13. Siem Reap....

Siem Reap is the town that has grown for the tourists who come to see Angkor Wat, and it is very touristy. But great fun!

Before the business of seeing all the historic sites begins.....

Angkor Wat is actually one of many many temples and palaces built when the kings and the local civilisation were at their zenith 800 years ago or so. Siem Reap means Siam Defeated..... The ancient kingdom of Siam, what is now Thailand. Their lands stretched across a lot of what is now Thailand, and Laos, and the southern part of Vietnam. 

This is Angkor Wat at sunrise.... 

Seen by hundreds of people who get up like me at 4.30 to get the best view...

And Angkor Wat peeping out over the trees. This is from Phnom Bakheng which is on top a hill nearby and where people normally go to watch the sun set. I went early morning straight after the sunrise at Angkor Wat and was alone. I looked in the other direction... As I often do...... 

Bayon is magnificent and the structure and architecture is very different from Angkor Wat and was built by a different king, the Angkor Wat builder's grandson. Each king wanted to build bigger and better and different to leave their mark.... The many faces are very enigmatic. 

By the South Gate entrance to Angkor Thom. Fabulous statutes line the road.

And this local monkey took the lid off the water bottle as quick as a flash to get a drink....

Ta Prohm... Aka Tomb Raider! Lara Croft and Angelina Jolie.... And me! And HUGE strangler fig trees... 

Wow.... How the jungle just takes over, and if nothing is done it will destroy this temple. And of course they don't want to cut the trees and jungle back now that is famous on film....the trees are enormous and just show the power of nature. The temples of the Angkor Wat complex were fabulous, as were the temples and stupas at Bagan, their designs totally different..... but nature has the wow factor every time for me......

So of course after a pre dawn start I had to call for a coffee on the way back. And where else but the Grand Hotel D'Angkor. Yes, another Raffles hotel! In case you hadn't realised I'm doing a tour of Raffles as well as of temples....! Cafe Latte with macaroons sitting overlooking the pool! 

There are so many different worlds in the Far East. But actually that's probably true everywhere if you really look. 

Another different world was the local orphanage in Siem Reap. I went with a friend for an hour and ended up teaching the class of girls. No not exactly teaching, just talking to them about England and getting them to talk about their lives..... Some of them already spoke very good English and were very switched on and intelligent and lovely. They are not all orphans, some have been sent there by their parents living in villages nearby as they can't afford to look after them. I hope their lives work out well for them...