After a wandering around on our own yesterday, today we wanted some expertise on our side. We hired a guide and a driver for the day. We started back at Angkor Wat, in the back door this time. Our guide had excellent English and he explained to us the history of the building and the people as well as the religious aspects. We got the full story of the churning of the sea of milk relief, as well as the celestial impact of the image. We also got to go to the temple at the top, since we were dressed appropriately. Shoulders and knees had to be covered, and not by a scarf but actual clothes. The view was spectacular from the top of the tower, the former king's space. There wasn't much decoration there which surprised me, but the guide said most of these decor was at the lower level, for the people. There were also several libraries at the site, which I hadn't realized. They wrote on Palm leaves.
Our next stop was Angkor Tom, where we once again went through the Bayon temple. I loved the reliefs we had missed the day before. They showed scenes from everyday life, a great history of the people. You can see the Chinese and the Khmer people clearly distinguished, as well as the defeat of the Cham by the king. We went to the top again, not as spectacular saw yesterday when the light was more glowing than glaring and there were fewer people. Or guide too us from the temple to the terrace of the elephants and the other sites in Angkor Tom: the Bauphon temple with the reclining Buddha, the former royal palace (only the walls remain since it was wood) and the first temple built by the kings. We also saw the stones left when Pol Pot's regime burns all of the archaeological records during the reconstruction of the temples. Tragic.
Lunch was near the place from yesterday, and I had the most delicious thing: amok. It's a Khmer dish, made of coconut and kafir lime leaves. I had it as a soup with chicken, over rice. I adored it, ate every bit. Julie had cashew chicken.
In the afternoon, the clouds rolled in but we stopped at two more temples: one was similar to Ta Prohm, but had a lot of Buddhist iconography that had been destroyed. The other was a very early brick temple to Vishnu, with some impressive molded brick carvings.
We got back to the hotel before 4 and waited out the rain. We took a cab down to the night market, but were disappointed in the mass produced commercialism we go found there. Dinner on pub street was good- I had a fried amok that wasn't as good as the soup, but still tasty. We took a tuktuk ride back- those things are way fun.
Today was a long day, and I've got a rocking heat rash on my face thanks to the heat and humidity, I hope it clears up by morning, it's the first time in many summer trips that has happened to me!
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