Wednesday 25th October
We were not flying to Bangkok till late so after some internet time Don, Cindy, John and I boarded a tuk-tuk again leaving Tracy to the attentions of the hotel spa on her aches and pains from the previous day's exertions.
This time we had a set plan to fill some of the gaps in what we'd seen yesterday, but with a swift downpour we started with lunch while Cindy purchased some clothes to make up a "Red Dress" outfit (see Thursday). Don and I split off from John and Cindy and we began with Bayon as Don has missed it and I wanted to see some more. Then we basically walked north through Angkor Thom passing by the massive rebuilding of Baphuon which was built on sand and had largely collapsed by this century. Much of the stone was removed and cataloged but records were lost during the Khmer Rouge takeover and only one standing wall gives clues for putting together the "world's biggest jigsaw puzzle".
Next we walked over to Phimeanakas which is almost Inca in appearance and dates from the 10th century. Climbing this gave a good view and there are some fine structures on top where we had peace and quiet for a while (other than Angkor Wat the complex was quiet the whole day). Then we descended and continued across the Royal Palace grounds to the Elephant Terrace where we met up with the rest of the group. It was getting late so we headed back, detouring for a better look at the amzingly well preserved and high quality bas reliefs at Angkor Wat.
If anyone wants to follow more about the Angkor complex try reading The Angkor Guide.
We regretfully said goodbye to our beautiful hotel and headed for the airport, a flight to Bangkok and a high speed late night taxi to a downtown hotel. Tim, Don and John had enough energy to go looking for nightlife which was going strong at midnight with a large street market, raucus bars and lots of touts happy to tell us about their "clubs". Finally spotting a peaceful street we settled down for a beer, only noticing later that the waiters around were all male, young and effeminate. Poptop would have loved it!
This time we had a set plan to fill some of the gaps in what we'd seen yesterday, but with a swift downpour we started with lunch while Cindy purchased some clothes to make up a "Red Dress" outfit (see Thursday). Don and I split off from John and Cindy and we began with Bayon as Don has missed it and I wanted to see some more. Then we basically walked north through Angkor Thom passing by the massive rebuilding of Baphuon which was built on sand and had largely collapsed by this century. Much of the stone was removed and cataloged but records were lost during the Khmer Rouge takeover and only one standing wall gives clues for putting together the "world's biggest jigsaw puzzle".
Next we walked over to Phimeanakas which is almost Inca in appearance and dates from the 10th century. Climbing this gave a good view and there are some fine structures on top where we had peace and quiet for a while (other than Angkor Wat the complex was quiet the whole day). Then we descended and continued across the Royal Palace grounds to the Elephant Terrace where we met up with the rest of the group. It was getting late so we headed back, detouring for a better look at the amzingly well preserved and high quality bas reliefs at Angkor Wat.
If anyone wants to follow more about the Angkor complex try reading The Angkor Guide.
We regretfully said goodbye to our beautiful hotel and headed for the airport, a flight to Bangkok and a high speed late night taxi to a downtown hotel. Tim, Don and John had enough energy to go looking for nightlife which was going strong at midnight with a large street market, raucus bars and lots of touts happy to tell us about their "clubs". Finally spotting a peaceful street we settled down for a beer, only noticing later that the waiters around were all male, young and effeminate. Poptop would have loved it!
posted by Tim | 2:34 AM
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