Siem Reap and Ankor Wat

Happy Dance!

I am proud to report that my poor, ragged, Songkran-smeared passport has run out of empty pages. What better way to celebrate the survival of a second successful Laos Airlines landing than this realization, along with the corresponding fine at the Cambodian immigration desk?

Filthy, though thoroughly relaxed from my trip through Laos, I collected my bags and prepared to meet Matt (my boyfriend from DC) outside the airport. We shared a tuk tuk to our guest house and began the long process of catching each other up on the events of the past four months. Lucky for us, we had just barely enough time to catch the sunset at the ancient ruined temple Wat Ta Phrom. Despite some threatening clouds, the sun put on a pretty good show.

The sunset temple

Soon afterward I discovered a new favorite food: Fish Amok. This mildly sweet and sour coconut fish curry dish is served in a hollowed out coconut shell with (of course) a huge bowl of rice. Delicious!

The following day I opted to take a tuk tuk rather than a bicycle to see Ankor Wat. Hardcore budget backpackers might scoff at this decision (it's just too easy, isn't it?), but I felt justified by the two reasons that guided my decision:

1. I was running short on time; and

2. I was still battling some pretty horrible consequences of food poisoning I suffered in Laos

I later came to appreciate this decision, especially in light of Matt's rough adjustment to the sweltering heat and my illness, which eventually became so debilitating that it paralyzed me totally with excruciating pain and stomach cramps. I feel no need to expound further -- if you've had food poisoning you know why; if you haven't, you don't want to.

Despite these limitations, we managed to have a fun day, full of highlights including:

• The splendid ruins of Ankor Wat

This enormous ruined palace is the best preserved example of Ankor architecture. The Wat is surrounded by a huge moat. Perhaps the most impressive aspect to me was the sheer size of the temple, especially considering that every square inch seemed to be ornately decorated with intricate mouldings and carvings.

• The ancient walled city Wat Thom

Elephants, cars and people passing through the Wat Thom Gate

This site included one of my favorite wats (the Bayon), which contained delicate stone faces carved on many surfaces.

The Bayon:

Face off

How many faces can you count in this picture? (answer: 4)

Traditional Cambodian dancers in the Bayon

• Banteay Srei
  

A small, charming temple, famous for its rosy coloration derived from pink sandstone. Located about 45 minutes outside Siem Reap (where the majority of the ruins are located), a visit to this site required a lovely, shady tuk tuk ride past rice paddies and small rural villages. Here are some pictures from the drive:

Cambodian gas station (note the hand crank pump)

• Wat Ta Phrae

This was without a doubt my favorite Ankor site, set deep in the jungle and covered with huge banyan trees. Many of the trees have actually grown into the ruins, their gigantic roots spreading across walls like frozen tentacles. I truly appreciated the juxtaposition of nature and architecture. It was almost as though the forest were reabsorbing, and thus reclaiming the stone used to create the relics of this ancient civiliaztion.