Suzy had organised for the hotel to provide a driver and guide to take the five of us to various temple sites in the Angkor region over the next two days. This morning's excursion was timed to depart at 8:30am. We had a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant overlooking the pool.
Our guide was waiting for us in the hotel foyer and discussed with us the options for today's excursion. Yolanda told us that Peter was sick again and wouldn't be joining us. So it would just be the four of us - Yolanda, Maria, Suzy and me.
Originally our guide had in mind to take us to five different sites today which would take the whole day and wouldn't get us back to the hotel until dinner time. Instead we asked him to omit one temple site so we could come back to the hotel for a break in the afternoon.
The driver was waiting in the street outside the hotel. He was driving a van similar to the one we'd travelled in previously in Vietnam. Plenty of room for the four of us plus the driver and guide. As always, they provided us with cold bottled water.
First we stopped at a building where they sold the passes to visit the various sites in the Angkor region. We bought a multi-day pass. For some reason, my credit card didn't work and I had to pay by cash.
Back in the van, we travelled to the first temple, Ta Prohm. This place is extraordinary. I hadn't heard about this temple and so I wasn't ready for it. It's amazing.
Like other temples in the Angkor area, it's old - it dates back to the 12th century. That's remarkable in itself but it's not the big thing. As you enter, you are struck by the sight of the large trees that grow throughout the site.
In particular, the roots of the trees wrap themselves around the walls and the structure of the building and so have become part of the structure. They are not small roots. They are strong muscular roots that give strength to the man-made stonework and the tall trees above.
Apparently this site was a key component of the Tomb Raiders film. I must get a copy of this film to have a look.
There were plenty of photo opportunities and our guide was only too happy to assist by taking photos of us with each of our devices - my camera and everyone else's iPhones. What's more we were impressed with his camera skills.
With the iPhones, he would take normal shots and then turn the phone to landscape mode and take panorama shots. This was particularly impressive on this site with the tall trees. He would place us at the bottom of the wall in among the tree roots and then scan up to get the full height of the tree. A simple idea but very clever.
Our driver and guide took us to the next temple, Banteay Srei. It took us about 40 minutes to get there. At this site, you can see the walls and some spires from the original structure. The key point of interest here is the fine detail of the carvings and artwork.
By this time, we were ready for lunch and they took us to Srey Koulen Restaurant. The hotel had provided us with snack boxes for our outing. We bought drinks from the restaurant.
After lunch, we went to a third temple. This was a larger site where access was via a long boardwalk across a waterway. Much of the religious area was built around a tranquil lake and so the key feature of this site was the serene reflections in the lake.
Next it was time to go back to the hotel for a break.
Late in the afternoon, we headed off again to go to a fourth temple where we would watch the sunset. This temple had a central structure that had rough steep stone stairs leading up the front of the building. Our guide took us around the back of the building where we use a modern timber staircase with handrails to get to the top level.
There were already dozens of people taking vantage points looking towards the western horizon. Some were sitting on the edge of the landing with their legs dangling down. You wouldn't want to slip because it was a long way down.
Luckily the predicted storms had stayed away and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. By the time of the sunset, the crowds had grown.
It took a long time to get back to the hotel because the traffic was very heavy. It was as bad as you get in peak hour such as trying to get across the Sydney Harbour Bridge when there's a traffic incident. It was after 7pm by the time we got back to the hotel - too late for the happy hour.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant on the terrace overlooking the pool.
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