The Temples

Hi from Siem Reap... No comments as yet! Maybe I am a windbag and people have just been humouring me in the past.

I've spent a bit of time out at the temples at Angkor so far. They've been fairly impressive, but it hasn't been too hard to get 'templed out'. They genuinely are pretty spectacular - the carvings especially - but there are a lot of beggars and hawkers which can be a bit of a drag dealing with. Or more to the point, not dealing with, since the best way to avoid being cornered is to ignore them, and since most of the beggars and hawkers are kids, it's a tough thing to do. I think travelling alone makes you an easier target, so I've been tacking myself onto the back of tour groups as they enter and exit the temples, because that's where the attention is the greatest.

This morning I headed out to Angkor Wat, which is probably the most famous temple of the lot. It's known as the biggest religious structure in the world, and it is pretty big. And very popular with tourist groups! The most popular groups seem to be Korean and German, so it's difficult to hang on the back and take part in a free tour, since both my Korean and German are non-existent (much like my Khmer, though I have learned to say "No, thank you.") The good thing about Angkor Wat is that it is so big it's easy to escape from the crowds and get a better feel for the place. Four walls of the main structure are entirely covered in bas relief, which is intricate carvings depicting key events in Khmer history. Hopefully the photos will work out, and I will upload some to this blog when I can find an internet cafe that takes camera cards. It may have to wait until I get back.

Today I also visited Banyon temple, which is part of Angkor Thom and is far more run down. The carvings are just as impressive though, and I found this temple to be more inspiring. It was less crowded too and there were no hawkers, which was great. After Banyon I went to Ta Prohm which is a temple that has been taken over by forest and maintained that way to give it that Indiana Jones feel. Because it was in the jungle it was really hot and humid and not at all comfortable, so I didn't last long. One good part of this temple was a group of land mine victims who have formed a small musical group to entertain the tourists. They were quite talented despite their quite horrific disfigurement, and I appeased my guilt from running away from the armless beggar by giving them some cash.

Anyways, that's about it for this post. I have a three day temple pass and I'm not sure how I'll go being out there for three days. There's only so many times you can get excited by temples. I certainly won't mind putting in some R and R!