Angkor Thom

On our last day we visited Angkor Thom. The largest city in the world in the 12th century. We started at the Victory Gate- way away from the crazy crowds at the Southern (?) gate and walked along the wall to the Death gate. We were all alone. It was awesome. Our guide said all the gates look the same- with the Buddhas heads up top and the elephant pillars on the side so I am glad we went to the less crowed gates.

Our walk between gates:

After the gates we walked around within the city. Here is a shrine to Buddha. The large Buddha in the back was originally in the Bayon temple, but was smashed when one ruler change the temple from a Buddhist temple to a Hindu temple. The found the Buddha burried underground and put him back together. They were unable to fit him back in his original place, so they put him here:

The only thing they know about these towers is that they put a rope in between them and acrobats walked across them.

Elephants were used a lot in the actual construction of temples, in warfare and in myths. On this wall you can see an elephant strangling another animal. There was a huge wall with carving similar to this one.

I think this is the Baphuon temple. We didn't spend much time in it because we wanted to save our strength for the Bayon temple and Elyse was pretty tired at this point.

Super Dad carrying both girls:

This is the Bayon temple. It is very impressive. It has many towers and great carvings. It is our guide's favorite temple.

We could not really escape the crowds at this temple which was unfortunate. It made me appreciate the others routes we took at the other temples. Too many people make it hard to enjoy things. Although there were tons on people, I can see why this was Boon Chai's favorite.

Angkor Wat

On our second full day in Siem Reap, we were out the door at 5 am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat.

We entered the back way which was nice. It made us feel like we were the only ones there...

...until we got to the front and met up with 1,000 of our closest friends ;)

We picked a spot away from the main crowd and watched the sunrise. Toby wins the prize for best sunrise photos.

No more pictures...

After the sun rose we went around the side of the temple to get away from the crowds. Our guide did a great job making us feel like we were with only a handful of people at the temple.

Here are some of the images carved into the temple walls. This temple was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu so there are a lot of pictures of him.

After examining the carvings we toured around the inside of the magnificent temple.

More stairs (but these we were not allowed to climb).

More temple dancers.

Just hanging out at Angkor Wat watching the sunrise. What did you do today? :)

Anastasia found a friend: our guide Boon Chai

Anastasia was a little shy and upset as various tourists stopped to say how cute she was and try and touch her. I would probably look the same way if a bunch of women started to grab my arms.

Here is Elyse running and jumping her way around the temple.

This is the view from the main entrance.

The temple was impressive. It was huge and a feat of engineering (aren't engineers cool?). The detail that went into the carving was also amazing.

After the temple tour (it was only 7:30 am) we headed to a place where you could feed some elephants. As we were waiting I noticed a guy with a big ice block in the back of his truck. He cut up smaller blocks and handed them out. This guys was taking one on his motorcycle. I hope he didn't have to go far.

When the elephants arrived our guide bought some bananas and we began to feed them. Elyse did a good job.

Although Anastasia loved seeing the elephants from afar, she was not about to feed them.

After the elephants, we went back to the hotel, swam, napped and then went off to our next adventure in the afternoon- a tuk tuk ride to a nearby village.