14th September, 2008 - Boy! Aren't we glad we did not have to wake up at 5 a.m.! Thank GOD, my legs did not give way after yesterday's long walks and leg stretches ! Ha ha .... must be the effect of having my knee guards on and the muscle pain relief cream ... ^_^For today, our first stop was to visit the beautiful Banteay Srey, the citadel of the woman. This exquisite temple was built specially for women to relax and gossip! Wow! I could imagine the ladies gathering together in this beautiful place and have a whale of a fun time together !
As if to make up for its diminutive size, every square inch of Banteay Srey is covered in carvings of the very finest detail and artistry. Built in the 10th century, it is fashioned from pinkish sandstones instead of the normal grey laterite of other temples.
Next, we visited Banteay Samre, one of the most complete complexes at Angkor and was restored using the archaeological method known as anastylosis. This method entails complete deconstruction of the building, numbering of its component parts and then painstaking reconstruction. WOW !
Another jungle trek and we reached Kbal Pean, the Valley of a 1000 Lingas. The site was largely created by religious hermits who carved innumerable stone phalluses, animals and friezes in the riverbed. Come to think of it, those folks really are very free leh. Nothing better to do ah? But then again, without which, there will be no Kbal Spean ! Apparently, people from that age love to multiply. Even till today, the average family has 4 children ... hmm ... compared to 1 or 2 nowadays in Malaysia?
Met Andreas of Germany at the waterfall and hey, don't we look good together in this photo?
On the way back down the hill, caught hold of this fantastic view and couldn't resist a group photo once more ....
Our last stop was to try and see the sunset from the top of Phnom Bakheng. It is a 65-metre hill a few hundred metres south of the gate to Angkor Thom. It is the only natural hill in the area. Climbing the hill after a day walking around the monuments was a challenge, but the prospect of looking at the view from the top just before sunset kept us going ! Alas, there was to be no sunset as it is the rainy season ... kind of sad :-(
No regrets though ! The view was spectacular !! It was windy and refreshing after all and wow ! the crowd that gathered on that day was quite good. We were able to see Angkor Wat once again, this time from afar ^_^ I managed to capture the scenes and happenings at Phnom Bakheng that day. Enjoy !
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