It's been a while since we've updated the blog because we've been travelling with G Adventures down the Mekong River. We started our journey in Siem Reap staying at the Royal Angkor Resort, an absolutely beautiful hotel! On our arrival day we decided to try a traditional Khmer Massage (Khmer is the local name for Cambodia). It's not like a traditional massage, instead of using oils they put you in robes and have you lie face up on a bed. Once your comfortable they proceed to kneed, slap, bend and step on you in all directions. It may not sound very relaxing to have a 100 lb Cambodian woman man handle you but once we knew what was happening it felt really great and got some kinks out! Next day we snagged a tuk tuk and headed to Angkor. Angkor is a massive complex built in the 10th to 14th century spread over 400 sq ft with over 150 temples to explore! It's impossible to see them all so we decided to visit the main temple of Angkor Wat. It's an absolutely incredible building to explore with endless sculptures and carvings to admire and long hallways leading to various parts of the temple. It's built in three layers. The top layer is comprised of the towers that are iconic to Angkor. This space was reserved for only the King, nowadays anyone appropriately dressed is welcome up to enjoy the view from the top. f you havn't got your shoulders and knees covered to the liking of the local guards you arn't permitted inside. This is because it's a still used as a holy place for the monks living next to the Angkor Wat. Once a month the top portion of Angkor Wat is closed to tourists so the monks can worship. We saw tons of monks in their bright orange robes around the complex during our visit. Some where even offering blessings to anyone interested. Here the men don't have to be a monk for life they can do it for a short time if they like, many children are sent to be a monk for a short time here as well. IThe second level includes 4 pools (now empty) representing the 4 elements where the king would bath to purify himself before heading into the top temple. The bottom level includes several walls of base relief sculptures representing various Hindu stories and stories of the king. Angkor Wat took us around 2 hours to look through and I'm sure we could have spent longer if the heat and rain hadn't washed us out. The next morning we returned to Angkor Wat at 5am to watch the sun rise over the temple. We weren't the only ones with throngs of people out to catch that perfect photo. It was worth the eary wake up to see the magnificent views. While most of the other tourists headed back to their hotel for breakfast we continued onward into the Angkor Complex. We visited a bit more of the Angkor Wat temple with our G guide before heading to Ta Prohm, made famous by Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider in 2000. It's a beautiful temple unique because of the many tress growing out of them. Bird droppings are to thank for the massive trees that now grown within the original temple ruins creating a beautiful harmony with nature and the man made. Our last stop was Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple. This temple is made up of 52 faces sculpted into the towers representing the 52 states of Cambodia at the time the temple was built. Its a wonderful temple complex and a great way to end our visit to Angkor. You may have noticed the water surrounding the temple, this is how they transpoarted the stones from the main river, using these man made moats. It also created extra protection for the temples and it's very beautiful. The large temples have these moats surrounding them including Angkor Wat. Makes for a really surreal setting and excellent photo ops! After Angkor we went to G Adventures Planet Terra poject, New Hope. It's a school set up in a small village where students come to learn vital skills that help them get better jobs. They teach english, cooking, bar tending and many other skills that allow the villagers to get better paying jobs in the community. We had an excellent Cambodian lunch here though the grasshoppers weren't my favorite. After lunch we drove 4 hours to the port and boarded the Toum Tiou II. It's a small river cruise boat owed by G Adventures perfect for traveling the Mekong River. The staff were incredible, rooms were great and the people on the tour with us were excellent travel companions! We did so much in 7 days that I'm spreading it over a few blogs, more to follow soon!
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