Angkor is the area/town where Angkor Wat is located (the first temple we visited in the last post). Temples are often named after the area, city, town, feature, or geography that the temple is located. However, with over 200 temples in the Angkor area, only one, “the” Angkor Wat, got that distinction. Over centuries, Angkor was demolished and nearby another area was developed, called Angkor Thom, where people fled to. Siem Reap is the modern city south of these locations where people stay to visit either of these temple sites. Often, movies, books, websites, & blogs get the naming incorrectly, since it’s a bit confusing.

We started our second day of temple “raiding” by heading to the north gate of Angkor Thom. Along the way, before leaving Siem Reap, we saw a free children’s hospital that was spread out across a main street. At the stoplight, we saw a gurney with a child on it being wheeled across the street, which caught our eye. While waiting for the light to turn green, we saw another 4 or 5 gurneys crossing with kids on them, sometimes multiple kids on 1 gurney. We continued on our way to Angkor Thom. Since the north gate to enter the entire temple area (think a small city), a road goes right through the gate. This site also has similar large trees that have started to root themselves with the structures. There are some great photos to be had here, but it’s also an active road so we had fun playing Frogger as we tried to get the perfect shot while moving in and out of the way of vehicles. It looked somewhat like a photo shoot in the middle of the road.

Next, we went to Neak Poan Temple, the favorite of our CEO, Puna, because of her love of nature. What makes this temple so unique is its location – in the middle of a small lake, on an island, in the middle of a much larger body of water. It’s so different than all the other temples we’ve seen. The bridge to cross the lake to get to the island is beautiful in its own right, as we walked over Lilly pods as far as the eye could see, and numerous gorgeous lotus flowers. Part of this temple ground is currently under renovations to protect and reinforce the surroundings and structures. We were visited by several butterflies and a friendly competition quickly started to see who capture the best photo (I think Andrew won!).

We were leaving the temple area and Dat asked if any of us wanted to stop quickly to take a picture of one last temple. Some of us said yes, and it turned out to be one of our favorites! As we got closer, we could see that we could go up the very steep steps to the top. Many stayed on the bus, but the few brave 4 of us headed up to the top. The incline of the steps are very steep, and the steps themselves are very tall steps. We made it to the top, and the views were just amazing.

We headed back into Siem Reap for a quick lunch at a place Puna took us to that locals frequent, with noodle dishes going for 50 cents to $1. Afterwards, most of the group headed out on an optional tour to a nearby floating village, Kompong Khleang. They have 2 different types of floating homes: the 1st on stilts, for when the rainy season happens and the water rises, the houses appear to be “floating”; the 2nd are actual floating houses & structures (which are further up the river). Interestingly, there is a 7.5 meter difference (~24 feet) when the water is at its low point in the year versus when it’s at its high point during the rainy/flooding season! We toured the stilted houses first. We were shown what life is like and they are very self-sustaining. They are primarily a fishing community that provides seafood to many surrounding areas, but fishing season isn’t year round. We saw examples of how them make their own fertilizer from leftover fish parts; how they smoke fish on skewers; how they fix and maintain their boats, fixing holes, and even using a local tar to coat the boats (they burn a part of a tree, and the tar comes out one end); and how they create traps for different animals for eating and selling.

Next we boarded a boat to go down the river and more stilted houses, followed by the floating houses. Along the way, we saw traps for crocodiles, crickets, shrimp, fish, snakes, and other types of creatures. We even saw their floating village school house, floating village local market, and reportedly they also have a floating jail (we didn’t get to see this, though). The river flows into the massive Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. We floated down to spend a little time on the lake and learned that it covers 3,000 square kilometers, but in October (toward the end of rainy season), it’s up to 4 times the size, at 12,000 square kilometers! That’s how much rain they get and why there is such a need for the 2 different types of floating houses. The boat was sort of double decker, so we got to ride on the top as well, which had a nice breeze and was a good location for photos. Louise decided to get in on the leg raise action (queue Andrew). See the photo and let us know who did it best: Daniel or Louise!

After our tour, we bused back to Siem Reap. Andrew, Daniel, Joanne, and I asked to be dropped off just before our hotel so I could knock off one more notch in my expanding collection of Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses, since there is one in Siem Reap! However, it “falsely” says Angkor instead. We tried to have a cocktail and a very well rated cocktail place, which just happened to be closed. Andrew ordered the 4 of us a tuk tuk to get back to the hotel, but there was one slight “challenge” (see the picture), although it didn’t phase the driver whatsoever. After a quick dinner, it was off to bed, for another early morning to head back to the Thailand border for crossing and back to Bangkok for the closing of this exciting 1st tour.

Collectively Andrew and I have taken over 5,000 photos thus far. So, Orlando friends & family, be careful if you tell us you want to see “all of our photos”!

Love in travels,

Jeff

PS – in my still continuing & newly named series of _________ carrying ________, we captured some photos of not quite motorbikes but other interesting vehicles carrying other interesting things! Enjoy the continuing saga!