Siem Reap, Here We Come!

After booking our flight and having to count down 45 days, we're finally here at Siem Reap! RT, Digital Curls and my folks who decided to join us at the last minute.

Upon touching down, the transfer took us from the Balinese styled airport to Mandalay Villa, where we were putting up for the next 4 nights. We requested a transfer to Mandalay Inn later as we realised that it was the guesthouse which we had actually booked. It was much nearer to the Psar Chas (the Old Market) and Central Market.

Accomodation settled, we hired a minivan to take us to the temples. Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat were the 2 sites on the agenda today.

Angkor Thom comprised Bayon, Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King. Bayon is pretty much made up of huge faces carved on towers within the temple. The Terrace of the Elephants' main attraction is the facade decorated with elephants and their riders. The terrace of the Leper King has a maze-like corridor with beautiful carvings on the walls.


After a quick lunch at one of the stalls at Angkor Thom, we headed for Angkor Wat. Standing at the entrance of Angkor Wat allows one to see the structural balance and symmetry of the temple. We walked the grounds which took us round the first level, and then the second. Then, reaching the point where we could see the central towers, the 40m height and 70 degree angle ascent to get to the top freaked us out! Look!

How in the world were we gonna get up that flight of steps without the help of railings or an elevator?? People who were climbing up looked like spidermen! On all fours and super unglam! Besides, even if we managed to get up, how in the world were we coming down? Fall down can die one you know.

So we looked around and found another flight of steps which had railings. I think it was only meant for descending, but we cheated and went right up that flight anyway. Once we reached the top, we bacame cam-whores just to ensure that we had proof that we made it up the tower. :)

And like they say, "What goes up must come down" right? Check out the descent...

It was a tad scary, but it was damn fun! Then as we were leaving, we managed to find the spot where all 5 towers could be viewed, with gorgeous reflections of them in the lotus-filled basin at sunset.

We called it a day with all that climbing by feasting at Kumpacino Pizza Restaurant.