16th July 2007 (still)
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Ta Prohm is located 1km east of Angkor Thom. Yup, it’s not in Angkor Thom.
Ta Prohm is the best known temple uncovered from the jungle. So there were lots of gigantic trees covering the area. Magnificent silk-cotton tree and strangler fig trees (i suspect it’s named as such because the trees were so huge they looked like they were strangling the building) are growing out of the ruins. The atmosphere at Ta Prohm was eerily romantic and touching. Few scenes from Tomb Raider were shot here. Imagine how stunning it looked…
Photographers love this site. I personally love this site…
I took damn lotsa photos here..here are just a few *wish i could post more… It literally took my breath away

Heading towards Ta Prohm

Stunning temple covered in moss

Tree strucked

Green rubbles

I guess this is the strangler fig tree ya

I think this is the silk-cotton tree..not sure
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Finally Angkor Wat. Located six kilometers north of Siem Reap. Angkor Wat is one of the largest of Khmer monuments. It was built as a state temple and capital city, around the first half of 12th century. It took about 40 years or so to built it *keng! A proud symbol of Cambodia, it’s even on their national flag.

Cambodia’s Flag..In the middle is Angkor Wat
By the time we went back to the bus to head to Angkor Wat, it was drizzling. Nevertheless, the sight of the building for the first time was overwhelming. Again i couldn’t help but wonder, how anyone could have built this with just bare hands and old fashion tools.
Visiting the gorgeous temple during such weather has it’s ups. It makes you “feel the moment” even more. Nostalgic… *sings Negaraku
We entered from the west entrance. We were supplied with umbrellas but EatAllYouCanShung and myself ‘act hero’ lar didn’t want the umbrella. Konon wanted to take everything in al’naturel *wakaka

West gopura… see the blue dinosaur doing reconstruction

Angkor Wat surrounded my moat
We could catch a glimpse of the temple and its reflection in the water!

Gorgeous Angkor Wat in the rain

View of the entrance gopura from inside…nice

Library…got porn?

Going in

Going going…
Inside we reached the starting point of the famous bas reliefs depicting scenes from various mythological stories and historic events. We came across scenes carves on each walls where each wall depicts scenes from battle of Ramayana *i like, coz got lot of elephants, battle of Mahabharata, army of Suryavarman II, scenes from judgment by Yama, churning of ocean milk by demons and gods to get the nectar of immortality *this story is very popular. I think i’d heard it thousand and one times already Vishnu’s victory over demons, victory of Krishna over Bana and other scenes of battle between gods and demons.
*so damn grand man
Other than that, there were other details of Khmer carvings. Much of the building had been ruined by the weather and environment. Some part of the roof was leaking. It’s a painstaking process to re-construct and preserve this baby…

Walls with battle scenes

An old couple in Angkor…i love this pic!

#*@!FoulJoe making magic…now you see the hole…now you don’t! Geez!

Angkor Wat Central Tower…O_o so tall

Gulp….
To get to the top of the central courtyard, we had to climb up the steep steep steps of the central tower. *almost 70 degrees! There was an alternative way up on the south which was less dangerous coz the steps at that end had been fitted with a handrail. Rumours has it that long time ago there was an angmoh who accidentally fell to her death climbing up. That’s before they fixed the rail (we learnt that later after we had descended!)
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The PigDog Klan* were feeling adventurous and with ‘donno what is die’ attitude as usual. What’s a little danger right? *Noooooo…I almost died of heart attack while climbing k…
Ok. Suffice to say, eventually we later descended using the south steps with handrails -_-”
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We had passed by Phnom Bakheng the day before but it was pouring. It’d stopped drizzling so we took the chance for a visit. It’s a Hindu temple located on top of a 65-meter hill just few hundred meters south of the Angkor Thom. Phnom Bakheng is a popular tourist ‘must-go’ destination. Most famous for it’s panoramic views of Angkor Wat *uh-huh. You could actually see the 5 towers of Angkor Wat from up there, and for the spectacular view of the sunset in Cambodia.
There are 2 ways of getting up there. 1) The elephant ride 2) Walk up. We opted for 2). It was not that bad coz there was a trail leading to the temple.
* climbing the hill after a day walking/climbing around the other monuments was so challenging..and so tiring….

Castle in the sky~~

#*@!FoulJoe scouring the land for new victims @_@
It was really worth the sweat. Phew… Amazing view from the top. You can really view Angkor Wat.

PigDog Klan* conquered another estate. Yee haa! …*how come SnapMe!Eve is always ready with a pose wan…

Angkor from Bakheng

Linga, symbol of Shiva’s manhood?? Eww!!!
Oh yeah, there were lingas scattered around within the complex of most temples we had visited. Phnom Bakheng has a huge one smack right in the middle of the courtyard.
*what the hell is a linga?
The Linga also known as lingam is a symbol for the worship of the Hindu god Shiva. In a nutshell, a linga:
A scholar named Bhrigu went to consult Lord Shiva about something he deemed very important towards the survival of mankind…
Bhrigu : Die lar! Why is it like this…people can die because of this…I better talk to Shiva
*knock knock
Bhrigu : Ish…why no one answer…
*bam bam
Bhrigu : WTF??!! What’s goin’ on in there
*bam bam bam bam bam
Shiva : Err…Wat’s up?
Bhrigu : #%*@!! What took you so long??
Shiva : Me n my darling here having some…some fun just now…err..sorry…
Parvati : Yeah sorry dear
Bhrigu : I curse you *#@#&#*&@eternally!!!!**generations!!#$@!!
And so, from then onwards Lord Shiva was worshipped in the image of his organ for generations…. as a symbol for fertility. Read more about Linga
*didn’t know so vulgar wan O_o” Locals believes that if you drink the water from the linga you can get babies wor!! So who wants one? Small miniature lingas are available for sale at the Artisans Angkor.
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Back to Phnom Bakheng. We were looking forward to watching the sun go down but unfortunately the weather did not permit. It was rather cloudy after the rain. Plus it was getting dark so we descended before there’s no light.
When we had finally decided to hitch an elephant ride, there was none available! Elephants went ZZZzzzZZ. Apparently, their services stops at 6pm each day. So whoever wants the ride should book before 6pm (we found out later)…Anyway, it costs USD10 for 3 people but you can always bargain more a cheaper rate…. *run down the hill lor, what else…
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Note:
All nice pics taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX8, the not so nice pics are courtesy of other PigDog Klan* members