Siem Reap
Today was hard core temple day. We started off at 5am and watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat and then commenced the tour of the building. It is amazing. It took 37 years to build and was never completely finished. There are a few places where the carvings are only roughed out and other places where the borders just stop half way up a column. Most of the Buddhas were headless because, during the civil war, their heads were chopped off and taken to Thailand (They are not big fans of Siam here).
After breakfast, we went to another temple, then another, and another. We hit 10 temples in all. The temple: beer ratio took quite a hit. Some of the highlights included the Bayon temple, where Buddha looked out from all four sides of every tower; the elephant terrace, for obvious reasons; and Ta Phrom, where they filmed Tomb Raider. After we were templed out, we came back to town to do a little shopping. My sister-in-law just shuddered as I wrote that line – I have a habit of bringing back large impractical gifts that she has to look at. Does my brother really need a 4-foot wooden dancing Vishnu? Of course he does.
After a much needed beer break, where we chatted up some Aussies (not the hardest thing to do), we are back at the hotel. All we have to do tonight is get dinner and do a little internet.
2 comments:
Kokopelli's lonely!
kokopelli is NOT lonely at all. In fact we were talking the other day, and he feels quite crowded in our house. He is currently being overshadowed by Jerome, our giraffe who will probably occupy a nice cushy spot in our living room(I must admit, I do play favourites). He mentioned the desire to 'move out' perhaps to the garage. He wants to take up biking...we have lots of bikes in our garage.
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