Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Temples, Temples, Temples






































We started bright and early today - Mr. Neak knew the perfect timing to hit the four temples we wanted to see when they were least busy. We started out with a 30 min ride out to Bantery Srei. The ride was really cool because we got to see a lot of the different villages along the way. We were basically some of the first tourists there in the morning and it was so nice to be able to walk around and see everything quickly - and of course take some really cool pics. The temple itself is known for the red sandstone that was used to build it as well as the intricate carvings. On our drive back there were bus loads of tourists traveling up there - which is hard to believe because the temple itself isn't that large. It would have been miserable being there with a ton of people.

The next temple we went to was Angkor Wat - the most famous. It's HUGE. After touring here we took a break and ate at a little restaurant outside the temple. I found my favorite dish on the menu - flat noodles - and they were AMAZING. Once we were all filled up we headed to the next two temples. One of my favorites that we saw was the Bayon temple inside Angkor Thom. This temple is most famous for the 52 smiling heads. One of the cool things about this temple was the carvings on the walls of everyday life.
The last temple that we went to was Ta Phrom. This one was also really cool and it is located in the jungle. This was also the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed.
We really enjoyed seeing all the temples yesterday and today so now we are going to take a break and relax. It's 4:30 here, so we will head out for dinner somewhere later tonight. Tomorrow our plans are to stay around the hotel (a massage may be in the works) and head back to Bangkok around lunchtime.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for doing this! It looks like you are having a great time. Funny that we have pics of Dad and Nick and Kevin's parents at the same place.

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  2. Hi Guys!

    I love seeing the pictures and hearing all about it. The floating village is crazy! Be safe-have fun-see you soon!

    Sarah

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  3. OMG, your pics are fantastic! AND, your recap is great too. Makes me feel like we got to experience Mr. Neak first hand.

    Katie

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