February 6,2025
We slept in. Can you believe it? Finally a morning to ourselves with no agenda.
So I choose this room because it has a balcony…reminds me of the balconies we’ve had in Paris…anyway, had it been just a wee bit wider we might have ordered room service breakfast. Whatever. It was a beautiful morning and we headed down to the Cafe for a feast…
…Makes me so happy passing through these Buddhas…
Here’s Timmy with his Thursday Buddha
I had the yummiest crepe and also some rice noodles 
This is Louey our server…he just kept bringing the coffee.
After breakfast we walked over to the park across the street from Raffles. That’s Raffles in all her glory. We really enjoyed every minute of our stay.
We were on a mission to find the one tree that’s home to bats. Yep. Bats….
We heard them before we saw them…not as creepy as it sounds. Well let me rephrase that…hardly sounds as creepy as it was …
Anyway, it was a beautiful morning and we were able to enjoy a tiny bit of Siem Reap with local folks.
This little sweetheart was bringing a lotus flower to a monk.
Morning market
We saw several monks accepting alms.
We walked for a bit, then headed back to the hotel.
We were free until 2:00 pm …so I grabbed my sunscreen and parked myself poolside.
This time I wore my suit and swam and swam. The water was a perfick temperature.
When you arrive, an attendant brings you water and all manner of potions and lotions and mango and a bell. So yes, I felt like a princess.
After a couple of hours I called Timmy to see if he wanted to meet up for lunch…nope, he was happy resting in the room.
Chicken Caesar and a tropical drink for lunch.
Savy and Song fetched us at 2:00 pm and we made our way to Angkor Thom…we began our visit at Baksei Chamkrong…a small pyramid shaped temple built in the 10th century.
This temple lies just outside Angkor Thom.
I said “Hey Timmy, pretend we’re going to climb to the top”
That’s Angkor Thom across the moat.
As we were walking, we heard a rustling in the leaves…I’m not a big fan…
…monkeys are the reason I never leave the ship in Gibraltar.
These are believed to be “anti-gods”…they line the right side of the causeway over the moat.
Angkor Thom
The figures on the left side of the causeway are believed to be Hindu “gods”
Song drove us across the causeway to the Bayon- the heart of the Angkor Thom temple complex.
Angkor Thom lies about 1 mile south of Angkor Wat.
The walls are covered with bas-relief.
An inner courtyard
We followed Savy as he interpreted the symbols
Luckily there were wooden steps at some of the entry points.
Look up
At some point we parked Timmy on a stone…
…lots of climbing
Savy found out that these monks were visiting from India
We left just as a bus tour arrived…phew
After leaving the Bayon, Song drove us to the Gate of Death…
This is one of four gates leading to Angkor Thom
Might be hard to tell…but we are mimicking the stone figure atop the gate…
…and the more traditional smiling pic…
So at this point, Timmy gets back in the car with Song, and Savy and I climb the walls of Angkor Thom’s moat. It’s 7 miles long, but we walked only about a mile along the rampart to the Victory Gate. (Only).
Looks easy…I assure you…it was not…
Sometimes we had a path…sometimes we made our own…
…ah…Victory at last!
The climb down was much easier and shorter than at the Gate of Death.
I was so hot and sweaty that we didn’t stick around for photos…I guess it was a cool gate…at least the figure on top seemed benign.
Back at the hotel…
…refreshments ♥️
…we spent a minute or two watching folks swim…then decided to catch the sunset from our room…
What a day! And we still have a unique dining experience to look forward to…we talked to Savy and pushed back the start time to 8:00 pm …giving us time for a nap. I must say, I’m really loving these naps♥️ Thanks for following along♥️
