We awoke and went downstairs for the delicious and filling complimentary breakfast of fresh fruit, baguette, and our choice of eggs cooked to our liking or pancakes, plush fresh coffee carafe or tea. It was amazing! We were picked up at 9AM in the cool rainy weather. Our first stop was a shoe repair guy on the street that our driver knew. We dropped off Mat's chaco sandals, of which the soles were falling apart despite his attempt to superglue them together prior to the trip; we were told to pick them up before 6PM. Next, we went to the Angkor Wat ticket office to purchase our three-day pass for $40 each. Then on to the temples themselves. First stop was Angkor Wat and man, was that temple CROWDED! So many people everywhere! But it was still very cool to see the fully intact superstructure. Climbing to the top was closed because Monday is the day of worship in Buddhism. All the Buddha statues were wrapped in yellow gold and decorated with flowers and offerings, incense burning nearby.
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| Crowded Angkor Wat! |
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| Angkor Wat |
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| Detailed carving on the walls of Angkor Wat |
Next on our schedule was Srah Srang and Banteay Kdei. Srah Srang was the emperor's swimming pool but it was more like a lake! It was ginormous but very beautiful. Across the road lay Banteay Kdei. A smaller and less famous temple, we enjoyed the enticing side passageways, the tree shading, and lack of crowds. Our driver, Wana, dropped us off for lunch at Sovann Thmey along the edge of Srah Srang. Pretty pricey for the region but we are in the park and they do have air conditioning! They have an insanely steep staircase up to the dining area, like almost a ladder! After lunch, we hit up Ta Prohm, also known as the Tomb Raider temple since it was featured in the movie. Although there were a ton of crowds, it was fairly easy to slip down any one of the side corridors and be relatively on your own. It was a beautiful temple with all the silk cotton and strangler fig trees.
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| Srah Srang: the emperor's swimming pool |
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| Banteay Kdei temple |
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| Passageways of Banteay Kdei temple |
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| Detailed carvings on Banteay Kdei |
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| Ta Prohm |
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| Ta Prohm |
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| Ta Prohm |
On our way to Angkor Thom, we stopped at Ta Keo, a smaller temple shaped very much like a pyramid with steep stairs anyone can climb to the top. I was able to make it to the very top but the last pitch had stairs too narrow for Mat's feet so he staid on the landing. There was a beautiful Buddha shrine at the top all decorated. We entered Angkor Thom through the Victory Gate. The grounds are massive! We learned later that the city was probably close to one million people! Our driver dropped us off at Bayon where we toured the many faces. Very cool but once again very many people. From there we started our way north. We stopped in front of Wat Preah Ngok Buddha to watch a troop of monkeys - the adults lounging and grooming in the heat while a pack of young horsed around over some tasty treat.
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| Ta Keo |
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| Victory gate |
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| Bayon |
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| Bayon |
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| Monkey family |
Next, we walked the striking causeway of Baphuon followed by climbing up and over the pyramid-shaped temple. We walked through the jungle of the palace grounds and ended up at the Leper King Terrace. We completely missed the Elephant Terrace as we walked behind it so we backtracked to see a bit of the Elephant Terrace. Luckily our driver spotted us there instead of the planned exit at Leper King Terrace. Mat was pretty worn out by the heat at this point so we headed back home, first stopping by the shoe repair guy to grab Mat's Chaco sandals. He had stitched them all the way through and only charged $6.
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| Baphuon |
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| View from the top of Baphuon |
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| Detailed carvings of the Lepper King Terrace |
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| Queens of the Lepper King |
Back at the hotel, we showered away the day's sweat and grime and rested for a bit before heading out for dinner. We wanted to eat at Genevieve's, a fancy dinner with high-quality fusion foods. Reservations only and they were booked up for the next 1.5 hours so we put our name on the list and headed over to a pub for appetizers and drinks. They had Brunty's cider, Asia's first cidery, although it is run by British expats and made with all imported ingredients so not totally Asian. Still, their Apple was good, a little sweet but good. I was too afraid to try their pear and strawberry cider as those are supposed to be even sweeter!
We walked back through Pub Street to find a table waiting for us at Genevieve's. We ordered fried octopus hoping for some calamari but we forgot that 'fried' in SE Asia actually means 'sautéed' so out comes a steamy plate of sautéed octopus and red onions. Hmm. I ended up choking down quite a bit. Mat was a little more creative - putting a bunch in a napkin then 'going to the bathroom' to throw said napkin away. The rest he hid under the garnishes and saucy red onions so the plate looked messed and empty enough to be considered eaten. The server came to take our plate but luckily stacked our individual plates on top of the serving plate of hidden octopus and whisked it away! Mission accomplished! I ordered Lok Lak with Australian beef and an egg fried in a red pepper cross-section. It was delicious! Mat got a spicy fish Amok and he liked it as well. My drink was a slushy version of a mojito and was very tasty. Back to the hotel, we went straight to bed from a long day and in preparation for an early morning.
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| "Fried" octopus |
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