temples Angkor wat

ANGKOR WAT

Angkor wat temple is the main temple in the angkor site which is probably the biggest temple in the worlds with hundreds of small temples .the temple is  used by bhudists today even though it is a vishnu temple.

400 sq.kms !!! thats what this temple streches to..whoa!!!

many ancient statues have been decapitated and their heads sold to private collectors ..says our guide

a private agency runs the tourism in angkor wat and they say he is even richer than the king .

and one last thing ..ankor wat temple was painted!!! but only few traces can be seen today.

 at sunset

 waiting for the sun to set :P

the reflection is so damn beautiful.

 all kinds of photo experiments :P

inside the temple..when light falls at around 5 pm.the temple  turns golden

the temple is huge ..and u can just run faster to see it all in a hours time...or you can come in the morning and be there till evening...yet this temple is bigger to see all in a day..perhaps a week..tahts waht my fellow travellers said :P

Temple gate- angkor thom

AngkorThom

The gate to the city of ankor that is what i understood about angkor thom. you can see the 3 faced vishnu statue along the road. each side of the road you can see statues of gods and demons. according to hindu culture to get the nectar of immortality gods and demons agreed to join hands  for once to churn the ocean. for this they approach the snake king and he agrees to be the string. so the demons pull the tail and the gods pull the head...

that is what is figured here in angkor thom.

a close up of god :P

rajeev helping the demons in churning the nectar :P

close up of the gate.

 there are children everywhere...selling magnets. i got to know that government is trying to stop  the begging business which is something serious. we would give this little girl a dollar  and the moment we leave, a guy would come out from the woods and take it from her...or she would run to some guy who would be waiting for the money.

 a woman selling soveniers

imtiaz with kids selling postcards and magnets.

we passed  through the gates of angkor once the captial of khmer empire and our next destination - BAYON

Temples - Ta prohm

we took angkor temple pass..20 dollar per person for a day and started our temple safari . the first stop was TA prohm temple made famous by the tomb .raider movie. the entry to the temple was through a 4 faced vishnu in shape of a cross. a further 300 metres walk in the jungle you reach the TA prohm temple.

entering the Ta prohm temple

this is a photographers paradise..one cant resist the scenic trees and rock temples together. there were lots of tourists and even children selling sovinirs like magnets for Dollar one.. seemed like everything started with one dollar.

 a girl selling magnets


inside the temple its the wow moment. trees tangled with the rocks..as the guide said its a fight between the rocks and the trees..the fight has started years ago and still continuing..the tendrils of the trees have strangled the rocks..some of the rocks have fallen apart bringing smaller temples with it..and some rocks have been kept intact by the tendrils..strange ways to protect and destroy.

the chinese are the number one for posing …i waited for almost 10 minutes for this lady. she almost took 100 pictures.

the tomb raider was shot in this temple..so even to take pictures at this window/ gate which is covered by the tendrils of the tree..you need to wait..not just the chinese!!

children having a wonderful time

the gallery

ruins

 woman selling bhudish lucky bands

finally we took leave..TAPROHM is something that will be etched in our memory till the last ..i just loved this temple.

Siem Reap

We landed at the Siem Reap airport around 2 PM local time from Kuala Lumpur. We just walked to the terminal, no buses. small airport but neat and tidy. The first thing I noticed was the Khmer script is very similar to the Malayalam and Tamil script and the building reminded us of cochin international airport
We got into the terminal and the immigration was no fuss, with soldiers manning the station. Got our luggage and got some US dollars changed at the exchange booth just after the baggage carousel and instantly felt rich – for about  $1 we got nearly 4700 Riels.
we thought of renting a tuk tuk, but later came to know that cambodians doesnt like their 2 wheeler been called tuk tuk, instead they call it Remork’. its a moped atached to a wagon. fortunately or unfortunately we couldnt find one and we booked prepaid taxi to our hotel.
the driver knew bits and peices of english yet he and we managed
the drive was cool..the streets looked like india with paddy fields and small houses.

 siem reap airport..# small is beautiful#


After checking in at my home hotel we had lunch from the hotel itself. The food was good. AMOK – the dish was fantastic. After lunch we bought a packet of Marlboro cigarette – the first buy from Cambodia…it cost around 4900 riel…a dollar and a few cents…: P
Money is been calculated in dollar and riel. So if you buy something in dollar expect riel in balance. There were remorks around so late in the evening we decided to go night market. The ride cost us around 2 usd.
Night market is a good place to buy some cool tees and souvenirs. Bargaining is cool too…we bought some shawls which were pretty cool.
After exploring night market we proceeded to the pub street. Pub Street is a 100 meter long street with pubs on both sides, restaurants, bars and shops… foot massage and fish massage parlours are there ..worth a try.

pub street..just about 60 mts in total.but good nice pubs and restuarants.

fish spa...worth a try...fish eating the dead skin in between our toes..:P

THE TRAVEL PLAN

I have been thinking for quite a long time to travel to a destination which is cheaper, with beaches, nightlife, shopping and fun. Having travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, sri lanka I was researching on Bali when my friend mite suggested Cambodia. Cambodia or Kampuchea as our generation has studied over our social studies textbooks and the recent knowledge on killing fields… I knew nothing more about the so called kingdom of Cambodia.

Me imtiaz and Rajeev planned our flights via airasia. The itinerary was to travel from Cochin to kuala lumpur and from Kl to siem reap. Since airasia flew to 2 cities we thought of exploring both. From siem reap we thought of taking a bust to the capital Phnom Penh. And from Phnom Penh we booked return to kuala lumpur.

Months passed by, we did our research on Cambodia. Rajeev bought a lonely planet guide on Cambodia. Imti contacted some fellow travelers who had been there to Cambodia..I did my bit browsing through blogs and travel sites of Cambodia.

Finally we got equipped with 2 cameras, a canon 5d and canon 70d. Our luggage was minimal, just cabin baggage. We headed to Cochin by train. It was almost a year for me as the last international travel was during September 2013 to srilanka and I guess Rajeev’s and imtis travels were too during late 2012. Anyway our fun started once we boarded the train.

There was enough tension waiting for us as the visa photo stamped in Rajeev’s passport had a strangers photograph. The travel agent when contacted told us to keep cool…we laughed our hearts out whenever Rajeev used to check the visa

Alighted at aluva junction.. The usual last minute hurry burry…taking printouts of tickets and itinerary’s and after having street food we headed to Cochin international airport.

The check in was ok…the immigration was a bit tougher as the guys sitting and standing around wants to know so many details…government shuld give some kinda travelling allowances to these guys..Seriously…coz they cant stand seeing every tom dick and harry travel to foreign destinations.

We were a bit concerned when the immigrating officer checked Rajeev’s passport but thank god he was thru.

Since airasia flights did not have the on flight drinks facility…we were prepared to have our self service on liquor. Sample bottles were purchased and we boarded airasia.

The travel was ok with the boozed getting over all of us we slept off.

Airasia landed smoothly..I always admired the pilots of airasia..They always did a fantastic landing at KL.

we spend about 3-4 hours in the new klcc 2 terminal..just stunning tat s all i can say about this terminal which only accomodates budget flights.

 The massage chairs in Kl airport. 3 ringitss for 20 minutes..worth a try.

 me  and rajeev waiting with a co traveller who is travelling to india