A Few New Friends

A Few New Friends - Day 34 – March 11^th

I am glad we didn’t go straight to the biggest of the temples at Siem Reap.  We had been travelling most of the day, were well fed and cosily booked in and still had enough of the afternoon to go to the Angkor Archaeological Park for sunset. 

It would have been easy to go with the crowds to view the sun set over Angkor Wat itself. In the words of our Lonely Planet book (even still a resource) “most things are popular for good reasons” and we are prepared for crowds. We shall embrace them! We are they; except they seem to wear brighter colours.  Are they are even a celebration of the equality, opportunity and wealth of our global community? Anyway we just thought that we’d go slow on the first day and asked the tuk tuk driver to take us somewhere with less people. 

So our first view of an Angkorian temple mountain was, well pretty much awe inspiring anyway.

The temple is called Pre Roup. The scale is what got me first and then the symmetry and the implacable intention.  It towered over us. It is emphatic proof of unimaginable human endeavour and genius.  Sometimes when I see something that I know is supposed to provoke a response in me it will disappoint whilst I struggle to define a fitting experience.  Sometimes I will never get there. But this temple is magnificent and beautiful and otherworldly and that is an awful lot of rock to move around 900 years ago.  And in this heat.  I am suitably impressed and we scramble up its sides and perch ourselves on the upper terrace to watch the pink sun go down. 

Just us and 200 new friends in party clothes.

And there is plenty to look forward to as Pre Roup is a minor temple and we plan sunrise at Angkor Wat itself on the morrow forsooth.

Siem Reap is a tourist town; good food, harsh prices and novel experiences for sale.  Taran and I dared ourselves to put our feet in a tank of those fish that nibble them clean.  It might not seem much but it was difficult to actually force our tender pink toes under in water seething with expectant small mouths.

More new friends, rather plainly dressed and I haven’t laughed so much in ages.

Both tickled pink.