Banteay Srei, Oy Vey!

So, kicking things off at about 7 am, we shower up and head to our hotel’s breakfast buffet, which had absolutely everything. An American’s downfall. We meet our driver, Narid, and he sets off for our first temple. The temple, Banteay Srei, is the farthest from the central hub of temples. The name, meaning Citadel of the Woman, was built for a past King’s councelor, but the name has some religious implications that I am absolutely clueless in recalling the details for you here. It was built from this red sandstone brick that makes it stunning to see at the right time of the day. It was constructed in the 10^th century, which is actually pretty early on as far as these temple sites go, as most were built between the 10^th and 12^th centuries.

So in departing from the car, you immediately notice the mobs of tourists about to enter the temple with you. Ahh well. Our driver tells us “this is the slow season!” The temple carvings are so elaborate. We had no idea, but this temple’s carvings are perhaps the most detailed in comparison.

Oh yeah, another detail of note, throughout the whole trip one should expect to be repeatedly harassed by the locals to buy their goods at what they consider bargain prices. Pay them no mind, and be polite. That’s what we had to tell ourselves, at least.

After we leave, we head back towards the cluster of major sites, and I ask the driver what the difference is between Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre. A whole lot, apparently. I read that this temple is not often frequented by tourists, because it is pretty much off the beaten path. Luckily though, our guy is awesome. So, we head to this temple. This one is built a lot more compact, apparently due to many years of ‘updating’ from different kings in their respective times.

Nobody was here, awesome!

At this point, the sun is pretty much directly above us (12 noon), so we head back to town to recoup and eat our lunch. We head to the FCC, which stands for Foreign Correspondence Club, which is basically a social club found in various cities throughout the world. The food here we found to be so friggin great, that we’re considering making a second stop at some

point in the future. I ordered the fish and chips (awesome), and a mango smoothie (awesome), while my mom ordered pepperoni pizza (also awesome), and a watermelon & passionfruit shake (not so awesome).

Next stop was Pre Rup (pronounced PrEEEE RoOOOO). This one was built similar to the great Angkor Wat, with a pyramid type structure that one has to climb in order to absorb the grandeur of its size.

So of course, my momwaited at the bottom, while my sweaty slimy butt made it to the top to fire off some shots. The ants here, huge and terrifying. Tourist population, pretty minimal.

Srah Srong is this vast rectangular pool carved out of the forest, which was basically built as a former king’s ‘pool’. Lavish and huge. There are big steps all around the perimeter, and a central walkway made of stone for the king to sun himself.

Ta Prohm, made popular by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, is this dilapidated temple built in the heart of the Cambodian jungle. Absolutely gorgeous, and crowded. There are giant trees growing in and out of the structure, with massive ancient roots. We believe that they don’t remove these trees, for fear that it will destroy the structure that they have ingrained themselves in to. We were absolutely exhausted at this point, but managed to push onward through the grounds of this temple, past many, many Japanese tourists. Left and right, we could here “sugoi!” (incredible in Japanese, I think), and the tour guides for them could speak fluent Japanese. Impressive. Oh, and we got lost. They had virtually no signs to follow, and the signs that were present pointed in opposite directions at the same time!

The day is over. We’re drenched in sweat, and exhausted to our bones. We decide that we want to take a swim in our hotel pool, which has a built in Jacuzzi, and uses salt water! Salt water seems to make your body more buoyant, but more importantly, feels delightful on one’s skin. My mom orders herself an Angkor beer (pretty damn good!), and I order myself a Mai Tai, to be ingested poolside. Our batteries feel recharged a bit at this point, so we head out to eat at a local restaurant, Abacus. Dimly lit, open aired, and decked out with tropical plants, this place is so vibey and wonderful. I order myself grilled chicken breast with mushroom sauce, garlic potatoes, and grilled eggplant (awesome), while my mom orders herself grilled pork chops with mustard sauce, ratatouille, potatoes gratin (awesome). Dessert was crème brulee (Jesus Christ).

Ok, end of the night for us, that food put our asses to sleep. No happy hour tonight.