The City of Angkor

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When we went to Cambodia (Siem Reap) in November 2010, all that was in my mind was Angkor Wat and all I can blurt was Angkor Wat as I retained such in my Social Studies way back in high school. No wonder, the Cambodians we talked to in the market insisted that in the Angkor City we cannot only see the Angkor Wat. Wat means temple, and the Angkor Wat is the most popular of all temples in the city. We took advantage of the sunrise in Angkor Wat and since I just bought my camera, I have a few pretty good shots given the ephemeral color the sun gave us.

There are a lot of tourists taking this sunrise and I must agree that it was a must as watching the sun slowly waking up behind the temple is a breathtaking experience. Here are my photos of the sunrise.





It was a great luck when my friend sat beside an English-speaking Cambodian in the bus. He suggested that after the sunrise in the Angkor Wat, we take the farthest temple called Ban Tey Srei as it is about 20km according to him, then we go to Ta Prum Temple (also Ta Prohm) and after noontime, we go back to Angkor Wat and to the Bak Kheng Mountain.

We are happy that we heeded his advice as the Angkor City is vast as in it was really a city with many temples apart. Unlike the temples we are now familiar with, the temples in this city were built not for the people to go to but for the gods to dwell on. We went on famous and pretty ones. We instantly loved the Ban Tey Srei because its roofing structures and engraves are still intact and color of the earth there is red and so do the temple. We were the first ones to arrive first so we had about 20 minutes of privacy before the other tourists who must have passed by other places or roamed the Angkor Wat arrived. Here are our photos....










We passed by Bak Kheng or Phnom Bak Kheng is also known as Central mountain. Here are our photos (I am not sure if this is Bak Kheng indeed or Ta Keo as both has same structure and upon my review of the map, it is nearer Ta Prohm.) At any rate, this is my third favorite spot next to the Wat and the Ban Tey Srei:





Then we headed to Ta Prum Temple, the famed one because it is the setting of the Tombraider of Angelina Jolie and the familiar big tree associated with Angkor photos. Here are our photos:

Sorry, I have vertical photos of the tree
and I could not adjust the photo here.
Just to make you see the legendary tree the grew by the structures.



The Apsaras... 

We passed by Bayon before heading back to the Angkor wat. We supposedly wait for sunset there but it was drizzling at the time so we decided to end the day with a little tuk tuk tour outside of the Angkor Wat to end the day.





Our diligent and always smiling tuk tuk driver is Mr. Meth a.k.a Mr. Monk (he was a former monk and we teased him as Mr. Monk may be a short for Mr. Monkey) he left his email: samethangkor@yahoo.com and tel no. (855) 12660944.











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