(Daniel) For the first time since Chiang Mai, I woke up to a beautiful morning today.  The usually overcast sky was clear, the air clean and the temperature warm.  The only problem with this weather, is that it is perfect to bake all the mud and crap accumulated from the last two days driving from Poi Pet, which means it will be even harder to clean.  I decided that immediate action was necessary before our trip to Angkor Wat today.

Whilst looking for a suitable hotel yesterday, I had spotted a carwash, next to the river.  We packed the vehicle ready for the day, and  headed to the river to find the car wash.  It was easy to trace my route back, using the sat nav, so we soon found ourselves pulling into the yard, to the astonished faces f the workers and customers alike!  I jumped out of the truck, smiling at the man who walked towards me.  But he still refused to clean the vehicle.  At first he claimed that it was too long.  When I told him that I could turn it around half way, he struggled to find another reason to tell me to go away, but eventually conceded, pointing me towards the ramp. 

In fairness the young boys who cleaned the Wolf did an excellent job, and did not stop until they were satisfied at the result.  Despite my complaints of hunger and time constraints! I took photos of the vehicle before and after the clean.  It is amazing to see the decals appear, as the mud actually isn’t that different in colour to the paintwork!  While we waited for them to finish, a man who was also waiting chatted to us about Cambodia, and the influx of tourism and money that it is receiving at the moment.  He certainly seemed optimistic about the whole thing, but again I voiced my concerns on over-development of the tourist industry.  The man also mentioned several other areas around Cambodia that should be of interest and are off the tourist beat.

When the Wolf was clean and sparkling again,  I thanked the man who had initially tried to wriggle out of cleaning it, and told him that his boys had done an excellent job.  He charged me double the standard price as the vehicle was so dirty and big.  This only came to $4 though, so I was happy to oblige.  Nii and I drove back into town and found a nice Café to eat breakfast.  While we waited for our food, I looked through the Lonely Planet Guide which I have bought from a second hand book store.  My plan is to head for Battambang, once we have visited the bulk of the temples here.  Then we can drive to Phnom Penh from there, visiting the killing fields and some more cultural centres.  After the capitol, I hope to head south towards Sihanoukville and the coast for some fishing.  Then North East and into the less explored regions of Kratie, Mondulkiri and Ratankiri before exiting to Vietnam.

With our breakfast finished, we left the French colonial architecture of Siem Reap, and drove towards the temples of Angkor, about 8kms away from the town.  We arrived at the checkpoint, only to be told that we must drive out of the other side to buy tickets, which have now risen to $20 per person per day.  But I can see why they would put the prices up.  So far Cambodia seems to be a country based around Angkor Wat.  The beer is called Angkor, the flag displays Agnkor, kind of like the Cambodians way of say “Don’t underestimate us, look at what we made!” Anyway, after finding the ticket office, and purchasing a one day pass, we made our way back to the main temple of Angkor Wat.

As we pulled up outside, it was easy to see that this is the largest religious building in the wolrd, with huge sprawling grounds housing an inner complex and then another inner sanctum raised up on steps that most people find very difficult to climb.  The temples here were built by the Khmer Empire, and the God-Kings between AD 802 and 1432.  Each king in succession trying to outdo his predecessors.   Interestingly, Angkor Wat was originally built to service the Hindu faith, and statues of Shiva and Rama adorn certain areas, but Buddhism crept into popularity during the building of Angkor Wat, and the temple was converted, although many people still like Shiva, and continue to worship her.

As we entered the main temple, snapping photos left and right, I pulled Nii aside and took her to the Elephant gate, a disused entrance that has no steps so that the elephants could pass through with their loads of stone.  From here you can see all five towers of the inner sanctum.  We then walked around the side of the wall, and back to the main walkway where we joined the other tourists heading for the temple itself.  Inside the effect of such huge yet incredibly details carvings in a building made entirely of stone is nothing short of Miraculous.  I found myself looking at these carvings close up and marveling at how mortal men could produce something of such size and beauty.

We climbed up to the inner sanctum and received a blessing from a Nun.  Then went back down and out of the temple to carry on to some of the other temples in the area.  I believe that there are actually 96 temples in the 14 square mile site.  Of course visiting them all will be impossible, but a few of the best ones should suffice.  First on the route was  Ta Keo, a ruined temple with some excellent carvings.  We pulled up outside to the usual offers of cold drinks and snacks.  Ignoring these for now, we walked into the temple.  There is a route which you can take, a specific order of visiting these temples, which should allow you to miss the bulk of tours passing through.  I think we were lucky, as we entered Ta Keo, there was only a few other people around. 

The carvings in the midday light looked amazing, the characters on the faces so lifelike.  We walked around, and even found a way in to a few corridors which probably should have been closed off.  Then walked back out of the temple and had lunch with some taxi drivers who were waiting for their fares inside the temple.  After lunch we headed to Ta Prom, another ruined temple, where they made the movie ‘Tomb Raider’ and took a walk around there before jumping back in the Wolf and retracing our steps to the Bayon.   

The Bayon is one of my favorites too, with it huge faces of Buddha all over.  There are 215 faces of Buddha which gives a very interesting effect if viewed close up, or form a distance.  I find it hard to imagine what these temples looked like in their hay day.  Although there’s no denying that age doesn’t look bad on them either!  After a walk around the Bayon, we headed for a hill temple close by to see the sun set.  HOwvere on the way we spotted some wild monkeys, and stopped to take photos.  We sat and took pictures of the monkeys, but when we returned to the Wolf the cheeky creatures had adopted it as their own.  They were very funny though and posed for photos before we left. 

Unfortunatley, the guards wanted extra money to climb the hill and see the sunset.  Knowing that this is not the usual arrangement, I refused meaning that we had to leave without seeing the sunset.  But neither of us were worried, we had a wonderful day, and got to see some amazing sights. 

As we arrived back in the town, we stopped at a café and ate dinner before heading home for a well earned rest!

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