Today far exceeded my expectations.  First stop was the Tonle Om Gate which is the South Gate of Angkor Thom.  This gate is dated to the 12th century at the height of the Khmer empire and has a long causeway with 54 stone giants guarding the entrance to Angkor Thom over the 100m moat.  Each side of the approach had giants representing either good or evil.  I didn’t do much research about this place in advance but I found it absolutely fascinating. The entrance had 4 massive faces carved into stone looking in all 4 directions and two tri headed elephants guarding each side.

We headed through the gate and on to the Bayon temple. Once again so much information to absorb and sights to see.  The humidity was off the scale and the group as a whole were wilting with fans going and water bottles getting a workout.

Then it was off to the Ta Prohm temple (also known as the Tomb Raider temple from Angelina Jolie’s 2001 movie).  So many trees have intertwined their root systems through the ruins.  This temple has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1992.  I could have stayed here all day.

Another 6 course lunch later and it was time for a swim and neck massage back at the hotel and free time for the rest of the day.  I am looking forward to less food when we get home 🙂 .

This afternoon we checked out the local handmade markets and I bought some lovely art from a couple of local artists.  Then we walked via the river into town to the old markets and then stopped for a drink at Pub street.  We were impressed enough to plan to come back for a low key dinner tonight.

We Tuk Tuked it back to the hotel where we called via the bar to sample during happy hour, then one final swim before our Tuk Tuk driver picked us back up to head back to Pub Street with Kim and Chris from our tour.

A very full day but we are extracting every last bit out of this holiday.  We have 4.20 am wake up calls booked for tomorrow for our sunrise walk to Angkor Wat….I’m even taking the camera rather than the iPhone for this one.