April 2013 Siem Reap trip : Can't get enough of Angkor Wat, we came back for more !!!

Road in AAP area

Now we are back on our tuk-tuk ready for our temple exploring.

Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang & passing through Ta Keo

Banteay Kdei gate and path to the temple

At Banteay Kdei, we have to step down from our tuk-tuk at the gate, just like at Ta Prohm being a walled temple, after the gate we have to walk a path but it's not that far and instead of the musician playing there are some shops selling souvenirs.

Banteay Kdei's temple entrance & cow grazing

Banteay Kdei temple

Bantey Kdei towers fastened with straps

The temple's main entrance has become a Buddha's shrine so I opted to take the side way. There is not too much tourist at this temple, there was even a cow who is enjoying it's grazing time. The temple's condition is quite ok, it is not kept in it's natural condition as Ta Prohm with it's huge trees hugging the temple, just be careful with your steps since in my opinion the temple is not fully restored there are some pile of stones and some of the roofs or tower is being fastened with rope or strap.

Sras Srang

Sras Srang is just accross from the gate of Banteay Kdei, it is said that you can enjoy the scenery of the baray mostly at sunrise or late afternoon, I guess because at noon it would just be too hot and the sun is blazing. Sras Srang itself is a terrace leading to a baray. While I was waiting on the tuk-tuk hubby went across to take some pictures at Sras Srang, too bad the statues there is under renovation so the only pictures to take is only the baray itself.

Ta Keo

On the way to our next destination we pass through Ta Keo, this temple is huge and tall and we really wanted to explore as we are sure it is an interesting temple (though from afar we could see that there are not much carvings) but just stopped for a while instead since the temple is under construction and afraid it is not safe enough for us to explore and carry on with out trip.

Chau Say Thevoda

Chau Say Thevoda

Chau Say Thevoda is not a walled temple, so we can see the temple right away from the road and just a small walk from where the tuk-tuk drop us. The temple is not big, you just have to climb the little stairs if you want to see the inside. There was almost no tourist at this site, I guess the only interesting chamber was already "guarded" by a boy who kept asking us to come up and see the chamber, but we declined the offer, since we are sure we will be asked to tip for his "explaining" service.

Thommanom

Thommanom

Just as Chau Say Thevoda, Thommanom is a small and not a walled temple as well. It is located just across Chau Say Thevoda . At the time we arrive there, the entrance path to the temple was being decorated with torch on it's side and there were lots of small plastic bags (filled with candles? I was not sure). We were wondering what they were doing until we explored the back side of the temple and saw white tents (just like the ones for outdoor wedding) and dining table being set up. Then we knew that the temple will be used for an event, we heard that there are some Apsara dancing with dinner at a temple is available in Siem Reap, I guess this could be the one we heard about, or maybe just a special event help for special people.

Preah Khan

Preah Khan entry gate

From Thommanom, we went through the Victory gate entering Angkor Thom, exiting from the North gate and go straight to Preah Khan. Our Tuk-tuk driver always try to give a short explanation to us before we went down the tuk-tuk regarding the temple we are visiting so that we would have an idea on what we will be seeing, we really appreciated it. He told us that Preah Khan was built by Jayavarman VII for his father and legend has it that it was built to keep a sword, but from some books also said that the temple was used as a Buddhist university at it's time.

It surely was not a disappointment to visit this temple, it was beautiful though there are still lot's of stone piles so you should mind your steps and choose which way you go, it shows that it is not fully restored yet. It makes me feel like we were in a beautiful stone wall labyrinth. This is the first temple where I recognized that the carved statues are holding some kind of weapon (not really sure what kind though). Some part of the temples are still being "hugged" by the huge trees, but some of it has been cut and left with it's roots still hugging the temple.

Statue carving holding weapon

The tree root looks like an elephant trunk

We found old priestess (which happens to us in other temples as well) there trying to ask us to give some respect at the Buddha shrine using incense, but since we have read about this when other people were asked for the same thing at Angkor Wat and was expected to give money in exchange for the incense for USD 10, we just have declined it, since USD 10 for incense is really not in our budget.

Angkor Thom : Preah Pithu & Baphuon

Preah Pithu

I really wanted to go to Neak Pean and Preah Pithu when we visit AAP, but we just don't have much time to visit Neak Pean if we want to revisit Angkor Wat again, so we go back to Angkor Thom to see Preah Pithu. I don't really know why I really wanted to visit Preah Pithu, but when I saw the picture it just reminded me of a temple we visited last year at central Java called candi Sukuh which looks like a pyramid.

Preah Pithu is not only 1 temple but it's a group of temple, though we only manage to see one of it only. The location is almost unnoticed as the temple is small and behind the trees, but I'm glad we visited there, there was no tourist at all, we were the only one there to explore. There is a small gate to enter the temple, half of the entry gate is blocked by a tree. To reach the other temple which look like the one we are exploring is another gate, and it's not in a good condition, there are pile of stones in it and a tree in front of it blocking as well, makes me think twice to explore the other temple as I'm afraid there would be snake under the stones.

Baphuon entry gate to the temple

Baphuon is our next stop, still in the Angkor Thom area but quite far for walking so we ride the tuk-tuk again. To go there we pass the Terrace of the leper king and Terrace of the elephants. We went down from the tuk-tuk at the gate, it's a huge gate though it is not complete anymore and a quite long bridge as a path to the temple, on each side of the bridge there must have been a pond, but's it's almost dry now.

