Saturday, February 17, 2007

Angkor

The biggest attraction in South East Asia and the biggest tourists circus of all. Almost every possible mean of transportation, starting from bicycles to buses, horse carriages, elephants and one big balloon.

Money
Prepare your wallet, for the divine expenses!
40$ for three days pass
Transportation
Day 1 - Tuk tuk for 10$. Overkill, should have taken a moto for 7$ (motorbike taxi).
Day 2 - Moto for 9$. The guy tried to rip me off in the middle, asking for more money for the sunset and for the tour. He didn't get it.
Day 3 - I went for a distant temple, so I had to take a tuk tuk. I took the same one as on the first day for 16$. He was very nice and no money problems. His number is 0987, if you happen to be in Popular guest house.

Food
You'll never go hungry. 2-3$ for a dish in a simple restaurant, a bit expensive. Ice creams, pineapples and cold drinks ("Hello mister, buy cold drink mister?") everywhere.

Watch out! It's hot and humid. Take your time and have lots of breaks.

My story
Day 1 - The general idea of buying a three days ticket was to take it easy. On the first day I managed quite well. I started with Angkor Thom (Saving Angkor wat for the afternoon) and I've seen inside the Bayon (from which I parted with "I'll be back"), the terrace of the elephants, the terrace of the leper king, the Bahpuon and Phimeanakas. After lunch I went to Angkor wat and spent the whole afternoon, including the sunset, over there. Angkor wat is huge and takes time exploring. It has lots of bas-reliefs (stone inscriptions) surrounding it. And I needed the rest.
Day 2 - Baksei Chamkrong, Thommanon, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, East Mebon, Ta Som, Preah Neak Pean and Preah Khan. Getting the idea? I was done for by the end of that day, totally exhausted . No strength for sunset, not to mention that I really didn't want to give that guy extra money.
Day 3 - I started at noon, after resting from the previous day. I went to a far away temple, Banteay Srei. The bumpy ride made me tired again. It was nice, but not such a big deal. I went back to see Banteay Sarem, Banteay Kdei, which I skipped the day before, the bayon again (I promised!) and Phnom Bakheng with a whole lot of tourists for sunset.

My personal impression - I'm not into old buildings too much but there were a few things that did catch me:
These things survived a thousand years, they should get a credit for that.
Exploring the temples had an inevitable "Indiana Jones" feeling. I just missed the hat and the whip...
Size matters. Some of the structure were amazingly huge. The kings that days knew their job.

Finally, my favorites:
1. The bayon, because the big brother(s) is(are) watching.
2. Angkor Wat, because size matters.
3. Preah Khan, because it looks innocent from outside until you start exploring it and realize how big it is.
Ok ok, Ta Prohm too, because trees coming out of buildings are neat.

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