Siem Reap - Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap later in the afternoon on Feb 22/20 after another short 1.5 hour flight from Luang Prabang.  We are beginning to be experts in packing up for our flights to each destination.  Flying is really working because you can cover a fair distance in no time at all.  In Siem Reap, the major attractions for tourists are Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm and Bayon temple complexes.

Siem Reap means "the defeat of Siam" referring to the victory of the Khmer Empire over the army of the Thai kingdom in the 17th century.



We had an early start on Feb 23rd to visit these sites to avoid the heat of the day and allow for the enjoyment of our hotel's pool in the afternoon.  Enjoy these amazing pictures of the architecture.

This series of shots are of the Ta Prohm - the so called "Tomb Raider Temple".  This is a Buddist temple dedicated to the mother of King Jayavarman VII.

The sad part was all the Buddhas had been removed and some further into the temple were converted to the Indian God Shiva (that is what we understood and believed is correct).

Dinosaurs back then??.....not really , it's another  animal that really resembles what we know of dinosaurs....not sure of the name.

Roots like this is what the Ta Prohm is famous for.

The Ta Prohm complex has not had as much renovations done compared to the other temples.

Our guide, Thara, had a good laugh at our expense when he took these shots....what do you see...lol.

Just Amazing 

What detail

They have years of renovations ahead of them to put the puzzle pieces back in place.

Imagine every hole filled with precious gems - Emeralds, Rubies, Sapphires and Gold....Naomi says this must have been the King's Moms Happy Spot.

Everyone should recognize this shot.....think Laura Croft played by A-----‐ J---------.  You got it right?

This was a straight up look from inside the gem room....let the light in so those jewels could sparkle.

Steel beams added to support the structures that are intact....different countries take ownership of the renovations.  It would be very unsafe if some of this cribbing was not in place.

Keeping tourists away from the puzzle pieces.

Is the tree holding the temple up or the temple supporting the tree? 

Thara explaining both the removal of all Buddhas and conversion to Shiva.

Shots of the Crocodile Tree 

Here is a good example of the conversions that took place...look around the mouth area.

Ta Prohm has a different construction compared to to the other temples.

Renovations ongoing

This is one single vine.

The entrance to Ta Prohm.

You can see the numbers on each of these pieces...Charis, you might enjoy the scale of this puzzle.

An unfinished temple....the King never finished it.

Good thing Naomi insisted on getting this shot.....an area of Angkor Thom that was used for special ceremonies.  Called the Terrace of Elephants.  

These young Monks had a great time with the monkey on the grounds of Bayon Temple.  The monkey was rooting in the garbage bin when he scored some nice fruit 

The Bas-reliefs on the outer walls (1.2 km) of the Bayon Temple portray both the history and daily lives of the people.

Bayon Temple - South Entrance 

Equipment for lifting the blocks of stone into place.  This is why lots of the stones have holes in them....simply a result of the construction methods used.

A map to show the vastness of the site and below the entrance to the south gate of Angkor Thom 

54 Gods on the left and 54 Demons on the right are engaged in an epic tug-of-war on the causeway to the south gate of Angkor Thom which was surrounded by a moat in days of old....some sections of the moat still remain.

Some faces have had to be reconstructed and others are original.

The entrance / exit at the west gate of Angkor Wat - interestingly the floating bridge is Canadian made, hey.  This is temporary as the original is under renovation.

The Royals entered Angkor Wat via this entrance.

The causeway under construction.

It's a long walk from the entrance to the actual temple.

The libraries were on both sides of the walk to the Temple of Angkor Wat.

Reinforcements were every where to help maintain the building and protect tourists.

800 meters around Angkor Wat were completed in Bas-reliefs depicting cultural and battle events.

Naomi receiving her blessing.

They have gathered so much information from the translations of numerous etchings throughout the temple.

Here you can clearly see the holes made by the construction tools shown earlier. 

Steep stairs....yes!! 70 degree angle to be exact. The Royal's staircases were built at a safer 45 degree angle 

Line up, we are going up!  It was a short wait and off we went.  Naomi is just 6 weeks and two days from her knee surgery.....yes!!  Made it thanks to Bob taking the steps in front of me and holding the back of his backpack on the way down....vertigo can be a problem.  70 degree angle...Wow.

The view after our climb to the top.

The west entrance in the distance.

The Royal entrance.

There were four of these square areas that were filled with water and used by the monks.  Noteworthy - these are located at the top of the temple.

Back down safe and sound and we see some modern day "Apsaras" - heavenly nymphs.  There are almost 2000 of them carved into the Bas-reliefs sporting 37 different hair styles.

The never ending Renovations 

Wooden steps replace the original eroded steps 

300,000 workers carving and building for 37 years and an unfinished door frame...go figure, some work will never be done.  The actual construction material consisted of a base of volcanic rock supporting the actual building blocks of sandstone.  The sandstone made the carving much easier for the workers.

Restored vaulted roof in a walkway.

The East gate of Angkor Wat.

Get used to these "Temple Clothes" - women must cover knees and shoulders....incredibly HOT....not the look, just the temperature.

Nice to get back to our Hotel and air conditioning...what a great day!

These last three shots are of our arrival at our Hotel Borei Angkor Resort.  Fantastic digs for our 4 days in Siem Reap.

Bob kind of likes the "Big Boss" setup....watch out Kelly.

Too tired to move this to the right spot in the blog but we are at the very top of the temple at Angkor Wat and are praying right below the exact centre of the temple complex.   Look straight up.

That is a wrap for today...it is just 1 day shy of two weeks since we were there.  That tells you a few things - we are very busy having a great time and we are working with some tablet challenges (message when attempting to charge has been "moisture detected in USB port").

We plan to catch things up in the next few days due to a schedule change.  Our liveaboard dive boat trip has been cancelled.  This means we are heading to Phi Phi Island to a resort there for the next six days.  We are both looking forward to a little downtime where we are not on the move so much...might even unpack.  The resort has a 5 star PADI dive shop so we will get the best of both worlds.  Bye for now.