Angkor Wat
We got up at 4:30 a.m. to catch sunrise at the temples, but it was really too overcast to make it worth it. However, Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples were simply amazing. When a huge structure built 1000 years ago is still standing, I am impressed. We hired a guide to tell us some of the history of everything. I could only understand about 75% of what Mr. Kim was telling me, but the temples speak for themselves. Wow. The size and design are great enough, but then you add in the detailed carvings. I feel better about all the expense to come here for 36 hours. We wanted to stay 2 1/2 days, but the flight we needed got sold out. Rather than spend 3 1/2 days, we opted to go short and spend the extra day at the beach relaxing or scuba diving. It did seem silly to come for such a short time, but we hit all the big ticket items in one long day of sight seeing: 5 am to 3 pm. Afterwards we were totally exhausted, and I actually took a nap.
This will be more of a photo blog today since they will be more interesting than my words. If you are wondering why K is not in a lot of photos, it is not from my lack of trying!
1st stop: Sunrise at Angkor Wat
2nd stop:Angkor Thom (an ancient city) with Bayon Temple
This is where we saw 2 large pools that apparently were for the men and women to bathe separately. The men had a much larger pool where sometimes they would bring their concubines. However, if they misbehaved with them (cryptic words, guide...), they could be executed. I didn't catch the reason why, but I did conclude what the end of that fable should be (1st line of this blog).
3rd stop: Ta Phrom (Tomb Raider Temple)
Can you see the face?
Our guide, Mr. Kim & our driver, Mr. Sith
After passing OUT, we showered and headed out for .... you guessed it!Daily Massage Report
We went back to the same place since Kavita was willing to do a full body, and as followers of this blog have learned, that doesn't happen every day! I wanted to go to the place where blind people massage you, but, of course, this would have added an extra element of unknown for Kavita - so we left that alone. Unfortunately for our intrepid driver, Mr. Sith! (you must say it with that much enthusiasm), it started to rain as we took off for the massage. We're covered in the back, but he's just got a poncho and a helmet. We didn't feel too bad until it became a monsoon type rain, and here we are making this poor guy drive us to get a massage. What a bunch of princesses! (including B!) Oh well - we gave him extra tip.
Once we got there, they had us change into their clothes, and they got to gettin' on our massages. B & K loved theirs - I saw a girl walking on B's back, and K said it was her best one! But mine was way too soft. It was nice, but not what I'm looking for. "Come on! Show me what you can do! Don't let the Thais show you up! Put the elbow right into my back!" Ok, so I didn't actually say that and instead just about went to sleep. Oh well, you win some; you lose some. It's really all about who you get, and I got a different girl this time. My new rating of City Spa: 3 1/2 stars. They have gone down based on today's poor performance, but my feet still remember how great it was yesterday... K & B's rating would likely be 5 stars.
We came back and had an excellent Thai dinner at our guesthouse in their great open-air restaurant with homemade dark chocolate ice cream. No super cheap prices like I was expecting here but so good I didn't care. It's still cheap compared to home. Speaking of - I have only one more full week before I head home. Is it already over?!
More pics of Siem Reap - Angkor Wat
Fair Warning - there a LOT of pics and many look pretty similar.
Great pics. Some of these are Olan Mills worthy...
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