Many of you probably know that the beginning of the calendar year is the busiest time of work for me. In Singapore, the dynamics are a little bit different, so work eases up a little earlier (beginning of February rather than late February), but it picks back up again in March and stays fairly (but not crazy) busy through the end of June. I didn't really know this last year, so the timing of some things I did weren't ideal, but now that I have had one year under my belt, I took advantage of this late February lull to do a quick getaway!
I spent a week trotting through Cambodia. Even though I had already been to Siem Reap before, I was happy to get back there again. I love how certain places don't seem to get old, no matter how many times you visit.
After Angkor Wat, we hit a bunch of the other temples - Angkor Thom (Bayon), Te Keo, Ta Prohm, and Sras Srang. Most of them I had seen last time, but a few were new to me. And it was good to have a different guide in order to hear new stories and have new photo spots!
Our guide had told us all day long about how many of the temples we visited were built with a type of sandstone that was brought down from a mountain. The mountain is about 90 minutes outside of the city, so we woke up early again the next morning in order to drive out to the mountain.
I spent a week trotting through Cambodia. Even though I had already been to Siem Reap before, I was happy to get back there again. I love how certain places don't seem to get old, no matter how many times you visit.
We stood a bit farther back this time so a lot of our views were blocked by people with cameras.
Closer to sunrise, we moved in for a bit of a better view
Crowds of people still at the edge of the reflecting pond
Sunrise!
We had a different driver/guide this time (I highly recommend having a guide at Angkor Wat!!), so we went straight into the temple after the sun was up. We spent a lot more time at Angkor Wat this time, and it was really great to hear so much more about the history of the temple and especially about the significance of so many things within the temple.
I just like the way this photo looks
Love the hallways
Bas relief on the lower floor - such intricate details
More hallways
After Angkor Wat, we hit a bunch of the other temples - Angkor Thom (Bayon), Te Keo, Ta Prohm, and Sras Srang. Most of them I had seen last time, but a few were new to me. And it was good to have a different guide in order to hear new stories and have new photo spots!
Our guide told us that the stairs were steep because the kings believed that people had to work hard to get to heaven.
There is a river that flows only at the top of the mountain, not at the bottom.
The river bed has thousands of stone carvings.. can you see the shape of the lotus flower? It's crazy that the carvings haven't been eroded by the water!
We stopped at a pond where the water bubbles up from the earth in a milky fashion. This water is supposed to healing and very pure.
Our guide stopped for a blessing, and we were treated to some fresh papaya!
We went around another side of the mountain and saw where a monk lives in a nook of the stone.
We went to climb up towards a temple, so this little girl offered to watch our shoes while we went in.. for a price of course :)
A reclining Buddha statue was carved into the top of the mountain
We wandered back down the mountain to get to the highlight of the trip - a waterfall!!
Small waterfall at one edge
Big waterfall for swimming!!
Woohoo!!
Our timing was perfect, as we were the only ones at the waterfall when we arrived. These pictures really doesn't do it justice. It was massive!! I had been getting a little cold on the way to the waterfall so was feeling a bit indifferent about going for a swim, but as soon as we came up to it, "I am definitely ready for a swim!"
We took turns sitting under the base of the waterfall. I could only sit there for about a minute though - the velocity of the water is incredible!! Another cool thing about this area was that when you stood up in the water, little fish would come and bite your ankles and feet, just like those fish spas that you commonly see in Asia! Really cool experience. We spent quite a bit of time just swimming around the waterfall and enjoying the atmosphere before it was time to leave. On our way out, we spotted a large group of teenagers (on some sort of school trip?) coming down to the waterfall, so I was very happy that our timing worked out so well!
After leaving the mountain, our guide took us to the hostel to pick up our bags, and then we were off to the airport to fly to Sihanoukville! I think this post is long enough already, so I will save the beach recap for another time!
Happy hump day everyone :)
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