I overslept and missed the sunrise at Ankor, but the relaxing morning breakfast of cambodian pancake and honey was an excellent treat and the start of a beautiful day.
I rented a bicycle for the 10km journey to Ankor Wat, mother of all ancient temples. And that she is. I can't capture this place in words. I bought the $40 3 day ticket and could easily have stayed for a week. The road to the temples is largely flanked by 3 foot wide, 150 foot tall trees towering over a dense undergrowth that create quite the idylic jungle scene and provide much welcome shade in this tropical heat. Huge stones (primarily laterite, sandstone, and granite) dragged here by elephant from a mountain 75 km away (!) are expertly masoned into incomprehensible temples and covered with intricate carvings. Each flower in the doorways is unique. Each massive bas-relief depicting a battle between good and evil ornate and beautifully preserved for several hundred years. Steep stone steps about 1'4" high by 4" wide means one must get in touch with their inner mountain goat to enter the temple's heart where the dieties live (hindu or buddha, depending on the time the temple was built and who was in power at the time). I had an awesome day bicycling around and exploring these massive stone complexes.
I finished my day at a buffet dinner with ample khmer desert (yum!) and a traditional dance show. $12 is quite a splurge for such things (considering I could live for about 3 days on that money in Laos...), but it was worth it. The costumes were gorgeous jewel-toned sequined numbers. One scene involved a woman dressed as a fish arguing with a man cartwheeling and tumbling around the stage dressed as a demon. Not sure entirely what was going on, but it looked really cool.
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