angkor thom

i have been procrastinating. trying very hard to link the Picasa web album to this blog but i couldn't. i gave up and decided to continue with my blog first before i forget everything.

frankly speaking, came back for a week now and after the partying and civilised world, i can hardly link the name and the look of those temples simply because most of them look alike.. hahaha...

refering to the note i made during my visit and also the help of photos, i manage to refresh my memory... ...

after bayon, we continued with other sites in angkor thom. We went Phimeanakas before the Terrace of the Elephants. I can't recall at all the look of Phimeanakas but Terrace of the Elephants was a few hundred meters long terrace wall with full of carved elephants and garudas. Benny just loves these garudas. Don't ask me why. :)

look! i am holding an elephant's trunk!

"can't you see i am admiring the carvings? why are you staring at me like that"

the whole terrace wall is full of these carvings. it's something that i dunno how to express by words. and that shows how bad my english :( pictures show a thousand words. frens, please use your imagination!

exit through the victory gate, there were Thommanom and Chau Say Tevoda right outside the angkor thom. these two temples are right opposite each other with angkor wat style. as there are not many tourists visiting these two smaller temples, we had them by ourselves.

taking our sweet time resting at Thommanom

he's our 'guide'. told us where is Thommanom and Chau Say Tevoda. he's so happy when we gave him the mints.

being an acrophobics, looking down from high-rise buildings or climbing down from high places make my both legs numb and inactive. Ta Keo was the first temple to challenge me. Ta Keo is the first temple to be constructed fully by sandstone. however, its lack of carvings make it seems like the construction have not been completed.

it's pretty high, isn't it. Ta Keo was the first mountain temple where my acrophobia hit me... :(

and luckily we went to Ta Keo before Angkor Wat. after climbing of few temples and i got a bit used to it. (not as 'used to' as i thought. hehe...) but no regrets seriously... let the pictures do the story-telling...

some bas-reliefs at angkor wat

each side of the wall has different stories

one of angkor's pagodas under my favourite blue blue sky

me and the signature angkor's palm tree. the fruit is a must-try!! it's called sea coconut here but it's much juicier and sweeter there

but something i must not forget to mention, it took me about half an hour queing up with all the AUNTIES n UNCLES to come down using the stairs with handle. thank you kiat for accompanying me :p i know if i don't mention this, you will be the first one making noise.. kekeke...

isn't this nice?

we called it a day with the sunset at Phnom Bakheng. Seriously, after seeing the greatness of angkor, the sunset doesn't impress me at all already.