Sunday, June 19, 2011

Siem Reap Day 3

Wednesday morning.... excuse me, middle of the night... we met at 4:45 to gather on Tuk Tuks and head to Angkor Wat. Sunrise is considered the most ideal time to be at the temples, not to mention its less crowded and MUCH cooler. It was fun riding together in one big mass as the sun rose, although I will say... since I was in one of the slow tuk tuks that was in the back of the group, looking ahead it kind of looked like a Harry Potter movie and I was waiting for Hagrid to appear at any moment on his winged motorcycle and have a tuk tuk fly away with him. Sadly, that did not happen.

We ventured through the temples which are pretty much rocks and some are rubble but in some, you can still notice their fine detail. These temples represent a whole handful of thoughts. (and might I add-I have enjoyed my 2 tours of Angkor Wat but honestly, I do not know if I would care to ever do it again! The heat is unreal!) The time and dedication and precision it took to build and create these temples is breathtaking. But now, most of the glimmer and color has faded. Those building it thought it would last forever but sadly, it will not. There are Buddhas throughout the grounds (the whole area is the size of Manhattan) and like a fellow travel mate said-I'm so glad our God is not a God of rock. Amen!

I also enjoyed an elephant ride around a temple. Pretty sure the elephants almost trampled a few people but whatev... no biggie here.

After Angkor we returned at lunch and basically had the remainder of the day to rest or shop or get a massage. =) It was an early day but super fun.

1 comment:

SJonesG said...

Abby, I'm loving your blog updates!! You are the best and we are definitely related. My thoughts about Angkor Wat exactly! I laughed out loud when I read the part about it being a bunch of rocks and rubble. haha But I did watch a documentary and read online about the history and is it truly amazing. But for me, those were all I needed... much less torturous heat!! haha