Day2 in Cambodia

cContinue from here. Again, it's a long post with lots of pictures.

Day two started off with the visit to Preah Khan. It's built by King Jayavarman VII during the late 12th century, with alterations done by King Jayavarman VIII. And I suppose the alterations was when all the Buddha carvings were chiselled off, as we understood the former king was a Buddhist while the later a Hindu. The entire structure gives the atmosphere of Ta Prohm, but on a larger scale (not that we visited Ta Prohm already on the 2nd day, but the book said so).

At the other end, there's a two-storey building, with round columns, like those of Greek. Our guide said it's different from all the buildings structure within the vicinity of Angkor. Very peculiar indeed.

After that, we headed to Neak Pean. This used to be a unique island temple, where the devotees had to go to the temple built in the middle of a dug out pond by boat. Today however, the ponds dried up.

We saw a mother and a kid at the temple compound, selling a toad I think. The kid's so cute I couldn't help but to snap pictures of them together. But, from afar. All those tales about beggars hugging onto your leg cautioned me.

We headed to Ta Som soon after. It looks a lot like the Bayon, what's with the face-towers and all.

And it was also in Ta Som that we learnt never to kid around with the Khmer kids as they really really would bug you until you buy their stuff. I asked CH to pretend to be interested in one of the Khmer boy's postcard while I shoot a photo of him talking to the boy. It turned out that the boy followed us all right through to the other side of the gate. And he even showed faces when I bought a pack from another Khmer girl, but not CH getting his, stomping around and didn't let us take photos of the Cambodian silk sold at the stall.

We rested on a bench for a while. Miscommunications between us and the tour guide led to us waiting for each other for over an hour. We thought we would be served food, as we saw some man cooking in the bushes. He thought we were tired and needed rest. It all ended up a laughing stock.

We headed over to East Mebon after that. It was a total different structure altogether. The buildings were made of a different type of stone from that of the previous complexes we visited. Nothing really fascinating, I personally thought.

We got ourselves a bag of sugar palm outside East Mebon. Something I've never tried. Sweet, but not coconut-like, and softer than another type of palm found back at home.

Pre Rup was our last visit. It's pretty much the same building styles of that of East Mebon. But Pre Rup was much taller. We could actually see the tip of Angkor Wat and East Mebon when we got to the top. We took some time sitting on the edge, shedding from the burning afternoon sun, when Mr. Shambat asked if we wanted to watch traditional dances.

After much thoughts given by the other two companions, we finally agreed to the 12USD dinner.

We headed back to the hotel for an hour rest, and was enjoying the sun set from the top of our hotel. Come to think of it, I regret that we didn't asked to be drove back to Angkor Wat. We should have. It was not raining, pictures would be nice. Dang. What a waste!

Dinner at Angkor Mondial Restaurant was not what we had planned. It was a high-end restaurant, serving local dishes in buffet style.

But the 12USD didn't include drinks, so we had a jug of Angkor beer, the cheapest in the menu. On the other hand, the food was terrific! If I could ever get more, I would. But I was practically sitting on the floor in front of the performance stage, taking photos of the Apsara dancers.

The restaurant closed at 9.30p.m.. Pretty early, I know. It seemed that the locals sleep early.

Coming up, day 3 in Siem Reap. Tomb Rider!!! Yeehaw!