More temples than I can remember

Day 7 – Siem Reap, Cambodia

After this morning’s switch of hotel, my tuk-tuk driver took me to see several, smaller temples -but some of them are not less impressive!

Many of the pictures I took yesterday were hard to exploit because of the sun’s orientation, so I was more careful today.

The first temple is a small one, but its red sandstones were well lit with the morning sun. Kravan temple has a row of monkeys statues guarding its steps.

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A bit farther, a terrace opens on a body of water, with steps guarded by -you’ll never guess- statues of monkeys and nagas. It is Srars Srang, and it is in alignment with Banteay Kdei.

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Banteay Kdei is full of picturesque ruins, with windows opening upon more windows, letting you see here the carving of a dancing girl –apsara-, there a demon frozen in stone. I had the bad idea of letting a local guide me to where the best spot for taking pictures are. Sure, the spots were -ahah- spot on, but first you don’t take anything else of the temple, second, there is no spontaneity, and third, when you don’t agree beforehand to a price, there is an expensive surprise awaiting you. Which is probably why the guide is so nice and friendly and seems only to want to help you for free -at the beginning.

[Montrer sous forme de diaporama]

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After Banteay Kdei, we went to Ta Prohm, which is the temple famed for the tree growing on top of it (and several more have taken over the crumbling walls). It seems wild, but actually, they have cleared about all other vegetation than those giants with sprawling roots.

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There is still conservation work going on, with cranes, workers, stonemasons, and the noise they make accompany you during this visit.

All of the temples have several entrances, and this is one for which my driver drops me at one end and waits for me at the other end. Quite convenient.

The next temple -and last for the day!- was Ta Keo, a huge pyramid (which is the mountain temple model), for which they haven’t adapted the stairs… so you can use to huge original blocks to climb up. It is steep, hard on the knees, and when it is time to climb down, dizzying!

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I ended up having lunch in front of it, which is quite nice, as I was alone in the restaurant and the view was breathtaking. This temple is one of two reputed for watching the sunset, and indeed I might try that.

This tour is what is called “the small tour”, as these temples are on a smallish circuit. The big, which comes tomorrow, is a bigger circuit -but it is just geography.