It was an early start this morning to head out to Angkor Wat Temples. We decided it would be a good idea to watch the sunrise there and it was pretty spectacular. Would have been better if no clouds but still pretty impressive. And at that hour there were less people.
The age and history behind the temples is quite extraordinary. Really impresive as they didnt use cement. All the stones just hold together.
We looked at about 6 temples today with our guide Mr On. He is 29 and was a champ. Knew so much information (at times we werent sure what he said due to his accent, but Im sure it was something good.
We got there at about 5:30am and left around 5 so were there for a good 12 hours.
The history behind the construction was very interesting and the stories that go into the 'galleries' which are entire walls chiseled out showing Hindu and Buddist stories. Most temples had 'proection' on all 4 durections to stop bad spirits entering the massive buildings.
There is a lot of sexual meaning behind alot of the temples. They are really big on the male and female symbolic reference. Its not rude its all spiritual so very tasteful.
When entering or exiting the temples the local children are very full on and aggressive with their selling tactics. They literally follow you and walk in front of you until you buy. Lets just say I now have quite a few bracelets that were "10 only for $1..." It was really hard to say no and in the end our guide (bless his cottom socks) told them we weren interested and we already said no. After that it was a little less confronting. We wont miss this as we both find it really overwhelming.
Once again our tuk tuk driver was a champion. He basically waited on us all day then came back tonight to pick us up and take us to a restaurant with traditional dancers. After the buffet (delish) and dancing he came back and picked us up and took us home.
We are enjoying Cambodia and really sad we can only spend 3 nights here. Unfortunately we spent too much time in Vietnam so are running out of time.
We are going to head back to the temples again tomorrow to visit the outter circle of temples and hopefully catch the sunset.
Night night xoxo
oh I so want to go to cambodia...but not for a holiday but to do volunteer work with the organisation Child Wise. Have you seen the Tuk Tuk's with advertising for reporting Child Sex Trafficking...Hands Of Say No etc? If so that's the charity I love them and so glad to have learnt about the through The Body Shop.
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