Siem Reap

Last weekend, 5 fellow clinic-goers and I adventured to Siem Reap. The city is famous for its temples, and some people spend up to a week here visiting them all at great length! We took a night bus and arrived at 6am on Saturday morning. We departed on a bus at 4pm on Sunday, so we had a short but action-packed self-guided tour of the place.

There are two common routes to take: the Grand Tour and the Small Tour. We chose the Small option on the basis of our very short window of time. For the six of us, we hired two tuk tuks for the day, which ended up costing each of us $5 for the day's transportation. We agreed that our goal was to move relatively slowly through them and not be too anxious about finishing the route, especially since the number approaches 50 if you really want to see them all.

The first temple we explored was Angkor Wat, the most famous of them all.

Approaching Angkor Wat.

Some Buddhist monks were touring the place that day too.

Looking out of one building to another in the complex. This was still on the approach to the main building.

Without any lighting, the place was illuminated by the abundance of open doors and windows from room to room.

Some grand architecture. Very impressive to think this was built in the 12th century!

Lovely goddesses carvings everywhere.

Many of the statues' heads are removed, as through the years they've been stolen and sold on the black market. The sculptures in relief escaped that fate, however. 

These long walls told the history of the people, especially including their battles.

I liked this peaceful figure.

Getting to the main building.

A doorway leading into thin air!

We climbed up a very steep set of stairs to get up to the top level.

The next stop was Bayon. This may have been my favorite of the ones we saw.

It is colloquially referred to as the "Temple with the faces," since just about every angle of stone has a face on it.

Dancing goddesses.

Dancing Devan. Photo credit: Aaron

Thinking about how the stone slabs had to be transported in, erected, and carved is pretty mind-blowing.

Some local women enjoying a picnic lunch in a temple hallway.

Third stop: Ta Phrom. This is the temple in Tomb Raider! 

Very excited when I saw this shot in the movie last night.

This is not the famous tree.

But it's still cool.

This is the famous tree.

The "famous" people with the famous tree. Photo credit: tourist

The last temple we made it to was a temple on a mountain called Phnom Bakheng. We climbed to the top, but for some reason it appears I was too tired to take many pictures. Plus, the view was rather overcast, so although we intended to watch the sunset from the top, we left early knowing that there would have been nothing to see. 

I didn't forget the elephants, though!

Maybe would have taken one to the top, but it was very pricey!

The one decent picture I took up here.

 
After much needed showers, we hit the town for more exploration and dinner.

Nicola very excited for Pub Street.

An extremely well-earned beer tower on Pub Street.

Surprisingly, in the morning I was feeling good and energetic enough for a Sunday run around town. Here's what I saw.

Apparently the locals practice early morning lion reverence.

So I did too!

While we were touring the temples on Saturday, we were completely oblivious of the Puppet Parade that was happening in the city. I found the carnage the next day. Read more about it here.

This dragon looks exhausted from its trip around the city the previous day.

This little boy was having fun playing with the cobra's tongue.

These kids were just having a Sunday morning hangout on this statue.

While the others were still sleeping, I decided to have a Sunday morning hangout myself. Post-run breakfast by the pool - I could get used to this!

On Sunday afternoon before we had to get back on the bus back to Phnom Penh, we visited the Land Mine Museum, which was about 45 minutes out of town. I didn't get any pictures, but it was very moving. It was started by a man named Aki Ra who was recruited to be a child soldier by the Khmer Rouge. He later worked for the Vietnamese army. After war ceased, he set out to remove the land mines he had set during his life. Read about what we saw here.

Resting in a window seat in the Angkor Wat temple.

Photo credit: Aaron. See more of his photos here.

More unforgettable memories to come! 

All my best from Cambodia,

DK