On the Dancing Road

Ok- I've done 2 days of the obligatory temples- Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm-that was the one with the trees growing around the temple- and now my guide- Sath and his friend our Tuk Tuk driver- Bros and I are visiting a lot of places that are not on the main menu-or Itineraries as they call it.

Bullocks along the dancing road

So in our quest to see the unusual, yesterday we went to a temple that was 85 K's away from Siem Reap. Along the highway- we turned off on a narrow dirt road and wound our way through Villages and lots of bumps to drive over- which Sath calls the Dancing Road.

The trip up to Beng Mealea Temple took all together 2 hours- and though some people don't like riding in a tuk tuk, I actually like the breeze blowing all over me while we are riding along. I think I see more that way as well.

The Beng Mealea temple is a curious one- it was bombed to smithereens in the 70's by USA and is full of piles and piles of large stones and other bits of rubble, but is one of the most serene places I have ever been. It's hard to explain-maybe its because nature has taken over and symbiotically merges with the temple ruins. It would be hard to imagine the place restored.

Remains of a stone gate-Beng Mealea

It took a couple of hours to walk through and there were hardly any tourists there- unlike at the other more well known temples. where there are thousands.

Today [this is the next day] we continued our journey to the lesser populated temples and went to 3 that are nearby to each other-the first was Preah Ko- temple of the sacred bull-where we climbed a lot of steps to get there- not the first time that has happened-and when you get to the top, the view is pretty fabulous. The second temple is Ba Kong- City central and the third is Loi Le-which is a sweet little temple in the middle of a Buddhist monastery. It's at the last temple, that Sath makes me walk around with Bros- who is not good at English- so he made him practice with me. Especially as tomorrow Bros and I are by ourselves for a couple of days, so he will be guiding me and trying to practice.

Tonight I have been invited to Sath's house for dinner. He has taken the afternoon off so he can go home and cook with his wife. It is an honour for me to be invited...let you know later how it turns out. In the meantime....enjoy:

Me in my elephant pants and in front of Beng Mealea

nature's way at Beng Mealea

Gardens outside Beng Lealea