More temples

My mother used to describe tours of England as ABC (Another Bloody Cathedral) tours. I think this blog can be described as an ABT tour (Another Bloody Temple).

We headed off to Angkor Thom which was the last capital city of the Khmer. On the way, we passed this row of statues beside the road.

Some monkeys.

This monkey was not amused. Meal time should not be interrupted.

More endless passageways.

Faces cut into the stone of the Bayon temple.

This temple was used in the film 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'. I suppose I will have to break down and watch a film that is less than 20 years old.

Another set of steep stairs to descend.

What appeared to be a more modern temple.

There are maps and signs showing you where to go.

I knew that there was a reclining Buddha built into the west side of the temple but I couldn't make it out.

Eventually I could make out the face of the Reclining Buddha.

This was exposed on the pathway. Presumably there are fragments all over the area.

Workers doing some excavation.

Stalls set up just outside the walls.

 A maze like exit from the temple area.

Back into the tuk-tuk and heading over to Ta Prohm.

A ceiling.

By now I was getting hot, tired and thirsty. This small pineapple had been skinned and quartered. It was really refreshing.

I think my tuk-tuk driver had a sadistic streak. He suggested I look at Ta Keo and climb it.

My memory of some of the other temples is vague because I visited too many of them. This one I will probably have nightmares about, climbing and descending the very steep stairs.

I seem to remember that there were four flights of steps. This final set to get to the top were especially scary. I basically crawled up and crawled back down again. Since the steps are centuries old, they are quite uneven which makes the descent all the more difficult.

A small Buddha at the top.

Up with the tree tops.

By now I was getting tired and very thirsty. I had put my ticket in my shirt pocket and since my shirt was now wringing wet, my ticket was definitely damp. The heat, humidity and effort of climbing up and down the various temples was getting to me. They were all starting to blur together. However there was still the famous temple Ta Prohm where trees grow out of the stones of the temple and so we headed over to see it.