Angkor Day Two

I bought a 3 day Angkor pass for 40 USD yesterday morning. A one day pass is $20. After two days I am glad I still have another day remaining. It would be easy to stay for a week. That said though it is low season. For me, the beauty of the temples is as much their peaceful atmosphere as the grandeur of the buildings.

The buildings here are in remarkably good condition. Being forgotten about for centuries was almost certainly a good thing. Old Thai temples have been sacked by the Burmese and lie in ruined states, had the neighbours here known about it they might have gone the same way.

Today I opted for travel by motor bike. It was a good decision. I walked towards Angkor until I came across a motorbike taxi whose driver looked clean and presentable and spoke reasonable English. I walked a reasonable distance... He was good. Dropped me at a temple and patiently waited until I came out 30 mins, or an hour or two later.

Yesterday I went to see outer temples - crazy idea since I was on the bike! (I always did gamble on doing the essays well giving leeway with the mapwork in geography... I really do think there was something amiss with the scale on the map though.) Today I went to see the more famous inner temples including Angkor Wat. The first temple I went to Ta Prom, has intentionally been left in the state it was when the French 'discovered' it. I haven't seen Tomb raider but I think it might have been either filmed there or inspired by it. There are trees literally growing over walls, in towers, through the brickwork. The massive roots are like triffids gripping them... It needs to be maintained carefully to keep the roots but prevent further destruction.

I will spare you details about the other temples and will just put pictures in when I get to BKK.

Apologies if writing with no pictures is too dry.

Tomorrow I am going with the same motor bike driver to some temples on the east of the city.