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| Prasat Preah Kahn |
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| Prasat Preah Kahn |
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Well, we are reaching the end of our trip. We spent another day touring the Angkor temples, including the famed Angkor Wat. We started our day at Prasat Preah Khan temple. This temple was a monastery and college originally dedicated to Buddha, but was vandalized by later Hindu rulers. It is huge and we wandered around the whole complex. One cool aspect was that it had 4 very long corridors that intersected at one spot. While there, we stopped for a Hindu blessing. A kalava was tied around out left wrists and we received a blessing by the giver of the kalava. The wearer of the blessing, symbolized by the strings should leave them on until it falls off naturally.
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| Celestial Dancer |
Next we went to Preah Neak Pean - it was flooded so we didn't get to wander around much, but it was still interesting to see a different architectural style. The temple is a representation of Buddhist Mythology - and when functioning served as a place for devotees to bath in the holy waters. On the way to Angkor Wat, we stopped at a small temple named Baksei Cham Krong that had this amazing staircase that we climbed. On the way out of this temple and to Angkor Wat, we stopped at the side of the road to take photos of the monkeys hanging out.
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| Preah Neak Penh |
Our last stop of the day was to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat literally means "The city which is a temple." It was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu (protector of creation). The complex is the largest temple in the Angkor series. Most notable is the central sanctuary. We climbed to the top of this area - really steep - and saw many figures of Buddha. Almost the entire temple is highly carved, but there are areas that were not finished. Some of the carvings are Apsara, celestial dancing girls, bas-relief galleries that tell stories from Hinduism and battles.
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| Angkor Wat |
After Angkor we had lunch then went back to Siem Reap. We wandered around the markets and stopped for coffee and shakes. We then decided to try the "fish massage" that is all over the place. Basically you put your feet in a tank of fish and they nibble on your skin. It is a strange feeling - doesn't hurt but it does tickle a bit. We then had dinner on pub street.
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| Baksei Cham Krong |
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| Angkor Wat |
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| Bas-relief |
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| Leaving Angkor Wat |
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