Angkor Wat At Last

Despite the monsoon rains, the floods and the heat we got to Angkor Wat today and it was totally impressive.  It’s beauty is breathtaking and the craftsmanship and artistry that went into the many sculptures, bas relief, and architectural elements is a wonder.  Enough of the site has been restored to give a picture of what it must have been like in its glory.  Hopefully the Cambodian government will be able to fund the rest of the restoration.

The main temple is fifty meters tall and a little more that half a km on each side.  It’s pretty massive.  We climbed nearly to the top and walked all the way around.  At one point I was attacked by ants and while trying to put insect repellant on a monkey grabbed by purse.  Fortunately me hero, Jim managed to get it back.  It had some credit cards and cash which I would have hated to lose.  It was a beautiful day.  The rains had stopped and although Siem Reap is still pretty flooded the temple area which is on higher ground was perfectly dry.  Jennifer equipped us with an umbrella, straw hats ice packs and various other accouterments so we were well prepared.   She also arranged for a car and driver to take us around for the day so it was quite luxurious.   Still got pretty hot and sticky along the way, but we had a great time.

We returned to Angkor Wat at sunset with Jennifer driving and it was beautiful to see at that time of day.  When it got dark we hit a stretch of deserted road that had been deeply flooded but it was too narrow to turn around so we had to go through it.  Jennifer drove slowly to avoid falling into large potholes and breaking an axel or tire and we got through.  It was scary but she was really calm and careful and we made it safely home.  We ordered pizza in that night.  No one wanted to go out in the floods again.