Temples, elephants, smiles and trees

What a busy day, at this rate I'll  need a holiday to recover from this one!  When you are a tour group of one there is no hiding, you have to be on the ball the whole time with intelligent (!) questions and thoughtful observations!  I did some homework over breakfast, so managed reasonably well on today's  temple trip to Angkor Thom.

This is one of the good fellows

 

and I liked the fact, despite being in many parts, this one still seems to be smiling!

In fact there were a lot of smiling faces on show today

 

Bayon Temple is one of the largest Mahayana Buddist temples and it's most distinctive feature is the multitude of massive, serene stone faces which grace its many towers.

This carved relief was so long and detailed it was hard to select which part to photograph, but finally the flying turtle being chased by the crocodile won. 

In fact it was a day for the animals, because elephants are a popular and frequent theme throughout all the temples, 

with this one was saved from looters because of it's sheer size and weight.

I love the ears on these three and can you see the cheeky lion top right?

 

Bit I am not sure where this dinosaur came from though!

  And just to prove there are real animals around too, here's the local transport

Most of the time men are depicted fighting or looking grand and it's left up to the women to do the dancing

Lunch was eaten next to the King's Swimming Pool and mine came served in a fresh coconut!

I think though, out of all the temples visited I enjoyed visiting Ta Prohm Temple the most.  Built in 1186 AD by King Jayavarman VII it was dedicated to his mother in honour of Prajnaparamita, the Buddist goddess of wisdom.  

 

Balancing restoration and conservation is always tricky I think, with so many of the world's heritage sites end up looking like film sets.  So it was wonderful to find this temple left mostly in it's 'natural' state, it is virtually part of the jungle, with these magnificent trees growing in and around the stones

 

 

And if you are a fan of Angelina Joulie's Tomb Raiders film you should be able to recognise the tree below.  I don't know the film at all, but the tree roots impressed me!

With today's temperature in the mid 30's we ended the day mid afternoon and it was a relief to slip into the cool waters of the pool and swim a few lengths 😉

 

Finally made it...

...to Siam Reap, Cambodia.

A beautiful sunny morning, so I started the day off with a quick swim surrounded by coconut palms and bird song,

  

before a traditional, make-your-own Malayian noodle soup breakfast. 

And then it was off to the airport to have another go at catching a plane to Cambodia.  Just to keep me on my toes they had moved the departure gate back to the main terminal.  But as you can see - I finally made it into the air!

 

Met by my guide for the next few days, Chay and making up for lost time, it was straight off to Angkor Wat and a full afternoon walking amongst the ruins of one of Southeast Asia's most remarkable and architectural striking masterpieces.  Quite a contrast to yesterday's Towers in KL.  Now an UNESCO site, parts the complex are still undergoing conservation following the destruction and neglect of the Khmer Rouge period.  That time still can not be ignored in present day Cambodia, my guide was born and grew up under Khmer Rouge rule and remembers the rockets and bombs.  

There is a four day national holiday here just now, so Angkor Wat was busy with many Cambodian visitors.  However, it was still possible to find a moment of calm.

Originally built to worship Hindu gods, the temples now house many statues of the Budha, many of which are headless and have no arms.  The Khmer hacking them off to sell as funds ran short towards the end. But a few intact ones do remain.

 

The golden saffron robes of Budhist monks add a touch of vibrant colour against the dark, water marked stones, although the obligatory modern day accessory of a smart phone / iPad is somewhat of a surprise!

 

Some monks are savy , this one will tell you your fortune...

 

And of course there was the odd native on hand to provide a bit of entertainment if looking at the stones became too much!