the angkor temples in photos part II

my previous post, the part I was supposed to be an array of photos with a few words and less of my usual blabber but it turned out otherwise. i think the font i'm using makes the words appear more in number than the actual count. and seriously, i have come up with such alibi! haha

moving on with part II, here are the temples that we saw during the rest of our day tour.

Banteay Srei Temple aka The Pink Lady Temple

our instruction to our tuktuk driver was to visit the temples that my brother had during his temple run. my brother did the angkor tour first since he arrived in siem reap 1.5 days ahead of us. when it was our turn for the grand angkor, my brother was already back in cebu with even a flight delay somewhere in between his transit from siem reap to cebu, with a layover in manila. i commend my brother for going through such ordeal.

anyway, our tuktuk driver modified the day tour itinerary without us knowing it outright. we were probably too jaded to think what we were getting into.

I loved these columns!

Intricate Carvings at the Lady Temple

one good reason for his suggestion on this lady temple was, we were ladies (ahem) and i even thought it won't come out as plain obvious!

although the lady temple is relatively smaller than most of the angkor temples, for me, it has the most intricate and delicate carvings i had seen by far, in comparison to the temples that we visited that day - rightfully to be called as the lady temple. it surely emanated beauty and femininity. banteay srei is a 10th century temple dedicated to the hindu god, shiva.

i completely forgot the name of this temple and that's why i consider having a guide as important. you still have moments to digest all the information feed to you and you can always ask in case you miss out on something, which is likely my case!

one funny thing i can remember in this temple was a fellow tourist who i thought had an uncanny resemblance of ben stiller! i was that close of getting his autograph! haha though i got no pictures to prove it. eva had somehow burst my delusional bubble into thin air, before i could make a complete fool of myself.

after the lady temple, we moved on to this unknown temple after having lunch in a sole local restaurant which was strategically located across the dirt road, leading to this temple.

Overpowering tree in Ta Prohm

this scene of the giant roots eating most of the structure may look familiar to you because of angelina jolie's movie, the tomb raider. in fact, our tuktuk driver referred this temple to us as the tomb raider and i presumed, most of the locals in siem reap would likewise do the same. i'm not even sure if i got its real name while i was there.

some angkor temples may have started from these rubbles before they were restored back to their original  grandeur - well, some almost and some not quite. these are like lego blocks except that massive temples are involved! are you up for the challenge?

The lonely painter in Ta Prohm

we were only here for quite some time because our tuktuk driver repeatedly reminded us that we only had these few minutes to spare. eva and i discovered the temples on our own while our tuktuk driver happily dozed off in his hammock which was ingeniously tied to his tuktuk. he acted like a father telling his daughters to play but not to forget, to return promptly.

we spent a considerable amount of time in the road like almost 2 hours, because of our travel to the lady temple and that unknown temple. no regrets though since we were able to pass by two local wedding celebrations and both were only in their houses, but we could undoubtedly feel the festive mood and the resounding music that tailed us until it finally faded away. 

Angkor Wat (Photo by my brother)

and finally, saving the best for last, we set foot in the angkor wat! to think at the start of our tour in the morning, we passed by the angkor wat's magnificence while heading to the bayon temple. the only thing i could do that time, was to try my hardest to take in its glory until the view receded, and much too soon for me because of my poor eyesight.

the photo above was taken by my brother because he was lucky to have a fair weather during his visit. when it was our turn however, the weather suddenly changed, with very strong winds that i even feared i would be swept away!

The foreboding clouds over the Angkor Wat

Tourists taking shelter because of the strong winds and an impending rain!

Sand storm?

it was really weird that we had the scorching heat almost the entire day and when our tuktuk was nearing the angkor wat, the weather got feisty. a frivolous thing even came across my mind. somehow, the ethereal stewards in the temple might not want us to be there. hmmm

Long corridor with stories carved into the wall (Photo by my brother)

A common steep climb! (Photo by my brother)

Gorgeous stone carvings! (Photo by my brother)

And uhmm gorgeous ladies in the Angkor Wat lol (Photo by a random stranger :D )

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it might be a long and tedious day but the visit to these 10th - 12th centuries temples, is a blissful marvel and it's certainly one for the books!

o-O