The Temples of Angkor

I did really get up at 4:30am... me! Can you believe it? I hardly can... hehehe
But it was worth it.

At 5am, my driver showed up and we set off in the dark towards the temples of Angkor. Somewhere in the middle of the street were huts to buy your ticket. It comes with a picture, so that you cannot share it.
After one has passed the booth, one keeps on moving on everyday streets and routes which are used by the people, who live in the villages between the temples, all the time. It doesn't feel at all like a museum site, but rather like a temple city, where people have these temples in their live, because they are there for ever, but not because they are something special.

At dawn, I sat at a lake on a little old stone plateau to watch it. The dawn was wierd though, the sky never turned orange nor did one see the sun rise really. It was just light so quickly.
On the other side of the lake was the first temple I saw. I felt like a crazy scientist or lara croft when I wondered through the calm temple in the jungle, as I was the only one there. I had it all to myself, cause most tourists start in the opposite direction to see Angkor Wat at dawn. Me, on the other hand, I listened to Kati and did it the "wrong"way, which was exactly right.

Of course, there were kids again, trying to sell braceletts, coffee or other things. Here, in this surrounding they were a bit annoying, even though they only followed me around outside of the temple itself.

The second temple was Ta Phrom. This is the so called "jungle temple" where trees have grown all over and through the massive walls and stones. Here, they filmed Tomb Raider, but even though I was alone (except for a so called guide) it didnt feel like the first temple. There were too many signs and construction sites to rebuild the temple. However, I liked this temple the most from the small ones, it is just very special with all the trees and the early sunlight.
Funny enough, one of the carvings displays a dinosaur. I wonder how they did know... or who played a very big joke, cause there is really no evidence for the dinosaur to be carved in at any different time than the gods shown in the reliefs.

I went on and saw a couple of more small temples which are not really necessary to mention, but of course, they were beautiful as well. One thing is to mention though: One of the temples was to be climed at own risk, and the stairs are really crazy. As narrow as ten centimetres and high as maybe 35cms... really hard to climb, and horrible to get down. I only climbed the first two levels.

The next highlight was in the City of Angor Thom. Next to another small temple there was a bigger one which is fully under construction right now, to rebuilt a huge reclining buddha. As one couldnt really enter it, they put up huge walls with explanations on how the re-construction works. It was actually started in the 50s, stopped in the war, and only restarted in the mid 90s.

Right in the middle of the City is the temple of Bayon, which is another really beautiful temple with many many towers which have huge faces on them. Unfortunately, I met a lot of tourist groups here (mainly japanese and english, by the way) which took a little of the charme and the some chances for amazing pictures. Still, I thought this was so beautiful that I sat down in the shade for a while and listened to the various guides, whenever I could understand them.

When I went back to search for my driver, I went to get a water. They couldnt change my ten dollar bill (I even think they didnt think it was real) so I gave them my last Riehls. I also wanted to eat something and so I sat down in the place where my driver had a quick meal as well. The girl there spoke english very well, she was about ten I guess, and assured me she could change it for sure. The food was yummy as always, and in the end she gave me nearly all small dollars and one dollar in Riehl, so that was really good.

The last temple I saw was of course the huge and beautiful Angkor Wat. Before one enters it, one has to walk a huge 200m causeway over to big mashes, then go through a 200m wide building used as gate with an entrance so big that an elephant could go through, and in the end another 150 Causeway before one reaches the terrace in front of the temple. Here, I had the post card view on the temple, really, with the five towers sticking out.
I entered and was surprised that there were hardly any tourists left in the building. The bas-reliefs in the galleries are so carefully carved and so detailed, it is amazing.
In the second floor i got a nice few on the towers, but unfortunately, the third level was closed off.
In one of the hallways I sat down for a while to read about Angkor Wat in my book and to take a sip of water. It was very calm and nice.
On my further way through the temple, I passed several buddha statues with golden scarfs and some with candles where people had prayed.

Somehow, the real feel of the temples isnt really possible to be described in words, especially not on a blog while being here, as time is limited. Maybe the pictures can tell more, and in the end I can always sit down with everyone who wants to hear about it and tell the stories over a glass of tinto (which I miss, really) on the terrace :)

After Angkor Wat, I drove back to the hostel. I had been looking at temples for over eight hours, even though I only did the "small"round. I felt smelly and stinky and tired, from waking and sweating in the incredible heat at noon. Luckily I had sunscreen with the number 50... I would have burnt myself otherwise.

I showered, took a nap while it rained heavily and now I will go and get a drink :)