18 June 2006 - the day where the adventures begin

Rise and shine! We are up early at 3am to catch our plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia on Jetstar Asia at 6am. *yawnz* but the anticipation of the forecoming adventures of minz n xianz, keeps our spirits high!

Adventurers intro:


backpacker wannabe: ah xianz (me!)

AND


slingbag packer already-is: ah minz (my dearie!)


together we are gg to take our feets to the land of Asparas, Cambodia.


Arrival/Departure card

Siem Reap @ 0700 hrs
fyi: Siem Reap is a small town near Angkor Wat. It's development is due to the influx of tourists to visit the Angkor Archaeological Park, where there are a lot of ruins of temples built during 9th - 15th century by the Khmer empire. Angkor Wat is really the pride of the country as it is on their national flag.



Siem Reap welcomed us with grey skies and rain, as it is the region's rainy season now. :( though we were a wee bit disappointed, we prayed hard that skies will be clear later on when we start our exploration!


Siem Reap's airport is really simple, with tables and partions for immigrations counters. No duty-free shops, no fast food restaurants etc. We were greeted by our kind local guide, John, for pick-up to our Hotel, Lotus Hotel Angkor.



0830hrs
It's time for our exploration!
Tickets to the park are expensive, it's priced as USD40 for a 3 day pass! We had our photos taken and made our Angkor pass. There are duty officers around the park checking for it! John keeps telling us not to lose it! It's a hefty sum!

Victory Gate

This gate is build in the 12th century by King Suryavarman VII, the entrance is lined with Gods (left) and Demons (right) holding on to a giant serpants, they called, Na Ga. Sadly, some heads of the gods and demons have disappeared due to looters!

I could almost imagine myself being transported back to the 12th century, where victorious Khmer warriors return home marching through this Gate. It's amazing man~

Bayon

Built by the same king, this temple is decorated with towers of smiling faces of Buddha,



Aspara of a dancing girl on the side of the smiling Buddhas,
and nicely wall cravings of the life during the Khmer empire surrounding the temple.

(this cravings depicts a hunting scene of a water buffalo)

Asparas decorated along the walls of The Terrace of the Leper King.


Ta Phrom
Another temple built during same regin, this temple may look familiar 'cos Tomb Raider is shot here!

This temple is unique as there are a lot of "Snug" trees that seemed to be strangling this ancient temple.



Hee I'm hiding in a hole of one of these "Snug" trees. I fit nicely! but I quickly ran out as John and minz attempted to run away without me!

With numerous walking and climbing, we are going to our last stop for the day and the most anticipated place, Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat

This is the ancient wall surrounding Angkor Wat, with a moat around it.



We were greeted by smily Asparas!

John showed us a very special Aspara. Look at this carefully, the woman is smiling showing her teeth! That's the only Aspara with such a smile! Interesting!



That's Angkor Wat and its 5 towers!


walking towards the 5 towers (note: only 3 towers are visible from this angle!)



The walls are beautifully decorated with such Bas Reliefs depicting mythical stories of Hinduism. The smoothness of the Bas Reliefs per John, is the original texture. But as time goes by, a lot visitors came and touch the reliefs, making them dulll and unpolished like this.



so now they have this rope thinggy to serve as a barrier between the vistors and the Bas Reliefs.



These are cravings each side of the door frame. Lovely!

After the mythical stories, we ascended to the towers of Angkor Wat.

I was so scared taking this photo, 'cos the steps are really narrow and I'm afraid of heights! yikes!
up we climbed and phewz...big rain drops fell upon me as I reached for the last few steps.

see how high this is...the guy in white is John. He don't dare to climb up 'cos he's afraid of heights too! heh

We explored the 5 towers area
This is the main tower
But more and more grey clouds gathered~

soon it was pouring like mad
.

We are stuck in the towers area, as the steps descending down is again very narrow and slippery with the rain.


but I guess the rain is also a blessing in disguise as it allowed us to sit down and admire the beautiful scenery around Angkor Wat.

We waited for the rain to become lighter and we climbed down the steps.

With careful grabbing of the handrail at the side and slow footsteps, I managed to touched the level ground still in one piece. Phewz... but that mr dearie simply trottered down the steps making it looked all so easy and making me looking like a big loser! hmpfz..



this marks an end of a day of temple exploration. We were anticipating for more Tomb Raider style of adventures!