Siem Reap: Temples far away (11 Jan 2011)

We had a secret deal with the tuktuk driver that chauffered Nick: to bring us to Angkor Wat for sunrise one more time. He came at 5am. The difference is, he wore a jacket this time. While the two of us were just in plain t-shirt. As he started the journey out, we felt really cold. We practically froze out in the tuk tuk haha. Early morning the Siem Reap people already started cycling, jogging, one tuk tuk driver even practising martial arts on the street. We reached Angkor Wat in 15 minutes but this time round, no starry night. The sky was clouded. We didn't sit at the entrance this time. We went straight to the ponds and sat at the edge. We were kinda early. One could hear occasional sound made by fish and toads leaped in and out of the pond.

The sunrise came at the same time as Sunday's but somehow the crowd was less. Understandable cos' Sunday was a much busier day for Angkor Wat. We took the tuk tuk back to the hotel for breakfast and on the way saw many school children cycled to school.

The driver brought us a new guide to replace Ly. His name is... Today we were supposed to go to some far away temples.

The first temple we went to was Banteay Srei. 1000 years old and still standing strong.

Then we went for lunch.

After lunch, the climb to is by far the most strenuous activity for the whole of Angkor Wat trip. All the climbs of stairs to the temples were chicken feat compared to this. Even the walk up the hill to Phnom Bakheng was easy in comparison. We were going to hiked 1500m to see the hindu relics at the stream.

Luckily the trees shaded us from the hot weather.

Umbrella Rock

Linga - What is a linga?

Had coconut water again to chill the body after the hike.

Went back to Angkor Wat to listen to some of the stories on the bas-reliefs one more time. This time round we entered from the back gate of Angkor Wat. We missed this part of Angkor Wat on the first day. It resembled the long mile that lead one to Windsor Castle. The soothing late afternoon sun was comfortable and make photographing so much easier.

Paid the driver and the guide and tipped them as well.

Went to try foot massage at another place. The lady who stood at the street to canvass for biz was quite cute and for a moment we thought she would be the one massaging our feet till the girls told us that she is the cashier and need not do the dirty work. Sigh. USD5 for a session. This one was really good. We were so glad we found a shop that offer respectable foot massage finally.

We went to a different restaurant for dinner today. Temple. Good food and all. They even have absara dancing to go with the food at the second level.

BBQ