Monday, January 07, 2013

Angkor management


I might never come back, so I devised a scheme to see as much as poss in 4 days, building up to the Big Three of Ta Phrom, the Bayon and Angkor Wat this afternoon. They were the most crowded by miles, so it worked well.

Trip computer says:

Bike: 80 km, walking: 20 km, tuk-tuk: 120 km 
Camera status: on charge every night
Arse condition: sore 


Monuments: about 30 or so, of which:

Pyramids: several, some quite like Mayan ones (I suppose there are only so many ways to build a pyramid)
Buddhist monasteries: several
Temples: several
City gates, terraces, walls, reservoirs and shrines: several
Steps up and down: 1000's

Vendors and hawkers negotiates: 100's
Sites with no people:1
 
Apparently there are 9 architectural styles at Angkor, spanning the 600 years of its inhabitation, of which 5 seem to me to be easily distinguishable. 

Four pm was good timing to poke about Angkor Wat then catch the sunset. It's amazing the Wat is still there - pyramids don't fall down when struck by lightening or earthquakes, but a 699 foot  high pineapple? Shiva has mercy.
Off to Battambang tomorrow, - everyone here calls it Bottombung, which at least makes it easy to remember.


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