Kennett’s Siem Reap, Day #3
Up early today. Wolfed down breakfast and off we go with our main man Mr Vet in his tuk-tuk. Today we are starting off our exploring at Angkor Thom. We bought the three-day pass, so straight there to the temple today. You may have seen the blog for Angkor Wat, and hopefully you would have been impressed. This is Kennett’s Siem Reap, Day #3, and I hope you may get the same outcome as Angkor Thom is about 4 times bigger than Angkor Wat.
Translated it means ‘Great City’, and it certainly is that. You start with the massive moat and huge wall surrounding the entire 9Km square site – yes 9Km squared. So that means the moats are each 3Km long, can you believe it. Huge gates at the end of bridges across the moat, again with the Hydra/Naga running its length and this time with heads atop. This is a Buddhist temple, and the heads have 4 faces on each representing air, water, earth, and fire. Amazing isn’t it. The King Jayavarman II built this one as well. In the very centre of the complex is the state temple, called Bayon – more of that in a minute.
Angkor Thom is colossal, so prepare for a lot of walking. Mr Vet dropped us at the first temple, and we then walked down to meet him, exploring on the way. We stopped off at another huge temple on the way and passing by incredibly long carved walls. As you walk you see more and more temples of varying sizes peeking out from the jungle. Along the way you have elephants next to you, and monkeys running in and out. It certainly is a walk on the wild side.
What a day Kennett’s Siem Reap, Day #3, was. Let’s have a look, through the heaps of photos I took. I am hoping you don’t mind the volume, but you can’t help taking more and more. This place is just spectacular.
Before we even get to Angkor Thom, Mr Vet pulls up to allow me to take a photo of this beautiful lake with vibrant pink water lilies floating on it. Just stunning.
If you come by tuk-tuk get your guy to drop you off before the bridge so you can walk across and grab a few snaps in your own time of the majestic entrance gate.
And here is that majestic gate. One of four that adorn the 4 walls of the complex. What surprised me was the tiny size of the actual opening, just enough for one mini-bus to pass through.
A quick snap of the travelers that decided not to depart the tuk-tuk and continue you on in their carriage like the Kings and Queens of yesteryear. Even Mr Vet gets a look in!
It really is so impressive. Unlike Ollie. I thought he was an actor. What a ‘stiff’ photo, ha ha! Almost statue-like, well I suppose he fits in then.
A little more animated is yours truly. I have to get the occasional snap to prove I was there…
See what I mean about the moat. These are immense. Don’t forget we are half way along, so behind me is another 1.5Km of moat. We didn’t do this on the day, but you can rent out the gondola you can see and cruise up and down if you so wish.
Right underneath the gate now. This is so impressive when you get up close, and we have not even entered the complex yet. It’s an OMG moment continually when you visit here.
Temple No.1. Lay down and photo up and try to lose as many of the crowd as possible was my plan!
Proof. See I was there!
You just cannot get enough of this place. It’s eery, it’s incredible, it’s inspiring!
Just to reiterate; this is just one temple in this complex. Look at the scale of this place.
To be honest the pictures do not do it justice. You have to come and see for yourself!
“Strike a pose…”
Framed by the columns, love this family shot.
Here we go again with the wall carvings like Angkor Wat. Just look at the detail and the colours that remain after 800 years. Crazy!
Everywhere you turn your eye gets caught by intricate detail. It is EVERYWHERE.
The tower are actually hollow. Did you know? Almost built in an igloo fashion with the weight supporting the structure. An incredible feat of engineering! This is looking from floor to ‘ceiling’.
A lot of people are two-faced, but not in Cambodia!
It’s quite a strange phenomena having a Hindu temple being ‘shared’ with Buddhism, but the guys don’t seem to care!
More hairstyles on beautiful women, carved in to many separate pieces of stone this time.
I just cannot help snapping away at this amazing place!
Indiana Jones moment when looking up a tower. “Stay out out of the light!”
Indulge me. I think this is an amazing photo!
We finally escaped some of the hoards of tourists. Clearly a plinth for a statue at some time.
