Second day of Angkor Wat

Another 8 AM start and we headed to the most northern temple about 30km north of Siem Reap called Banteay Srei, known colloquially as the pink temple.

Banteay Srei is an exquisite miniature; a fairy palace in the heart of an immense and mysterious forest; the very thing that Grimm decided to imagine, and that every child's heart has yearned after, but which maturer years has sadly proved too lovely to be true. And here it is, in the Cambodian forests at Banteay Srei, carved not out of the stuff that dreams are made of, but of solid sandstone [ H.W. Ponder]

The route to the temple was interesting in itself as we meandered through Cambodian villages passing by on either side and the Khmer going about their daily routines.

The temple itself was more of a red colour than pink. We headed down the causeway. There were partial ruins to the left and to the right. The actual temple itself is surrounded by a wall and then a (dry) moat. It's unlike any other temple at Angkor and is closer to Indian designs. The use of pink sandstone is also unique. The temple layout had two tiny libraries and a central sanctuary.

We wandered round the temples and the moat three or four times - avoiding the hordes of Korean tourists but also because it was so enjoyable.

We drove back the same way then took a little detour to Banteay Samre. It was a little out of the way and very deserted. The Lonely Planet even recommends caution in case you get robbed. We were set upon as we arrived, but again, it was by children. Remembering our experience from the previous day we kept saying 'No thanks' even when they tried to sucker us with a 'Maybe?'. We managed to pass them on to a group coming out of the temple.

Banteay Samre was completely deserted and so we had a free explore. Nothing particularly stood out but it was still a pleasant little temple. Samre refers to a group of mountain people but virtually nothing is know about them.

We headed out and met an American couple being pestered by the children and the lady was telling them in true American style that they should be in school. Ironic given they spoke better English than she did. The children in Cambodia only do half a day at school because they are needed to go and help earn money for their families but they do get their schooling free so they all go.

They did get us in the end - we bought a bottle of water each and made doubly sure it was from the right kid!! No tears this time.

Next up was the East Mebon which is a sister temple of Preah Kup. The temple is a square with three levels with the five towers of Mount Meru but the unique feature is the eight elephants - one on each corner of the first and second levels. Most are in really good condition too.

We walked out the back and found a sweet little baby asleep on the back steps. No sign of mum though (probably selling postcards round the front).

Preah Rup was very similar and didn't have anything particularly special to it.

Next stop was Ta Som, which was a small and fairly quite little temple but had a really cool feature: the eastern entrance has a ficus tree growing over it and the roots create an extended entrance. It seems like something out of a Disney theme park.

Neak Pean was next up and another unique little temple. It had a long entrance path lined with street vendors. The temple itself is a small (tiny!) sanctuary in a (dry) square pool with four smaller square pools. We sat in the shade by this place for a while because it was so picturesque. Yet another Jayavarman VII temple and was for pilgrims to take water spiritually and physically.

We stopped at one temple that wasn't even in the guide book so it must have been newly discovered. It was called Banteay Prei. Can't tell you anything about it, except that it was in fairly poor condition and had lots of props holding parts up, particularly in the doorways. Kind of felt like we had helped discover it!!

Our last stop in Angkor Wat was the Royal Palace, Phimeanakas and Bauphon. These are all behind the Terrace of the Elephants in Angkor Thom. The Phimeanakas is a small temple in the Royal Palace grounds where the king worshipped. It was a very steep climb up (probably the steepest and that's saying something) particularly the final set. We were very hot and sweaty when we got to the top but the view was well worth it.

We then headed to the Baphuon which was in the process of being renovated. We could walk round the sides but not into the temple. It was interesting to see them at work having to individual carve each stone and place it by hand into the correct place.

We headed back into Siem Reap for lunch then headed to the land mine museum. Its run by a Khmer called Aki Ra, who was trained by the Khmer Rouge to lay mines and fight, whilst aged only ten. He was captured by the Vietnamese and fought for them. Since peace was declared he has worked with the UN helping to defuse land mines and helping landmine victims.

The museum has an absolute ton of landmines of all shapes and sizes and lots of good information and newspaper cuttings from around the globe about the museum and landmines in general. There were several of Aki Ra's adopted orphans around and they seemed very happy. Several volunteers too. The whole museum was very interesting albeit tiny.

From there we went to see the models of Angkor Wat. The model maker was a delightful old Khmer man who spoke no English but did speak French so Dave did all the talking and translated for me. The models were fantastically detailed of Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei. We got several good pictures including one with the model maker in it.

We then picked up our bus tickets, exchanged some money and headed back after saying goodbye and thanks to Kwan who had been excellent. He told us a lot about Cambodia and the Khmer people. Interestingly Angkor Wat is actually owned by a Vietnamese company and very little of the money actually gets back to the Khmer people. The Koreans are also particularly bad at not spending their money in the right way as they stay at Korean owned hotels and employ Korean guides.

Overall the Angkor Wat experience was every bit as good as I hoped. It is a truly magnificent site.