I’ve been walking about for seemingly hours at Angkor Wat and it’s only 7.30 am! I am not sure that I can last the whole day without a bit of rest etc, so we head back to the hotel for breakfast, shit, shower and shave, and meet again at 9.30. The agenda is Angkor Thom, Ta Phnom and, time permitting, Banteay Srei.
First stop is Angkor Thom – a huge city with loads of temples inside the walls. The first one is Bayon – and it’s the one with all the Buddha faces carved into the temple turrets, and is fantastic. I spend an hour wandering around this monumental temple, marvelling at the detail of the carvings and just astounded at the sheer size of everything. I move from there to the Baphuon, a pyramid based temple that’s under a lot of renovation and nowhere near as impressive.
Apparently there is a reclining Buddha image on the far side, so I make my way round there (for a pee too). Slightly disappointed that the observation deck was closed, I move from there following the trail to Phimeanakus, which is an old royal dwelling pyramid shaped temple and fucking steep. It’s now about midday and I am sweating like a cow’s wotsit and as I try to find some shade and shelter I lose my nerve a bit and want to get down quickly and decide no more climbing for the day.
2 comments:
i made the mistake of doing all the central temples by bike in one day (with the outer ones by tuk tuk on a second day)...biggest mistake i ever made, cycling all that distance in extreme heat interspersed with regular temple climbs. Bloody knackering.
Well, you are a bit mad! I did think I should have used a different mode of transport (i.e. not a taxi), but my driver was full of great information etc. and it was so hot I was glad of the air conditioning and cold water after climbing around the temples for hours.
It's an amazing place - weird that I was there only 10 days ago, and now I am in London...
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