Siem Reap - Phnom Bakheng

Making our way back to Angkor Wat area after visiting Banteay Srei. I just can't get enough of the roads here, specifically this section where they just drive though that structure in front like it's the most normal thing to do. I mean, it's probably is for them, but for me, it's just W-O-W. 

Finally, we arrived at our very last temple, Phnom Bakheng. I actually almost forgot to post about it after my last entry! Lol. This, according to most guide books and sites, was a place to catch the Angkor Wat sunset. Well, we reached around 430pm or so, and the sunset was supposed to be 630pm. I have booked Chork till 6pm. We will see how it goes!

Entrance to the temple, a pair of gigantic guardians. Actually they were more to the side of the actual path. Perhaps there was a different path that leads to somewhere else? Well, I didn't have the time nor the energy to find out that day. I was pretty tired out from the walk and the heat by now, and just wanted to finish the last temple and go back to my aircon hotel room and have a cold shower to wash off all the red soil that have gathered on my body the whole darn day.

But guess what, our last temple was on top of a hill! Who was the genius who planned this tour anyway! To make us climb a hill after a full day of exploring! Oh! Oops! That would be yours truly :P Luckily, it was a steep hill. And the shade of the tree made the climb rather comforting. Actually, after going thru stairs after stairs from temple to temple, it was nice to feel the soft red soil beneath my feet. I quite enjoyed the walk. It reminded me of my younger days where I would go hiking with my dad and his friends. Also, it was just a short hike, maybe 10 - 20 minutes?

Along the way we saw more side path with, again, two stone guardians at the start. The above photo reminded me so much of Kunisaki, where I  made a trip specifically to see the stone giant guardians of one of the temple in Japan. They call it a power spot in Japan. Yeah, you can really feel it when you are there. A sense of awe.

Once we reached the top of the hill, that wasn't exactly the end of the climbing. Yeah.... steps! Angkor Wat style kinda steps. The temple was on top of those stairs! Well.... our motto these days when we travel is: well we've come all this way, might as well go all the way. Lol. Funny. In our recent trip to Beijing, my husband actually said "The nearest subway is 21minutes walk away. What's another 21 minutes when we have already walked the whole day". Hahahahaha. What a pro!

This is how small the temple is! Yup, right at the very top. After climbing the steeps, there was actually more stairs on top. Super tiny, narrow, steep stairs! Did the Khmer ppl have very small feet or something? I saw the guards there, they walk down those stairs like it was the most natural thing. I had to use my hands to come down!

Every single temple needs to be accompanied by some lady figures carved in sandstone, else my post would not be complete.

It seems to be an active temple. There were offerings made here. I like how simple it was, unlike some Chinese temple that can be quite exaggerated.  Maybe it's just my nature. Less is always more. I needed space. I needed simplicity. 

Souvenir shot, Cordy made it to the top of the hill! This is probably the highest point of Angkor Wat Archeological Park? At least for this blog's sake, I'm gonna say it is so!

And this is the view of my empire! Spectacular! Take it all in, cause I ain't waiting for the sunset! We went down after seeing everything. It was another hour till sunset, and I wasn't looking forward to going down the stairs nor the hills in the dark. 

But I did manage to take a photo of Angkor Wat from another perspective, and I love it. I was pretty happy through out the day. There was so much walking and climbing, and Chork kept giving me ice water. By the end of the day, I actually felt light and cleansed inside out! No regrets at all coming here. In fact, I love it. This was the high point of my whole trip. After this, I just chilled out through for the rest of the trip :)