21.09.2008 | 吳哥悠遊(2)

今日清晨4點就起身(係晨咁早嗰隻), 因為要去吳哥窟(Angkor Wat)睇日出.. 到步之後就抹黑行入寺廟範圍, 由西門到寺廟前需要經過城河, 因為昨晚落雨關係所以凹凸石橋上都係水灘, 加上天色昏暗, 所以真係步步為營.. 10分鐘後終於抵達觀看日出嘅最佳位置, 遊客亦都逐漸聚集, 不過非常之可惜, 是日陰天所以睇唔到日出, 個天就係咁霎時間亮起咗, 早知真係唔駛挨眼瞓咁早嚟扑空啦.. 不過陰天都未曾唔係好事, 至少可以逃過烈日暴晒呢一劫..

今日嘅行程主要係遊覽吳哥窟, 大吳哥城(Angkor Thom)同埋塔彭寺(Ta Phrom).. 吳哥窟相信大家都耳熟能詳, 呢個聯合國世界遺產係柬國嘅標誌同驕傲, 亦都係泰國嘅遺憾.. 呢個眾寺之母, 建築構造相當完善宏偉, 由大石建成嘅寺廟巧奪天工, 係令人驚訝當時啲人係點樣建築呢嘅古蹟囉..

大吳哥城嘅面積比吳哥窟大好多, 應該有四倍啦, 城內有幾個大大小小寺廟, 個概念就有點似北京故宮咁樣.. 相比吳哥窟, 大吳哥城內嘅寺廟風格就相對地原始, 其中最出名嘅巴戎寺(Bayon Temple)我覺得佢好靚過吳哥窟囉, 寺內每個塔頂四面都雕有佛面, 而且個個都栩栩如生, 非常之震撼人心..

塔彭寺係另外一個較有個性嘅寺廟, 應該係建於樹林中嘅.. 有個性唔係話佢嘅建築, 因為相當普通而且有三成已為廢墟, 有個性嘅係裡邊啲盤根纏寺嘅百年老樹, 見到樹根左穿右穿, 確實係耐人尋味.. 順便一提, 電影古墓奇兵(Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)就係喺呢度取景架喇..

有人話可以用三日時間逐間寺廟去考查, 不過我哋五人幫唔駛一日就全部主要經典搞掂晒, 其實都係走馬看花, 最主要都係擺靚款影靚相囉, 哈哈!! 結果下晝就結束是日路程, 返去舊街市食晏, 今次係去咗間好親民嘅地道茶餐廳解決, 環境點樣你可以想象, 不過味道唔錯價錢又公道, 得啦..

~~暹粒四日遊之第二日..
woke up at 4am this morning (that's excruxiatingly early) purposely to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat.. gotta walk in total darkness from the west gate across the molt into the temple area, and because of the rain last night, the uneven rock bridge was patched with water, we just gotta be very careful with each step we took so as not to wet our feet.. after 10min of walking+hopping, we finally reached the best spot to view the sunrise, and tourists were getting more and more waiting to see the sunrise too.. however, luck was not on our side because of the cloudy weather we could not see the sunrise at all.. the sky just got bright in seconds while we were still hoping to see the sunrise.. anyway, it's not any bad for a cloudy day, as we just don't have to get burnt under the sun for the day..

the main itinerary for the day was to visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Phrom.. i think i don't have to introduce more about Angkor Wat as this world heritage of UNESCO is so well known for being the pride of the Cambodians (something sourish for the Thai though).. the mother of all temples, architecturely complete and grand, was built up solely with stones (and i don't see any nails and brackets or what-so-ever), it is really amazing how the ancient people can build up such a wonder..

the Angkor Thom is a lot bigger in area than Angkor Wat, about four times the size i think, and there are quite some temples within the compound, it can be seen as a self-contained city enclosing temples within just like the concept of the Forbidden City in Beijing.. compared to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom is more natural and raw in terms of the built-up, and the more famous Bayon Temple is more attractive to me in person.. each facade of the stapula built was carved with a Buddha's face, they look real and very impressive indeed..

the Ta Phrom is relatively more personality, not in terms of the construction and design because it is nothing much different from the Angkors and somemore 30% of it has turned ruins, the personality lies on the old trees with roots entangling the temples.. it's rather spectacular to see the roots overlaying on and wrapping all over the temples, no wonder the movie "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" chose to shot in this temple..

heard that one needs three good days to closely see every temples they have in the Angkor area, but the gang of 5 just did it in less than a day.. well, i gotta admit we were just not into details, as long as we've been there seen it and taken photos of it, we were satisfied.. and there we ended our itinerary for the day just before late afternoon, back to the Old Market for lunch.. this time we had it in a down-to-earth local restaurant, you can imagine how's the environment, but well the food came out quite good and the price, more importantly, is reasonable..

~~end of day 2 of 4 in Siem Reap..