Today I had booked a guide to take us around the 3 big temples - Angkor Wat, Ta Promh and the Bayon temple. We were going to Angkor Wat for Sunrise which meant a very early start of 4:30am! However there was a slight issue in that Peter had been up since 2am with severe diarrhoea......he was not well enough to go (couldn't be too far from a toilet!) so he went back to bed whilst I went temple exploring with the guide.
Angkor Wat opens at 5am and the guide was very keen for us to be first there so we could set up in the best spot ..... so keen in fact that he was racing ahead and I couldn't keep up with him! I was glad I had brought a torch with me as it was so dark and it looked like I was going to have to fend for myself......we set up our cameras (the guide had lent me a tripod to use for the sunset) and then the 2nd disaster of the day.....the camera was not picking up the memory card! For 15 mins we tried in vain to get it to work and in the end, in desperation, I shook the camera upside down which seemed to work! It was worth getting up early and I got some good sunrise shots (I should hope so as we were standing there for 2.5 hours!).
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| Angkor Wat at sunrise |
We decided not to do Angkor Wat straight after sunrise as we were hoping Peter would be well enough to join us later in the day so our next stop was the Bayon temple. The temple is well known for its many faces and I really enjoyed looking around the temple although it was a lot of climbing again! My guide has an expertise in photography and he helped me get some good photos!
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| Faces of Bayon |
On the way to our next stop, the guide said he needed to drop off a donation and would I like to come with him. I said ok and he took me to a Buddhist event where everyone was making offerings to the monks. As soon as we walked in the whole crowd stopped looking at the monks and were all staring at me - talk about feeling like I was intruding! They soon got used to me being there and a few of the ladies were smiling and waving at me.
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| Buddhist ceremony - this whole crowd stared at me when I walked in! |
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| Ladies praying at the ceremony |
We then went on to Ta Promh - famously known as the Tomb Raider temple as the movie was filmed there. I was really looking forward to seeing this temple but it was VERY busy and it was very hot so I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
We went back to the hotel to see how Peter was and to have some lunch - he seemed a lot brighter but didn't feel comfortable enough to come out in the afternoon so after lunch the guide and I went to look round Angkor Wat. It was a great experience, and it felt quite surreal being there - I enjoyed looking round the temple and seeing all the bas-reliefs (wall carvings).
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| Angkor Wat in the afternoon |
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| One of the many wall carvings |
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| My guide got the monk to pose for this picture! |
It was a very exhausting and long day but I did enjoy seeing the temples but I would have enjoyed it more sharing the experience with Peter.
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