Monkey magic now. Just sitting chilling. But beware, one of the kids staying in our hotel was bitten the day before.
Even a little baby came out to say hi. As I watch these, about 4 elephants are walking behind me. Incredible.
Another tomb in the Angkor Thom complex, and to reach it you walk across this massive runway supported on thousands of columns. I assume it was like this because originally there were two massive pools on either side. Picture that, wow!
See what I mean. It is colossal.
Our next adventure is to climb to the top of this – sadly no one under 12 is allowed, so only Ollie and I went for the conquest.
Simply stunning!
Up one level there is this courtyard. I have to assume there was water here again and the posts would be used to support a mezzanine floor.
It is just VAST and this is only one more level up, that’s two now.
#1 showing off the amazing stone door frames, that are all over this temple.
Up one more level now, and a look back to that huge concourse and the grandeur entrance gate.
And up one more level – WOW!!!
Can you see Amy standing right down there on path? The incredible thing was that we could hear Amy speaking all the way up here. Some amazing acoustics!
Shagged, absolutely shagged!
The remnants of those ponds I mentioned. Imagine that water being right up to the concourse, how amazing would that have looked!
Literally wherever you step or explore there are more and more temples peeking from the jungle. Amy Tomb Raider Kennett, is leading the way!
Now we start the long walk back to meet Mr Vet, but that walk is certainly not boring as we reach the parade of elephants.
Just check this out, it goes on and on and on. Quite amazing!
We then left Angkor Thom and took a trip for lunch, at a really nice local restaurant. More of that on Islifearecipe.net. After a much needed sit down, beer and food we were ready to continue. We now are really entering Tomb Raider country as we head to where the original film was taken – Ta Prohm. You simply have to come here. Not so busy either.
This place has sadly been decimated by the very trees that have made it famous. When you visit you will see they are in the process of rebuilding the temple and removing the trees. Sad, but necessary. I also heard from a friend that when you are there you should have look at some the hieroglyphs. Try to spot the dinosaur (apparently). Here’s some snaps of ours of this mystical place. I really liked this temple. A favourite. Maybe because of Angelina, maybe not. Still it is extremely beautiful even without her assets.
This is another Buddhist temple and was built in 1186, and is known as monastery of the King. Apparently it was built to be dedicated to the mother of Jayaverman II. This place apparently needed 80,000 people to tend to the temple, including 3,000 officials and 650 dancers (behind Crocodile Tree is Hall of the Dancers).
As you walk to the main temple complex there are out buildings along the way, and again originally would have had pools on either side of the walkway.
Lots of ruin in Ta Prohm sadly.
Would not want to have to have root canal work with this bugger. Massive buttress roots. Amy for scale.
And here is the infamous Tom Raider tree. Do you remember it from the film?
Here she is, our very own Angelina Jolie, AKA Tomb Raider stood right where I am about to stand myself. I can almost smell her… Ha Ha!
And here is the gang and i standing on hallowed Angelina ground.
Just rooting around…
“Angelina, Angelina, I’m over here and ready…”
This is just a stunning temple. He really must have thought a lot about his Mum.
Eat your heart out Angelina.
And that was that. Al temples done for today. Lets get home, have some chill, happy-hours beverages and then get out for dinner. Sounds good to me. But the kids wanted to say Hi first.
“Hi” says Jude. “You’ll love it here, I felt like an explorer!”
“Hi.” says Amy. “I feel like Angelina Jody!” “So do I!” said Dad.
Dinner tonight was at Marum’s a charitable restaurant that takes kids off the streets and employees them in F&B. More of that on Islifearecipe.Net
My lovely lady having a wee pineapple and chili margarita, during our fantastic meal.
What a day today was. Very hot and sweaty with all the walking though. But we all had an amazing time socking up the history of Siem Reap. It is amazing how much the kids enjoyed it, but I suppose it is like an outdoor museum that you can interact with and touch. Truly remarkable. We are certain to be back. You have to have this place on a bucket list if you have not been here yet. It really is a must do, this was Kennett’s Siem Reap, Day #3 – ENJOY!!!
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