Rest day Siem Reap: Tuk tuk tour of

December 28, 2006

We eat a baguette with Nutella in our room before our tuk tuk driver picks us up right at 8am. A tuk tuk here in Cambodia is a two wheeled cart drawn behind a moped. Some can carry four, but most only carry two people plus the driver on the moped.

Our first temple to visit today is Banteay Srei, one of the furthest temples from Siem Reap, it is small but has some of the best stone carvings of all the Angkor temples. It's certainly worth the long bumpy ride to get out there. Next we back track to the temple of Pre Rup and then stop for lunch at the East Mebon temple.

After lunch, we follow the Grand circuit route via the temples of Ta Som, Preah Neak Pean, and Preah Khan. This last one is awesome. A huge ruin with hallways, pass throughs and huge trees growing on walls. Carvings everywhere and a unique two story structure with round columns still standing.

We enter the Angkor Thom through the North gate, keep going out the south and stop at Phnom Bakheng, a temple on top of a hill where hordes of tour groups watch the sunset each evening. We head up at about 4pm, see the vista and get some pictures of Angkor Wat. Staying here and fighting the hordes for a view does not appeal to us, we head back down against the current and find our tuk tuk driver. We ask him to take us to Angkor Wat. Rachel stays at the causeway across the moat, Patrick heads for the Northern reflection pool to get some nice shots of the late light hitting the temple. There is a nice reflection too.

When we visited Preah Khan temple this afternoon we ran into Thomas. He had gotten to Battambang okay but was stuck there for a day, then took the boat here. We arrange to meet tonight at Molly Malone, the Irish pub near our hotel.

After cleaning up a bit we meet up and spend a nice evening with good food and beer, talking and sharing information with Thomas.

Banteay Srei Temple, the "lady" or the "Pink" temple. 10th Century Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva.

Preah Khan "sacred sword" built in 1191 as a Buddhist temple.

Plenty of opportunities for souvenir shopping

Neak Pean was originally designed for medical purposes (the ancients believed that going into these pools would balance the elements in the bather, thus curing disease); it is one of the many hospitals that Jayavarman VII built. It is based on the ancient Hindu belief of balance. Four connected pools represent Water, Earth, Fire and Wind. Each is connected to the central water source, the main tank, by a stone conduit "presided over by one of Four Great Animals (maha ajaneya pasu) namely Elephant, Bull, Horse, and Lion, corresponding to the north, east, south, and west quarters....The stone conduits in the little pavilions are fashioned to represent the heads of the Four Great Animals...the only exception being that on the east, which represents a human head instead of a bull's."[9] Originally, four sculptures stood on the floor of the lake

Landmines are still being found in Cambodia.

Updated: In 2006-07 this was strange to see, now though in 2022 we see these signs in National Parks as more and more people travel internationally.

Patrick and Thomas exchange information.

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