Tomb Raider and Temple Run at Angkor: Saturday, 5 January & Sunday, 6 January 2013

After spending a few fun days in the city of Siem Reap, we figured it was time to take in the real reason for our visit to Cambodia - heck, the reason for almost every tourists visit to Cambodia! - the temples of Angkor.

We secured two tuk-tuks and, after purchasing our 7-day pass (good for any seven days over a month long period and not seven consecutive days as we originally thought), headed to Bayon.  the temple with 216 massive smiling faces.  A few of the faces can be seen in the photo to the left.

After viewing just this one temple, it become quite clear that several things had changed since we last visitied Angkor.  Here's a short list:

• Tour buses: Large tour buses carrying 30 to 40 passengers are omnipresent in Angkor now and Meghan and I don't recall seeing one such bus when we there here 10 years ago.
• Larger crowds:  Not surprisingly, if there are tour buses around, there will be more people.
• A focus on the Small Tour and Grand Tour:  Last visit we just hired a tuk-tuk driver on the street for $10/day and we went wherever we wanted - to the temples, to town, to the hotel, and what not.  Now, you basically pay for an itinerary with a set price.  Deviation from the itinerary come at a cost...as we'd see tomorrow.  
• More restrictions at the temples themselves:  The more popular temples - namely Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm - have suggested routes indicated with signposts - humorously labeled "Possibility of Visit" - and some areas roped off to limit access and/or organize photo ops.  For instance, the whole centre section of Banteay Srei is out of bounds and both the Tomb Raider and Alligator Trees at Ta Prohm are roped off.  All photos now include pictures of the ropes and the surrounding wooden walkways.

While much has changed, the temple complexes are so large it was always possible to find some peace and quiet.  Many times, I just turned a corner and found a spot with on one around.  The tranquility didn't last long, as a general rule, but some solitude is better than none.

After Bayon, it was off to Ta Prohm - the temple that was more-or-less left as it was found - jungle covered.  Several scenes from the Angelina Jolie film Tomb Raider were filmed here (as well as at other Angkor sites, including Angkor Wat).  To the left is a bit of the action filmed at Ta Prohm.  The Tomb Raider tree is the one that Jolie steps toward before picking the flower and falling into...Pinewood Studios.

After a long hot day of exploring, Meghan, Lockie and Maeve headed off to the Lotus Lodge while Eric and I took in Preah Khan.  The tuk-tuk driver was reluctant because PK is on the grand tour but we'd only signed up for the small tour...yada, yada, yada.  Eventually, he relented and we drove up to PK for views that were very similar to the much more famous Ta Prohm.  In fact, the back of PK sports two large criss crossed trees that have overtaken the outer temple wall and this is quite a striking image, perhaps more compelling than the Alligator Tree at Ta Prohm:

On Sunday, we took a morning elephant ride at Bayon - 15 minutes on the elephant's back as we circumnavigated the temple of Bayon.  It was a bit tricky to get into the bench on the elephant's back and the drivers were surly but, overall, it was a lot of fun.

After our ride, we embarked on the Grand Tour with stops at:

• Preah Khan: ...again.  Meghan, Lockie, and Maeve wanted to see what they'd missed
• Neak Poan: a group of pools virutally empty of water and fenced off to enable restoration efforts.  Nothing to see here.  Move along
• Ta Som: another temple with a lot of jungle covered remains
• Pre Rup:  a pyramid-shaped temple that offered us views of the East Baray (reservoir).

As a general rule, the temples on the Grand Tour and less busy than the more famous ones - Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm - on the Small Circuit.  Fewer people meant that we were able to more easily play our new favourite game...Temple Run.  Inspired by the app of the same name, we would run around the temples chasing after one another.  The last person to be spotted was the winner.  The uneven footing - there were fallen stones and tree roots all over the place - made the game tricky but, I'm happy to say, no injuries were suffered as we played.  Phew!

With two days down, we'd seen a lot.  We were holding out on viewing Angkor Wat, however.  The Lonely Planet guidebook we were using suggested leaving it until the end so the other, less impressive temples didn't all seem underwhelming.

Each day's temple visits were followed up with dinner at the Lodge, a swim in the hotel pool, and some reading and relaxing.  Tired out by our exploring, we were generally in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 pm.  The more sleep we got, the more ready we were to face the next day's adventures.

- LH