Angkor Wat – November 2

Like everyone else who comes to Siem Reap, our goal was to see the temples at Angkor Wat. Besides the temples there, there are also temples nearby at Angkor Thom and in the Rulous Group. To see them all takes several days and some sort of ground transportation – you can go on a tour, book a private car, a tuk-tuk, rent bicycles, whatever. We booked a tuk-tuk driver from the hotel. The rates are really reasonable - $20 for a full-day of shuttling us around from temple to temple.

So, 30 minutes after we arrived, we were in a tuk-tuk driven by a fellow named Bunta. Our first stop was to get a three-day pass to the temples. Like everything else geared to tourists, the Cambodians have this process down. Bunta drove us to the entry gate, we got out, walked to a counter, they snapped photos of us, printed ID cards, took our money (US dollars, of course) and we were on our way in about 5 minutes. Very smooth.

I’m not going to try to recount the history of Angkor Wat, other than to say that the temples were built in the middle 1100s and have survived surprisingly well. And that they really were just temples – religious buildings only. There are some related buildings – like libraries and monasteries – but the temples were never used as residences or palaces for the king. And, that there are many, many temples – we spent three days here and saw new things every day.

Our first day, we spent the entire afternoon in Angkor Wat. To enter, you walk along a causeway across a moat. The structures are incredible – we spent almost 30 minutes just wandering around in awe of the first building. And that one turned out to be a “throw-away” – just an outer, secondary building. The “real” temples were further in. Lots of intricate details – like apsaras (“dancing girls”) and murals of battles on almost every wall. Here are too many photos.

After a day of sightseeing at Angkor Wat, we went into Siem Reap for dinner. Went to a restaurant called Viroth’s that our guidebook recommended. It was close enough to walk, so we did – and crossing the street in Cambodia is just as chaotic as it is in Vietnam. Less traffic, though, so fewer motorbikes to dodge. By now, though, we were “experts” at going with the flow. Viroth’s was very good – an outdoor restaurant serving Cambodian food. Cambodian food is more similar to Thai than Vietnamese, but less spicy. Interesting to see ‘chicken Khmer-style” on the menu – not a phrase you see very often. But it was tasty. And it was a treat to be able to sit outside for dinner on a November evening.