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Entrance to Angkor Wat This is at the main entrance to Angkor Wat. It's just over the moat and through a small door in the outer wall. It's only just occured to me how small that outer door is for such a large complex; I'll have to dig out a photo and post it. |
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Inside Angkor Wat Looking Up the Stairs to the Top Look at the picture above, at the central tower. This is right at the center of Angkor Wat and this is a picture looking up the precipitous steps that lead up to it. Going up isn't too bad, but coming down gets a bit hairy. I got a bit worried about the descent, but as you can see, there were old ladies and children making the trip. Actually, the center of Angkor Wat is a square structure and there are 4 sets of steps that lead to the top, one on each side. A word of advice: when coming down look for this one, it has a hand rail. |
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Angkor Wat Inside the main wall of Angkor Wat, to the left and right of where I'm standing in the first picture(above), there are 2 ponds. These are a favorite spots for people to take pictures, as you can get excellent photos of Ankor Wat, its reflection in the pond and a picture of yourself in the forground. Unfortunately when I had this picture taken, there were a bunch of naked children splashing around just to my left, which kinda messed up the reflected bit a little. |
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The Bayon The Bayon is another cool temple quite close to the the Angkor Wat temple. Most visitors to Angkor Wat also come here, it's part of the recommended tour. Bear in mind, there are hundreds of temples and monuments that form the Angkor Wat complex and surrounding area; you would need a long time to see them all. |
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Me Coming Out of a Door at The Bayon (exciting stuff eh!) The Bayon isn't a huge place and if you take your time and see it all, you'll only need and hour or so. Unless you're a historian or archaeologist and need to do some rubbings or whatever; I'm not and so didn't. I did however get my driver to take my photo emerging from the bowels of the Bayon. Which reminds me, I've been neglecting to mention my driver, who took all these photos for me; his name was Den. I'd like to thank Den, who isn't a driver by profession, but works in one of the many 5 star hotels that are emerging in Siem Reap. He gave up all day Sunday, his only day off, to drive me around and take my photo. I should mention, I use the term driver in its loosest sense; in cambodia a driver is a motorcycle rider or a tuk tuk driver. A motorcycle driver at Angkor Wat should cost about $8 a day and a tuk tuk about $10 a day; I believe a guide is about $20 a day. Den acted as driver, guide and official photographer, so I gave him a little more. |
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Ta Prohm For me, and I imagine many other people, this was the coolest temple of all. There has been very minimal restoration done at Ta Prohm, just enough to keep it safe. It is literally how they found it when it was discovered overgrown with jungle in the 1800s. If you don't believe me, take a look at the photos below. |
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Me Coming Out of Another Door at Ta Prohm (it doesn't get much better than this!) Everyone who comes here gets this photo. I asked all my friends and they all have a photo of themselves coming out of the door overgrown with tree roots; it's truly an awesome sight. There's a very "trees growing on things" theme to this page, as you will see. |
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Me and a Tree. Or Should I Say: a Tree and I? Trees, trees, trees. It's just so amazing to see these things growing everywhere: on walls, on roofs, on roofs and down walls, on doors, through doors; you get the picture. These trees are hundreds of years old. |
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One on the Roof Here's a photo that gives you a better idea of just how tenacious these things are. |
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And a Close Up with Me I know you've probably seen enough trees by now, but I promise you, if you go to Ta Prohm, you'll be doing the same. |
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Ruins at Ta Prohm This photo gives you an idea of the condition of the buildings at Ta Prohm. Inside, some parts are supported with wooden scaffolding. However, despite the ruinous condition of the place, the majority of it is still free standing; it's probably the trees holding it together. |
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Couldn't Resist It: Another Tree on a Roof
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Me and Some Ruins at Ta Prohm Speaks for itself |
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The Old Guy from the Cover of The Lonely Planet Travel Guide Like the title says: this is the old guy from the cover of the Lonely Planet travel guide, Cambodia edition. Yes, it really is him! And that's me and him (he and I) just hanging out. No seriously, this guy sells souvenirs in the Ta Prohm temple; he might even live there, I'm not sure. Buy something or get your photo taken with him and give him some cash, I did. |
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I have just recently (October 6, 2005) been back to Cambodia, where I stayed in Phnom Penh. I love Cambodia and had a great time - I visited the Killing Fields, the Royal Palace, the National Museum and the Russian Market; I got to shoot another AK47 and fired a rocket launcher. I also had a great time enjoying Phnom Penh's nightlife.
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No! this really is the bottom line; there is no more; it is the end of this page; well except for the ubiquitous... |
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