We woke up and were ready at half 4 in the morning for Wan to take us. We had to wait around for him for quarter of an hour or so but then we were on our way! There were a hell of a lot of people heading to the temples for sunrise. It's cooler at that time of day and obviously the views should be pretty spectacular. Quite a large swarm of people were heading into Angkor Wat so we were a little worried but when we got in everyone was congregating around the mini lake that stands to the left of Angkor Wat. The outline of the temple was amazing. Even the gate that we walked through to get to this mini lake was impressive in the way that it was still all intact. The reflection of Angkor Wat in the water added to the image so it was understandable why everyone was stood in one place. There was still a calmness though, the crowd seemed to be too focussed on the view in front of them and how good a picture they could get. The sky got lighter but no sun was visible as it was overcast. When it was clear that we wouldn't see the sun we decided to walk around the temple. Not many people joined us so the silence inside added to the atmosphere. It's so big that we didn't bump into many others. I do think that it's maybe too perfect. Of course it's one of the wonders of the world and I can see why but I prefer the temples that have more wildness about them. It's incredible how intact Angkor Wat is considering it's about a thousand years old. I'd recommend that anyone should see it. In fact, I'd recommend to anyone to take a holiday here and explore all of the temples. People of all ages will appreciate the beauty.
We stayed in Angkor Wat for around two hours before heading on to Ta Phrom, a popular tourist temple. So in my blog yesterday I was apparently chatting a load of shit about Beng Melea being the Tombraider temple. The guide book assures us that it was Ta Phrom. It did have this wildness that I keep talking about. Many trees grew out of the ruins but it didn't have the same affect on me as Beng Melea did yesterday. The problem is, temples that would be amazing anywhere else in the world just don't seem that impressive in Angkor when compared to the greats like Angkor Wat and Bayon. It's a shame really. Some of them don't get appreciated in the right way.
There had been a misunderstanding when it came to breakfast (we brought bread and jam with us again) so we ended up having two. Matt already feels like a hobbit and we haven't even got to New Zealand yet (he also ate two dinners this evening). Wan took us to this stall that sells rice soup for 50 cent. Why on earth we'd been paying $5 for lunch rather than 50 cent for some really nice food was beyond me. The rice was a mixture between arborio and basmati but it had a lovely flavour with some kind of leaf in that added nicely to it. There was also meat in it. Matt thought it was chicken but I felt it was a little too chewy for chicken so was more likely to be pork (I also hope it wasn't chicken as that's a food to avoid). Rice soup is really good though. I've started to compile a list of all the different foods I want to make when I return home so rice soup will be added to it. I miss cooking.
Originally we were meant to finish there as the hostel were trying to charge us loads more to go a little bit further and I was having none of it. However, Wan is a sweetie (definitely think he doesn't like me though as he refers to me as 'you' and rarely talks to me but chats to Matt loads) and so took us to a couple more places. The first (I can't remember the name) he walked around with us, telling the story of how the temple came to be built. A king had a cucumber farm (Wan pronounced cucumber like the Spanish sometimes pronounce their c's) and was worried people would try to steal his cucumbers so hired a guard to protect them. One night the king snuck into a cucumber field to eat his own cucumbers but the guard didn't know it was the king so killed him. The guard became king and built this temple on the cucumber field. The temple didn't have many carvings but the stone was a lovely orangey colour which I liked.
The last temple was only small but we felt we had to appreciate it as it was to be our last temple in Angkor. It was really small though so we were done after 10 minutes. We headed back to Siem Reap and returned to the hostel just before 11. I had a sleep for an hour or so and then met Matt round the corner at a cafe for a drink. We strolled into town, picking up some more suncream (we thought a bottle each would be better) and bug spray! We wanted at least 50% deet but they went from 15 to 95 so we're a little afraid there might be too much deet. Being bitten is the worst though. Especially for someone like me who has no self control and itches them all the time.
We stopped for lunch (I had pork and aubergine with spicy peas which weren't spicy but weirdly crunchy so I let Matt eat them; the rest of it was very tasty) and then stopped at a cafe with wifi (the hostel has very bad wifi) so we could book flights. We fly to the Philippines on July 14th for a week.
It was still a little early to eat when we left the cafe so we sat by the river so Matt could look up somewhere nice to eat. I made a friend and chatted to her for around a quarter of an hour. She was about 4 and didn't understand a word of English but I named her Savannah and told her lots of random things that came into my head. I wanted to put her in a nice bath and dress her in something clean and shout at her parents for cutting her hair very badly and give her a toothbrush even though her teeth were already an awful state. She had the most beautiful eyes though and chatted back to me a bit. I think she wanted money or food but she was ever so smiley we it didn't really matter. I know kids always get dirty but this was a different level. I felt clean next to her (I'm really not that clean right now).
For tea we found a nice place that was pretty cheap. I chose sweet and sour ribs but was disappointed with the lack of meat on the ribs and the sauce was a bit too vinegary. As I said earlier, Matt had two plates of food. I don't know where it goes.
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