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  • Day 48

    ankor wat

    November 20, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    I seriously dont know how im functioning. Its 2340 and i have been up since 0400 thats nearly 24 hours and we just havent stopped. I shall sleep well tonight.
    So, up at 4am put some cloths on and stumbled onto the minibus and we were off to ankor wat. We stopped at the gate and got our daily enterance passes with our pictures on them and everything and then back on the bus through the national park to ankor wat. We walked up the path through the main gates and down to the lakes looking over the central temple and found a seat for the sunrise. There was sooooo many people there it was insane. The sky was a bit cloudy so the rise wasnt great but it was still pretty awesome to see. While sitting a macaque came out and started running towards a group of people with food. It was quite funny to watch, they are so cheeky. The we headed back out the front of ankor wat and sat in an local cafe and had breakfast and pre-ordered our lunch. Then on the minibus and we were off to explore the jungle temple. The jungle temple was falling down everywhere with massive trees holding heaps of it together. Its the temple that the tomb raider was filmed in apparently. It was quite cool. We walked around and explored a bit then jumped on the minibus to ankor wat. At ankor wat we started on the east side of the compound and headed through the middle to the west. It was huge. We could have easily spent an entire day exploring. Most of the trees have been removed from the site to help keep the foundations stable. The foundations are sand with granit and sandstone blocks for the building and the moat around the compound help keep everything moist and stable. Right in the centre of the compound is a big open area that has 4 pools. Each one representing one of the elements - earth, fire, water and air. It was said that the people would come into the temple and go to the pool that represented their element and take some water to help cleanse themselves and their spirit. Right in the centre of the room is an open area where the lines of the roof meet in a cross and there is a small circle on the floor. Limney put a compus on the circle - it read 0degrees normal. Exactly. So we all took a photo in a circle of our faces from a camera sitting in the floor lol. Once we had finished at ankr wat we walked back out the front gate, past a buddah statue and a bunch of monkies and sat back in our morning cafe for lunch. After lunch we crossed over a buddah head bridge with buddahs either side of the bridge on both sides of the buddah pass. Most of the heads had been removed at one point and taken by thailand. Most of then are back and have been reattached but loads are still missing. In the river was a couple in a boat having wedding photos taken. They looked pretty cool. And then we stopped next at the main temple in the ankor tom compound. The kiwi boys dana and i peeled off from the rest of the group and just explored the temple on our own, taking loads of pictures including a group squat picture which looks awesome lol. Its a new trend lol. The temple was cool built up high in the middle and progressivly lower untill you reach the ground level which court yards around the whole temple. There are buddah heads calved into all of the steeples that are everywhere in the temple and loads of little shrines everywhere. It was very cool. Then we drove past the 12 pillars and a smaller temple for some pictures.
    Then we headed over to the flight of the gibbon. Dana and i needed a loo when we got their but there was no toilet facilities nearby so we had to use the famous happy bush, whicb was interesting cause there wasnt really anywhere we could hide lol. Then we got bandanas and helmets and strapped into our body harnesses and a short van ride to the base of course. The guides where amazing. They were funny and good fun and came out with some of the moat funny things ever. They were also safe and super professional. I felt totally safe the entire time and they controlled our carabenas and connections so there was no room for error which was good. We did ziplines and bridges of different types and one of the ziplines was two person, named the honeymoon, which i did with felix. It was hilarious and im now telling everyone i honeymooned with felix lol. At the end because half the course is shut for renovations they literally just hooked us on a rope and lowered us over the edge. I was like you want me to what? So he just clicked me in first and was like yep step off. It actually wasnt that scary. He stopped me half way while the person on the other rope was detached. And then he just let me free fall for a few minutes - omg. It was hillarious though. Once we were all down we walked back to the minivan. On the way back there was a massive gecko (30cm ish long) on a tree that was a cool colour. One of the guides pointed it out and i was like 'naw its cute', and he said 'he looks like me', i replied 'oh totally your both cute' lol he wasnt expecting that and we both just burst out laughing and then he got a piggyback from euan lol. It was so fun. Back at the main area we got out of the harnesses and collected out stuff and we were all standing around chatting. I cant remember who said what but i was saying i dont want to go home, the guide from earlier was like 'its ok you can stay as long as you want'. Yay my in. Im staying, :p
    Then we transfered back to the hotel and showered and i got some washing sorted. Then we all headed down to one of the boys room to find ice in the bathroom sink with a bottle of gin, whisky and yagur and a load of mixers lol. Dana got wasted lol. The boys where all a bit buzzed and then we met everyone down stairs and headed to dinner.
    Dinner was interesting we went to a local cultural show. It was a massive room with long tables and a stage at the front. And a massive buffet at the back off to one side. We ate and chatted while the show was going and watched some of the show, which was interesting and had lots of bright coloured costumes. Dana and the boys were amusing.
    Then after dinner the kiwi boys, dana, bianca and i headed down to pub street. We walked through the markets and streets of siem reap until we came to the lights and loud music of pub street where we went to a pub and everyone had a few drinks and a chat and then we headed back to the hotel. At the hotel we crashed the boys room again and they had a couple more drinks and started picking on dana because of the pictures her new boy has been sending. Which was absolutely hilarious. Then we crashed. Long but fun day.
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