our pass and went all the way back to south-east where Roluos is located. When we arrived after about an hour we were totally exhausted because of the heat but the sight of the temple made all the (arse)pain disappear ;)

We saw Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei and we were amazed by there size and beauty. They were 3 completely different temples in a serene surroundings. After spending 2 hours over there we made our way up to Banteay Samre.

Unfortunately it took us longer then we expected, the sun was killing us and our small bikes where challenging our constitutions. So we had to make a lunch stop at a restaurant with non-english speaking staff. Ronald was really afraid what he would get but fortunately no fish but meat in a disgusting noodle soup.

After a very long ride we finally found Banteay Samre and the childeren there selling stuff. Fortunately the ruin itself was almost deserted and we had some peaceful exploring. From the outside it looked like a normal temple, but once we got inside there was a small maze waiting for us with alot of decoration and small towers: Definitly worth the visit!

On our way back we also visited East Mebon, Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang. These temples where also of huge dimensions. If they where placed anywhere else on the planet they would have made wonderfull visits.

We ended the day at Sras Srang, which was a plateau looking over a bassin of water. We'd seen some magnificent stuff today so where very excited for tomorrow, since that was gonna be Yvette's birthday AND we we're gonna see Angkor Wat itself!!

They next day Yvette woke up next to a singing Ronald: Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you!!! :p... Too bad not everybody could be here to celebrate this wonderful day, and even sadder was the fact that cambodian phone-network seemed to boycot our sms-reception :(... (So if you sent a txt message: thank you!! but most likely we didn't receive it :'( ).

We rented a different bike (Cheaper and better!) and rode to Angkor wat! It was beautiful and big!! This really is the better work with a huge walkway towards the gate and the temple itself has another 5 magnificantly detailed towers build on an artificial hill. There were also alot of engravings in the galleries on the lower levels, which depicted stories and important events of the king.

Phnom Bakheng was our stop after Angkor wat. It was located on a mountain near the site and profided a beautiful view of the area!! We could even see the towers of angkor wat from here. Another magical spot in the Angkor Area!!

Next we had to move through the Angkhor Thom gateway on to the Bayon. This is another masterpiece temple with over 200 heads formed in the towers. Legend has it that a lot of the faces represent the ruler of that time so that he would always be "present".

We moved further into the ancient city and saw Baphuon and Phimeanakas, which was the royal residence (with swimming pools ofcourse). We moved to the front of the palace and saw the Terrace of the elephants and terrace of the leper King. Where, we imagine, the king would speak to the people!

Afterwards we celebrated Yvette's birthday again, with a small present and cocktails!! (o'course ;)..

After waking up it was time for our third (and last) day at the city. As amazingly as it may sound, we did not yet had enough of all the temples. This last day all the decaying temples where on the menu: Yeah Jungle-covered-temples ala indiana jones for the win!!

We started at the most touristy one: Ta Prohm. At first we were a bit disappointed by all the fences and woodwork holding up the temples, but we soon forgot after seeing the sheer beauty of these temples being overtaken by nature. We took some really nice pictures of the ancient trees which will probably decorate our bedroom when we get back in holland ;).

The other temples: Preah Khan, Ta Keo, Neak Pean, Krol Ko and Ta Som we saw were also fine examples of jungle-covered temples! It was a really good day for our photocamera (in total we took more than 150 pictures at angkor wat!!!).. but after three days riding a bicycle that's too small you tend to get a little bit enough of this beauty.

We went back to our guesthouse with the feeling we saw one of the worldwonders, but it was time to move on to Phnom Penh: And ofcourse with the cheap bus :p