Metropolis

Day 80: Siem Reap (K). Being extremely naïve about Siem Reap's main attraction; Karen and I originally only planned to spend a day looking around the Temples of Angkor. Then, as we got closer to Cambodia's Holy of Holies, people started telling just how vast this site really was so we changed our plans to a three day stay. On arriving here though, we were both completely blown away by the sheer scale of this fusion of creative ambition and spiritual devotion and so in true theme park style we opted for the 'seven day go anywhere pass'!

Staring in amazement at the small map provided to us by the ticket office, I counted no less than 83 temples covering an area some 250 square miles in size, making this one of the the largest historic metropolis's on earth. Absolutely staggering! Spanning more than 600 years from AD 802 to 1432, this incredible period of history saw the construction of the temples and the Khmer empire consolidate its position as one of the great powers of South-east Asia.

Starting off at 8am at Banteay Samre and watching the sun go down over Pre Rup we managed to visit 8 temples during our first very packed day. (Only 75 more to go!) During our visit to the immense central sanctuary of Preah Khan, a monk blessed us; anointing our foreheads with Holy Water promising good luck for our future travels. Ten minutes later Karen almost knocked herself out by bashing the same forehead in to a very low stone lintel. Maybe next time we should bathe in the Holy Water to give us the required amount of good luck!!