At the entrance stairs of the temple I realized I am seeing something weird but didn't realized it until I came up close. There were 3 guides sitting down besides the stairs in the shade of a big umbrella talking with each other and one of them is holding a very small and very cute white blue eyed baby boy (or was it a girl?) and he was so calm not crying at all, I'm sure the parents were exploring the temple and not wanting the baby to get the heat.

Baphuon is a huge temple, it has 3 levels. At this point I just didn't have the strength to go all the way up as the weather was really hot, I only stayed on the 1st level, going around the temple and enjoying the view but hubby managed to go up and took some pictures.

Though being huge but this temple does not have many carvings as the others. If we read the books, there is suppose to be a reclining Buddha that could be seen from the behind of the temple (they put the going down stairs on the back side as well), but we just didn't manage to see it. The arrow is directing us to go to the woods right after we are on the ground again, but we decided to go back to the entrance gate to easily catch up with our tuk-tuk.

Angkor Wat

From Baphuon we pass Bayon and go through the South gate of Angkor Thom to reach Angkor Wat.

Moan made moat at Angkor Wat

Woohoo we finally went back to Angkor Wat, this time we enter from them main entrance, it feels so far away to reach the temple, I guess it's because I was a bit tired and haven't had our lunch yet, only having 1 bread for our lunch, but thankfully we had a big breakfast that morning.

Bridge to entrance gate of Angkor Wat

The Bridge at the entrance to go to the gate of Angkor Wat is divided in 2, the right side (from entrance view) has already been fully restored as the on left side is not done yet, I don't know if they meant to do this deliberately or not. 

Naga at entrance gate

The little incident at entrance gate

There was a little incident, that we thought we were not suppose to enter from the main entrance of the gate as there is a small no entry sign on the side of the stairs, so we went from the left side, but turns out there was no way from there, luckily there is a window that allows us to go through the gate and walk on the path side of the gate, it was an interesting experience, and I guess we were not the only one who was fooled by the sign, as there are a group of people behind as well that finally did the same thing too.

Temple main entrance still under renovation

Angkor Wat 1st and 2nd floor

Too bad the main entrance of Angkor Wat  is still under renovation, so we have to enter from the side entrance. This time we go through the 1st level wall gallery from the Battle of the Kurukshetra to the series of historical event from the reign of the king Suryavarman II and ended at the Heaven and Hell bas relief, this means we have explored all the walls of the 1st level.

At the time we were exploring the second wall, there was a huge wind that I even believed it could be a typhoon (ok I'm a bit exaggerating), but it was sooo hard that we could see the people that were not inside the temple walls was having a hard time even for walking, I was even a bit running to one of the chambers for shelter since the bas relief walls are in a kind of open area though still protected, but I didn't feel safe :)

Having Angkor Wat to ourselves - a private place to our own

After going through the hall of a thousand gods (Buddhas), we go straight to the 2 level, it was still windy and since it's already 5.20 PM we decided not to go up the 3rd floor, fearing that it is almost time for the temple to close. The temple is almost empty when we were there, only a group of Asian tourist (not sure from where) of photographers and his models and 1 group of local tourist. It really is a luxury to feel like we are having Angkor Wat to ourselves. At 5.50 we decided to go back, but what intrigued me is as we were going down there are some tourist still going up the temple, I wonder what time it closes.

Madam Sachiko

Madam Sachiko 

Menu at the cafe

Mango cooler

Yesterday we went here but felt that we were quite in a hurry, and since today was a bit hot I really wanted to try Madam Sachiko's Mango cooler, it really tasted good and refreshing, I'm sure at day time when the sun is blazing, it would taste much much more refreshing than having it in the afternoon as we did. A small cup (which is enough for 2 people) cost USD 3 and the big cup cost USD 4. It consist of soft shaved ice poured with lots of mango juice (which makes me wonder if it's ice cream at first) and big cuts of sweet mango on top, it was delicious.

I bought another box of their medium sized cashew cookies for my loved ones at home. Oh they gave sample cookies as well at the cookie shop, so you can choose types of cookies you want before purchasing, but my favorite is the cashew nut, this is why I bought this one again.

Just FYI, Madam Sachiko is located at Charles de Gaul opposite Sofitel Angkor Hotel.

Dinner at Khmer Kitchen

Khmer Kitchen @Alley West

Khmer Kitchen is our final stop with out tuk-tuk driver, he recommended this place as well for local food. But since we find it a bit early for dinner, we walked around the old market and bought some stuffs again. Finally decided to have dinner at Khmer Kitchen but the one at Alley West nearby Pub street, it's smaller one compared to the one near Old market, but we wanted to try this one.

Cashew nut milkshake - Pina Colada - Khmer curry chicken

The food is great just as the other one, we had Amok fish, Khmer curry chicken, free flow rice and the delicious cashew nut milk shake and pina colada. The food was great but we ended up finding that the other restaurant is much more convenient, although this restaurant has an outdoor dining area but this makes us a bit uncomfortable as the people passing through are not only tourist or people looking for food but also vendors and beggars and they could reach up right to our table since there is no fence or divider from the walking path. But it's the outdoor experience what made me wanted to try this place first of all, so with this we have tried the experience :)