Left over bits from Siem Reap and Angkor

I forgot my story from Banteay Kdei!

While I was in there I saw one of the tourist police hovering around. He eventually came up to me and said "Souvenir $20?" and held out his badge. I laughed and said no, suspecting a trap. Then later he went up to a couple of Russians,  but they said they were already police and pulled another badge from their bag. He then bargained for a little bit, no trying on the Russians part, and eventually got down to $7. I think they bought it, I was just out of hearing range.

So yeah, I guess the police are quite poor and desperate to get $7 for a badge.

Also the thing I didn't know about the Angkor historical park is there are people living in villages all through it. On the island at Angkor Wat there are a couple of more modern temples in the forested area, some small houses too. I think there are people who have been living in the temples too, you occasionally stumble on bags or clothes in small hallways. Not sure if they're just there for the day or stay overnight.

There is a huge amount of local employment created for these temples. All the ticket checks, the people in green shirts doing gardening, tuk tuk drivers, and guides in the official side. On the unofficial side there are food stalls, people selling art, souvenirs, guidebooks. There's no shortage of ways to make money there. Then there is the occasional begging, but very rarely are they straight out asking for money.

Anyway, here are some more photos from around Siem Reap.

Happy herb pizza and all its copies. This is were you get your pizza covered in... herbs. 

Some of the housing over the river. close to central Siem Reap. It probably would have extended further downriver but was removed to make it look nicer...

Closer house. Sewage outlet just under where I took this photo. Also people in the houses just dump their rubbish over the edge, this is then caught in a net across the river... 

Bike with small trailer.

Bike with big trailer. They often have 20 people in the back. Or large bits of metal. I wonder how often they replace clutches here?

Some black and white (and green) styles!

More black and white!

And some reprocessed photos from the tomb raider temple:

More contrast!

Mysterious.

Terribly mysterious.

Now back to processing photos from the other day in the temples. I was going to take my bike out and visit some of the further away temples but it's been trapped by two cars today. Maybe later.

Angkor Thom Victory Gate to Banteay Kdei

A day at Angkor Wat, a day in Angkor Thom, then a rest day, then a day covering Angkor Thom Victory Gate to Banteay Kdei. Only it's never been a full day each time, 5-6 hours each time I go out. So after this days temple hopping I would have covered what is on the maps as the short loop (it's in red) and that is usually covered in one day. I'm not sure how.

To start!:

Angkor Thom Victory Gate

Similar to the other gate I've seen of Angkor Thom, less restored though.

See, way less restored.

Then a short trip from there to...


Chau Say Thevoda

The temple. A few buildings actually.

More stacks!

The central temple, with raised walkway

More restorations. There are a lot of new pieces in this building.

Hello.

Bits of broken naga, waiting to be restored.

The more biggerer view.

Then wander across the road to...

Thommananom

The eastern side.

A doorway on the north.

The full temple view from the south western side.

As usual, touts crawling all over here. No I don't want a coconut, cold or otherwise.

Then a short little trip to...

Ta Keo

The southern side where the tuktuks park. The main way in is on the east though.

Little stone stack near the wall. Different types of blocks used here.

Neatly organised ruins... Ready for restoration?

The steps up to the top. Poor legs.

The top tier. 

Looking down from the top.

One of the towers on the top.

Sign gave up and melted.

Up the stairs to the central tower. People still pray here.

Lookin out over the forest. Oh, and that other tower.

Then it was time for another short trip to...

Ta Phrom

Apprently this was left largely unrestored for a while but there is a lot of work going on here now. I assume any guidebook that refers to it as being unrestored will soon be out of date. This one was also used in the movie Tomb Raider, and is one of the very popular stops for tour groups. I tried to stay off the main tour group paths, but it's hard because a lot of it has been closed off for work.

Tree growing over the northern wall just near the west entrance.

The west entrance.

Ruins.

Tree growing out of this one.

Another tree on wall.

Some of the carvings.

Tree growing through the wall.

Big tree.

More treewall. With a platform for people to stand on and take photos.

No going through here.

Tree!

Collapsed!.. But just around the corner....

This... So it's very different to how it was found. now.

Part of the closed off work area. There was a crane lifing bricks into place.

More carvings, on the eastern wall.

Tree growing through the eastern walkway into the temple.

The famous tree! I think this is it anyway. All the tour groups pass through here so it took about fifteen minutes to get through this narrow part...

See, this narrow part.

Interesting carving over the door. Some naga heads on peoples. All the others were the usual carvings.

Can't go here.

More rubble!

Here's a bit that's just part of the path now, people just walking over it.

More treebuilding(tm).

Another part of the outer wall. And the two kids that were kicking a ball into each other, then saw me, and tried to sell some stuff for $1.

I'm not sure if I got to all the famous bits. My photos don't look like the famous doorway photos from others, that may be in one of the closed off sections now. It's big here. I've still got three days left on my seven day ticket, might be good to go and have a look in the dark. Maybe get some star photos...

After this one it was off to see...

Banteay Kdei

This is a smaller temple, quieter than the others because a lot of the tour groups bypass it.

The west entrance.

Guarding this place.

Another Treebuilding(tm)

Yep. Waiting for me to get closer to offer me one two three four five six seven eight nine ten postcards one dollar.

Southern bit...

A spider!

Window to a little carving.

evil face.

I saw one of these in Phanom Rung which I haven't seen anywhere else. First time I've noticed it here in Angkor.

More carvings.

Hello.

YES, THIS IS SINHA. (or singa, now I don't know the proper word)

And that's it for that day. I had another rest day afterwards and then headed out again today to see the rest of the grand tour loop.