The Second and Third Day

The second day of our three days in Siam Reap was a day of rest, since Dad thought that seeing all the temples for three days straight would be a little much. The first thing I did after breakfast was swimming in the pool at our hotel. I also got a sunburn there, though :( After I stayed in the pool for a couple hours, Dad and I went into town. We walked to the river and a little past it. Then we went and got some ice-cream because the sun was just wicked! The rest of the day we mostly read, I think, and Dad took his daily nap.

The third (and last) day was much more exciting, though. We decided, since it's Saturday and the temples would be very crowded, to go to the ones a little less known. Our first one was 45 minutes out of town, and I really liked it. It was called Banteay Srei (pronounced Ban-tay-Sh-ray), which means Temple of the Women. It is rumored to have been made by women, since the carvings that cover every inch of space are too delicate for the hand of a man. Banteay Srei also has a small moat around it, although most of it was dried up when we were there. The temple was built from pink sandstone, with the inner wall volcanic rock.

To get to Bantaey Srei, you must walk down a long, open walkway, with libraries (small buildings that now do not have roofs or walls. They did not hold books, though they were called libraries) on either side. Once you come to the end of the dusty walkway you have to go through the outer wall via a gateway that has a beautifully carved lintel. Then you go through the inner wall, and there is the main part of Banteay Srei. The inner wall encircles three galleries, or buildings. They are beautifully carved, although they were blocked off with rope because people could not keep their hands off the carvings.

If you ever go to Banteay Sreu, you need to bring a hat, since it is a big clearing with no trees. Although, we did go at the hottest part of the day. I recommend you go there in late evening, though not so late that dusk is well on its way.

The next temple was very cool, too. It was called Ta Prohm. This one is one of the most popular of all the temples excluding Angkor Wat. It has been left much like it was when the French explorers first saw it. The jungle is slowly reclaiming it, with huge trees overpowering stone structures, and cobwebs everywhere... of course, they had to make it safe so that people could visit it, but that's about all they did. Did you know that my mom and dad were here fifteen years ago? When they were here, there was about no one else there, because the French had to stop renovating it because of the war. Dad said that they ate lunch in Ta Prohm, with a few others under one of those trees. I wish I could've been there!

We went to one more temple that day, and it was Bayon because we wanted to see some stuff that we missed last time.


So ended our sight-seeing of the temples. The next day we will be going home.

I will be doing one more post on Cambodia, about getting home. Bye!