Day 70 - Temples, ruins and wonder (20 August)

Today we went to see the Angkor temples - ruins that went undiscovered by the western world only until recently. I can't even begin to describe how amazing they were - the sort of stuff that you would have expected Indian Jones to have found! The temple complex contained monkeys - hurray - as well as more evil creepy crawlies (the temples were in jungle territory).



The first temple was Bayon in Angkor Thom.  The carvings and reliefs in and around the temple were intricate and beautiful. There were many tight passageways to explore and really interesting angles from which to take it.

The structure was littered with daunting giant stone faces erected high above us smiling wryly into the distance.

Then it was onto the ruins of Ta Prohm. This was particularly interesting since the temple is quite ruined (plenty of rubble) and was discovered far later than the rest of the complex - it has huge trees and roots growing through it!

The final piece for the day was Angkor Wat - a fairly intact remain in comparison to the others. It has a gigantic moat around it that puts UK castle moats to shame!

After a tiring day at the temples, we went back what is now our local eatery - it has no name, but the lady has been cooking for 12 years, and the waitress Mimi is getting to know us! Dave finally shaved off his beard today... sort of!! Cathy managed to persuade him to keep a moustache for the day - he reluctantly obliged! Pictured are Dave and Mimi.