Today, we visited Angkor Wat, one of the Seven Wonders of the World! Angkor Wat is part of the massive Angkor Complex, which is made up of over 200 temples for either Hinduism or Buddhism.
We decided to save the best for the last. Hence, the first place we visited was Angkor Thom. At the entrance, we could see the 4 Faces of Buddha, building blocks upon which the Buddhism faith is built.
Caleb, Jinxgirl and I climbed to the top of a tall hill overlooking the entrance. The view of the river was amazing. Caleb, who is practicing photography, snapped a photo of Jinxgirl.
After climbing down, we headed further in. We soon reached Bayon, situated in the centre of the city. It's a major ruin with 37 standing towers. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I immediately left to explore. We had fun climbing in and out of the towers while Aunty Sarah chased after us.
After leaving Bayon, we entered another part of Angkor Thom called the Jungle Temple. It was like a huge garden! There were giant tree roots hanging down on the walls, just like in the picture! In the centre of the garden, there was a massive stone structure. Ezzuan climbed all the way up. Jinxgirl was half-way to the top when Uncle Patrick realised it was steeper than he had thought and told her to come down. Sigh.
Ezzuan pretended to be an idol in an empty ledge in the wall. It was HILARIOUS! Caleb snapped a photo of him again.The terrace of elephants was our next quick stop. It had nice scenery but was rather small and uninteresting. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I were slightly disappointed with it.
We ate lunch in the Angkor Complex at a small restaurant. The food was good, but Caleb, Jinxgirl and I didn't really take time to enjoy it as we were really excited about the main highlight of the day: Angkor Wat!!!
We went to Angkor Wat as soon as lunch was over. It is the major temple in the Angkor Complex and all the other temples surround it. We walked the stone walkway path. Joseph was playing with camera tricks and making gargantuan spiders crawl on the tip of Angkor Wat.
Aunty Sarah tried to make Jinxgirl look as though she was holding up Angkor Wat, but failed.
There were intricate carvings of mythology on the stone walls and we stopped from time to time to read them. At the end of the stone walkway, there was an even larger stone structure.
This was what we had been looking forward to. Unfortunately, there was a sign on the structure: Restoration work in progress. Do not enter. AARGH!!!Finally, we headed back to the hotel. We ate dinner at a roadside stall before visiting the newer Noon Night Market nearby.
P.S. Today, Aunty Nathlyn got the call of doom. For those of you who read the Straits Times reports on the Mumbai attacks, you should know why. We did not see her again until late afternoon the next day. Our hearts go out to hre as the Singapore Hostage had been Aunty Nat's best friend for as long as she can remember. Oh dear. :(
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