We are in the beautiful kingdom of Cambodia! Words cannot adequately describe the magnificance and grandeur of the Angkor temples. I lack the eloquenece to come up with the superlatives that are necessary to do this area justice. The main attraction, Angkor Wat alone, is an architectual wonder; it took 300,000 workers and 6,000 elephants to construct.
We watched the sunset over Angkor Wat on our first evening here. The lush greenery and serene atmosphere are the perfect setting for this awesome tribute to Vishnu and the god-king it was built for in the twelfth century. Since it is not the main tourist season, we get to enjoy the temples without large crowds. That's a definite plus, despite the incredible heat.
We rented bicycles and spent all day peddaling and exploring the ancient sites. Our 33 kilometer "loop"brought us to the most famous historic monuments: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm. The latter is known for the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie. The trees and their gigantic roots have encroached on the temples over the centuries. Much of Ta Prohm is in ruins; there are piles of building stones all around the remaining structures.
Most of the Angkor area is wooded, and the Cambodians fight the forces of nature on a daily basis trying to save their historic inheritance.
While riding along between sights, we happened upon a waterhole that was populated by about forty spider monkeys. They were frolicking in the water, jumping from bushes, and eating the bananas we offered them. These little guys are incredibly coodinated. They peel the bananas effortlessly, and one monkey even picked up a discarded soda bottle from which he drank just like a person. We saw more monkeys along the road, but the water spectacle was the most enjoyable.
We are tired from our long biking adventure. More tomorrow.
Good night!
Renate
We watched the sunset over Angkor Wat on our first evening here. The lush greenery and serene atmosphere are the perfect setting for this awesome tribute to Vishnu and the god-king it was built for in the twelfth century. Since it is not the main tourist season, we get to enjoy the temples without large crowds. That's a definite plus, despite the incredible heat.
We rented bicycles and spent all day peddaling and exploring the ancient sites. Our 33 kilometer "loop"brought us to the most famous historic monuments: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm. The latter is known for the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie. The trees and their gigantic roots have encroached on the temples over the centuries. Much of Ta Prohm is in ruins; there are piles of building stones all around the remaining structures.
Most of the Angkor area is wooded, and the Cambodians fight the forces of nature on a daily basis trying to save their historic inheritance.
While riding along between sights, we happened upon a waterhole that was populated by about forty spider monkeys. They were frolicking in the water, jumping from bushes, and eating the bananas we offered them. These little guys are incredibly coodinated. They peel the bananas effortlessly, and one monkey even picked up a discarded soda bottle from which he drank just like a person. We saw more monkeys along the road, but the water spectacle was the most enjoyable.
We are tired from our long biking adventure. More tomorrow.
Good night!
Renate
No comments:
Post a Comment