Wednesday, December 27, 2006
21 December, 2006
Today was the day- we were finally going to see the famous Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. Our driver that was meant to pick us up never showed and sent Dy instead. He was drunk and suffering from a hangover. We bought our pass and our tuk tuk driver (Dy) would lead the way. He was on a performance incentive. The normal price was $12 /day and we agreed to pay him $9/day + performance! Rich thought this was a brilliant idea. He first dropped us at Angkor Thom, which is pretty much the central part of the complex and we visited many sights and temples. We only reached Angkor Wat at about 15h30 and it was quite crowded. It was a little disappointing and there were just too many people to try and experience it as a temple or Mausoleum. It was however very beautiful and grand and the bas-reliefs are incredible. We climbed the steep steps up and down and had magnificent views of the surrounding rice fields as the sun was starting to set. We actually spent sunset on a hilltop of another temple and it was like a circus their since there were so many people; and Angkor Wat was too far away from here to see. It was a long day but well worth it. It is amazing to think that over 1000 years ago these temples were constructed and there was an entire city here, and it is so sad to see how most of them have been destroyed and left in ruins. We got to our hotel and met up with our Singaporean friends that we had met in Laos (Ken and Yu Yuh). We all went for dinner and caught up on our different border crossing stories from Laos into Cambodia. We still cannot figure out which route was worse!
Today was the day- we were finally going to see the famous Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. Our driver that was meant to pick us up never showed and sent Dy instead. He was drunk and suffering from a hangover. We bought our pass and our tuk tuk driver (Dy) would lead the way. He was on a performance incentive. The normal price was $12 /day and we agreed to pay him $9/day + performance! Rich thought this was a brilliant idea. He first dropped us at Angkor Thom, which is pretty much the central part of the complex and we visited many sights and temples. We only reached Angkor Wat at about 15h30 and it was quite crowded. It was a little disappointing and there were just too many people to try and experience it as a temple or Mausoleum. It was however very beautiful and grand and the bas-reliefs are incredible. We climbed the steep steps up and down and had magnificent views of the surrounding rice fields as the sun was starting to set. We actually spent sunset on a hilltop of another temple and it was like a circus their since there were so many people; and Angkor Wat was too far away from here to see. It was a long day but well worth it. It is amazing to think that over 1000 years ago these temples were constructed and there was an entire city here, and it is so sad to see how most of them have been destroyed and left in ruins. We got to our hotel and met up with our Singaporean friends that we had met in Laos (Ken and Yu Yuh). We all went for dinner and caught up on our different border crossing stories from Laos into Cambodia. We still cannot figure out which route was worse!
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 3:49 AM 
