When we got off the bus, a lot of tuktuk drivers approached us offering us either a ride to our hostel, or help us find a place to stay.
We needed a place to stay for the night!
As the downtown area was really flooded the best place to stay was outside it. The tuktuk drivers took us to the first option. I cannot remember the name of the place. But it seemed an abandoned hotel and we found it very creepy. So we requested to take us to another place.
Our Indonesian friends are only staying for one night and will be leaving after the Angkor Wat visit to head back to Vietnam. They are taking the sleeper bus. Jecel and I had a flight to catch to Bangkok the day after as well. We stayed for 2 nights.
The hotel was a cheap hotel but nevertheless it was okay for it's price. It also had free wifi. Hotel's name is Angkor Saphir. Now this time, it's not spooky.
We contracted two tuktuk drivers for our Angkor Wat day tour. It took a while to get the desired rate as the drivers were trying to price it high. But Tiyo knows very well the price and he doesn't give in to the price set by these drivers.
Time to take some sleep and be ready for the Angkor Wat tour later in the morning! It was past 2am already...
SEPTEMBER 26, 2011
The tuktuk drivers were just there to transport us to/from the temples. We didn't have a guided tour so it was all up to us. We also didn't have a guide book. What a way to explore the place...
We started with the main Angkor Wat but first we had to get our one-day pass worth USD20.
As the Angkor Wat is always teeming with tourists, so are vendors trying to sell you souvenirs and other stuffs like hats. It was a really hot day then and we thought about buying hats. And suddenly all the girls selling hats were swarming around us! We were trying to bargain and good thing we did get a bargain but not without so much efforts.
Sliced from Wikipedia:
Angkor Wat (Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត) is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. It is the world's largest religious building.[1] The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early South Indian Hindu architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas (guardian spirits) adorning its walls.
The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "City Temple"; Angkor is a vernacular form of the word nokor (នគរ), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagar (नगर), Thai, Nakon, meaning capital or city. Wat is the Khmer word which comes from Sanskrit word "Vastu". Prior to this time the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok (Vara Vishnuloka in Sanskrit), after the posthumous title of its founder, Suryavarman II.[2]
After exploring the mighty Angkor Wat, we did Angkor Thom. According to Wikipedia:
Angkor Thom (Khmer: អង្គរធំ; literally: "Great City"), located in present day Cambodia, was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by king Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north.
Angkor Thom was established as the capital of Jayavarman VII's empire, and was the centre of his massive building programme. One inscription found in the city refers to Jayavarman as the groom and the city as his bride. (Higham, 121)
Angkor Thom seems not to be the first Khmer capital on the site, however. Yasodharapura, dating from three centuries earlier, was centred slightly further northwest, and Angkor Thom overlapped parts of it. The most notable earlier temples within the city are the former state temple of Baphuon, and Phimeanakas, which was incorporated into the Royal Palace. The Khmers did not draw any clear distinctions between Angkor Thom and Yashodharapura: even in the fourteenth century an inscription used the earlier name. (Higham 138) The name of Angkor Thom — great city — was in use from the 16th century.
The last temple we visited was the one where Angelina Jolie shot Tomb Raider.
Ta Prohm (Khmer: ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម) is the modern name of a temple at Angkor, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and originally called Rajavihara (in Khmer: រាជវិហារ). Located approximately one kilometre east of Angkor Thom and on the southern edge of the East Baray, it was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors.
It was truly a fun-filled day and boy was I glad that we met those Indonesians. They were blessings in disguise. Had we not met them, Angkor Wat was never going to happen on this Southeast Asian Tour.
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