A great western style breakfast, with a chicken porridge for good luck. Everyone was up and ready, still on Sydney body clocks! Richard (or little Richard as he became affectionately known) was ready at 7:30 and we headed off for a day of temples and stories. The mini bus now had back seats so everyone had a proper seat, which was an improvement on last night and much safer too.
Our first stop was Angkor Thom and in particular Bayon, with its 216 smiling (?) faces
To get to Bayon you enter through one of 5 gates, the most popular and best restored is the south gate, you make your way across the bridge with cars, bikes and elephants, the narrow arch is controlled by police to ensure the one way flow of traffic works well. The bridge is lined by demons and gods, pulling great snakes in a tug of war.
We wandered for a while through the temple, climbing up steep stairs and then down through ancient corridors, with arches held by massive stone columns. The stories of the wars and triumphs of the Cambodians were depicted on the walls in bas relief. The wars were with the Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese, with victory to the locals every time!
We spent some time at Ta Prohm, the king's mother's temple and made famous by the Lara Croft movies. It is less restored and maybe a little more interesting as a result, the jungle has taken over and the trees have growninto and around the buildings.
After lunch we headed off to Angkor Wat, with a story of Hindu kidnappings and wars with the Sri Lankan people who stole the god's favourite wife - the monkey soldiers of Hanuman had to rescue her! Angkor Wat is an amazing place, with wide green open spaces, pools and incredible buildings!
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