Monday, April 5, 2010

Siem Reap- Part 2

Day 4:

The third day we left at 7:30 for the hour long tuk-tuk drive to Banteay Srey. We thought we could beat the heat but upon our arrival at 8:30 we were already covered and sweat. The drive through the countryside was a welcome change and an experience to see how more locals live. We saw lots of homes on stilts, water buffalo, monkeys, children running naked in the streets, and crops.

Banteay Srey is one of the smallest we visited but has the best carvings and color of any other we had seen. It is known as the Women's Temple because of the meaning of the name but even that has changed over the years. It was like visiting one large sculpture. One of the best parts was the exhibit which shows its history from initial discovery, pillaging of statues, and ultimate protection and preservation. We stayed for about an hour and headed back towards Angkor Tom.

Before returning to Angkor Tom we stopped by Banteay Samre. Another great temple and some good photos.

We weren't pleased with our photos from the two days earlier so we wanted a few shots of the exterior with better lighting.

Our final stop of the day was a silk factory about another 30 minutes west of Siem Reap. Since the Khmer killed most of the artists there are groups trying to teach Cambodian craftsmanship to younger generations and provide them with an income source. We saw the process of silk being made, the women weaving and dying the fabric, and bugs mating.

After returning to town we had lunch at an Indian restaurant and shopped at little at the market. As usual we took an afternoon dip in the pool, napped, and went out for an amazing dinner of street food.


Day 5:

This day was filled with not much but relaxation. We book airline tickets from Luang Probang to Chiang Mai, had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, walked the streets a little more and had a few beauty treatments.

While Billy was reading up on Thailand, the part he is responsible for planning, I went for a pedicure. It was less than stellar but still relaxing. After the pedicure we decided to get massages. This was Billy's first massage and he did well. In the United States I am used to a massage to relieve stress but in Cambodia the massage wasn't muscular so it worked well. We opted for scented massages and the women did lots of stroking of the muscles but no working out of kinks.

For dinner we went to Pub Street for the free Aspara dancing at Temple Bar. We followed up the evening with shakes and returned to the hotel exhausted from doing nothing all day.




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