4am, I was awake. The American brothers returned 3ish daily, so I used them as a rough estimate when to get up. But it was their last day, we'd have new roommates later today.
Sunrise @AngKor Wat was breathtaking... the morning fresh air, the light breaking in and it was serene despite a whole lot of tourists slowly trailing in to witness the same sight. I'd never regret waking up that early, and it was worth it - really! The beautiful colors, very blue and purplish... with slight tinge of yellow (on the contrast, friend B showed me his picture of sunrise which was very much reddish - guess it is still magnificient throughout the year, with its varying colors).
Dawn broke over AngKor Wat.
C was hungry so we went for breakfast, sat there for a while where I watched the local kidsrunning up and down in the restaurant.
Ou Hok drove us to AngKor Thom where we would finish Bayon and its surroundings. There is a saying "Save the best for the last" and indeed the last is really the best. I heart Bayon, the temple of Buddhas. The big faces of Buddha can be seen at every corner and you can't just not love it. My camera continued to be cranky but I didn't let it ruin my mood, continued to enjoy the sights and sometimes my little Lomo Fisheye got around on his feet.
There I bumped into an Australian (old man) whom I asked a favour from the day before (to help me take a picture). So we just kept bumping into each other, sharing our favourites of all the temples :))
A few places we saw in AngKor Thom:
1. Bayon (LOVE it! Buddha and its many faces)
2. Tep Pranam (a huge gigantic Buddha statue)
3. Baphuon (under restoration, no entry)
4. The Elephant Terrace
5. Phimeanakas (one of the highest climb... not much of a sight up there but more of a challenge to go up!)
6. Terrace of the Leper King (another very impressive one, must see)
And next, we left AngKor Thom:
7. Ta Keo (we didn't go up, Ou Hok told us it wasn't completed as lighting struck the temple during the building and it's said to be a bad omen to complete it)
It was enough temples for the 2 days, considering C wanted to do a daytrip tomorrow, I figured we better be having some rest that afternoon. It was an hour before noon, so Ou Hok brought us to see a few places, a workshop where they made the statues and some souvenir places. We also requested him to take us to a place we happened to catch sight of, where they commemorate dead soldiers with all these statues of 5 headed snakes/serpents named Nāga (if I'm not wrong). Right by the memorial place, there was a stretch of local market, being adventurous we did a quick browse and I bought my cheapest lunch there (quite risky, still wondering if I gotten food poisoning from that).
p.s: Found this online - "In Southeast Asian mythologies, the Nāga is revered as the original ancestor of the Cambodian people"
C headed back to hostel, while I carried on my little adventure on my own in Old Market area, had a fruitshake while I sat and people-watch, bought some yummy looking pastries from Blue Pumpkin. Got back to the hostel, wi-fi for a bit, ate the lunch (mmm quite an experience), dipped in the pool for a bit before we decided for a little nap... Munky & Monkey were arriving that afternoon.
At 3pm, I was awoken by some noises. Some new people just checked in (in our room)... I was half asleep. I took a peep under my pillow, and was smiling sneakily when I saw that familiar face! I pretended to sleep. Stole a few glances, by this time, he had realised it was me! So I showed my face and asked Munky (Alex),"What are you doing in my room???" It was a pure coincidence because he happened to book the same hostel (before he got my message) and then we didn't even pre-arrange to have the same room but ended up in one. Lucky indeed. So I shared the room again with 3 men (2 Americans left, so replaced by 2 Britishs whom didn't leave their stinking socks around). But they are all my friends, so it was like our little private room - aw, isn't it FUN!
Monkey is Munky's mate, Ian. I shall continue in a bit...
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