Angkor
Up at 5:30, coffee and off in our black Amansara tuk-tuk "limo"! Our guide, Sen, was "sensational"! Ho ho ho.
First we headed to Angkor Wat before it got too hot and crowded. The worlds largest religious building is as intricately designed as one can imagine. The scale and precision boggles the mind. I'm sure lots of people have written gobs about it which I could never match. Definitely worth the trip - though I'd do it in low season next time. I was surprised at how much access we had to the entire structure, surely incurring more erosive damage to the sandstone masonry. Bas relief miraculously preserved for ages as if brand new....simply a must-see for anyone even remotely interested in archaeology.
We moved on to the "jungle temple" which has been completelely engulfed over the ages by creeping jungle, moss, lichens and it crumbles before our very eyes! Spectacular. A sculpture literally under natural construction by way of it's own destruction!
We took a noontime break for a shower, swim and lunch before heading back out in the waning heat of the day to see the city of Angkor Thom, including some of the less visited sites away from the crowds. We ended the day atop one temple where our friend Donald met us with a sundowner bottle of Tattinger - not bad at all....until we were gently asked to leave by the ever-diligent police! No harm done. It is just a requirement that civilians leave the complexes by dark!
We made our way back to the hotel for another shower before meeting our friends, photographer John McDermott and his wife, Narissa at John's world-class gallery. They then took us for dinner at an amazing, otherwise nondescript, restaurant (the name of which eludes me) in a part of Siem Reap which is undergoing a renaissance by the minute! Call it contemporary Cambodian with hints of western influence. After dinner, we walked down the street to check out their soon-to-be-opened gallery... which will be special. Somewhere along the line we indulged in multiple night-caps darting between a cool, styly bar and another gallery across the street which is topped by a cool, much-touted one-room hotel (!), entitled "One Hotel".
Needless to say, we tumbled (or stumbled) into bed for a long nap before our early departure in the morning back to Thailand.
First we headed to Angkor Wat before it got too hot and crowded. The worlds largest religious building is as intricately designed as one can imagine. The scale and precision boggles the mind. I'm sure lots of people have written gobs about it which I could never match. Definitely worth the trip - though I'd do it in low season next time. I was surprised at how much access we had to the entire structure, surely incurring more erosive damage to the sandstone masonry. Bas relief miraculously preserved for ages as if brand new....simply a must-see for anyone even remotely interested in archaeology.
We moved on to the "jungle temple" which has been completelely engulfed over the ages by creeping jungle, moss, lichens and it crumbles before our very eyes! Spectacular. A sculpture literally under natural construction by way of it's own destruction!
We took a noontime break for a shower, swim and lunch before heading back out in the waning heat of the day to see the city of Angkor Thom, including some of the less visited sites away from the crowds. We ended the day atop one temple where our friend Donald met us with a sundowner bottle of Tattinger - not bad at all....until we were gently asked to leave by the ever-diligent police! No harm done. It is just a requirement that civilians leave the complexes by dark!
We made our way back to the hotel for another shower before meeting our friends, photographer John McDermott and his wife, Narissa at John's world-class gallery. They then took us for dinner at an amazing, otherwise nondescript, restaurant (the name of which eludes me) in a part of Siem Reap which is undergoing a renaissance by the minute! Call it contemporary Cambodian with hints of western influence. After dinner, we walked down the street to check out their soon-to-be-opened gallery... which will be special. Somewhere along the line we indulged in multiple night-caps darting between a cool, styly bar and another gallery across the street which is topped by a cool, much-touted one-room hotel (!), entitled "One Hotel".
Needless to say, we tumbled (or stumbled) into bed for a long nap before our early departure in the morning back to Thailand.
posted by ultimatetraveler at 7:51 PM
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