Today was anything but a rest day, even after a slow start.
I’ve always been absolutely mesmerised by Angkor Wat, so I decided to go and wander around it again. There weren’t as many tourists as I expected and that’s a good thing. It’s a funny place to visit in that you can decide what you want to see and clamber up stairs and through walkways as you please. Most people climb to the very top, which is up a steep set of stairs. The view from up there is wonderful in every direction. Today, there was no waiting to climb to the top tier and in the past I know there could easily be a 30 minute wait.
In fact, there were so few tourists, that I found a quiet cool spot at the north east corner on the outside of the complex and just sat for a while and finally stopped sweating.
Somehow the place just didn’t seem as grand to me this time. I don’t know what it was. I still enjoyed it, but when the storms threatened, I thought it best to leave.
It hardly rained but it had the effect of chasing tourists away from my next stop, the Bayon. It was great to wander around with hardly anyone there. Unfortunately, the third level was temporarily closed but I still marvelled at the place.
Next, I decided to go to Ta Keo, a temple that I saw from the road, ten years ago. I’d arrived too late in the day, and they wouldn’t let me in, but I was awestruck by it’s scale. It’s the steepest I’ve seen. This time, I took a while to find it. I swear it was in a different place and I couldn’t believe I was mistaken. It turns out that they’ve rerouted some of the roads around here, so I’ll take that as confirmation that I haven’t yet lost it.
The temple was great. The best part was watching the few tourists clamber tentatively down the stairs which are well worn, have no handrail and are very steep. It was free entertainment.
There was a bit more rain, but it was pretty pleasant riding around the inner circle of temples and I arrived back at the hotel with lots of organising and planning to do.