Siem Reap Day 2 More temples

We were up at 6.30 and breakfasted and down in reception just before 8am to meet our new guide Toi pai and Po our driver.  There are different routes you can take around the temples. Yesterday we did the short route, short in that it is the inner route and takes ages because of visiting Angkor Wat.  Today we were doing the Grand Tour which takes you further out.

We visited a set of very early temples of the Rolous group, Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei, and then Toi took us back to Angkor Wat to see some things he thought we might have missed yesterday without a guide and he was right. Then we went to a huge walled enclosure called Bayon, which is about the same size as Angkor Wat to see Angkor Thom.

It was a long, hot and fabulous day. I think today I have got the pictures mixed up, so apologise. But it will you an idea of the fabulous places that we went too.

It's hard work as there are often three layers to a temple built up on tall plinths.  Lots of scrambling around and climbing steep steps. I felt today like we had done a long session in the gyms. Not sure what I will be like tomorrow. But it must be good for me.

The gods felt that to get to the top level you had to make it hard, hence the tall steps. Rod was fine, but I had to come down them on my bum. Not very glamorous, but effective.

This had life size Elephants on every corner on every level. They were wonderful, built out of a solid piees of sandstone.

Buddhist Monastery, inside a temple. It was gloriuosly coloured.

Baby monks doing their homework.

Back at Angkor Wat, we got some fabulous views, and saw the big ponds with the Wat reflected in them. It must be a fabulous sight in the wet season.

A typical Cambodian male pose! You see them everywhere with their hammocks strung up wherever possible. Bes ting to do in this heat. It's only mad tourists like us scrambling over stoners at this time of the day.

A Goddess, isn't she beautiful.

Has anyone got a name for a group of monk tourists?  A Tangerine of Monks!

A fabulous reflection of Angkor

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Wild monkey roaming around Angkor.

This is the South Entrance and bridge to Bayon. On one side is a row of gods and on the other a row of demons.  The are both pulling on a Naga to keep the balance in the world. I thought the demon faces were hilarious.

A Naga head, seven headed snake.  And a demon looking like he is about to have a hernia.

Angkor Thom

What a fabulous site with loads of these four sided face on each temple top. Every face was difference, some happy or stern, some male, some female.

Every wall was covered in frescos and so beautifully carved.

The Elephant Terrace. Carvings of elephants parading that went on for about 500 feet.

Bullocks cooling down in the river.

We wandered around Siemp Reap tonight, had a bowl of noodles and an ice cream, then crossed the river and stopped in a little bar for a drink and listen to a guy playing jazz on a saxophone.