Rolous Group Siem Reap

Con panne y cambio de bus, llegamos después de 6 horas de viaje a Siem Riep, ciudad turística del estilo de San Pedro, guardando las proporciones. Nos estaban esperando en el terminal (joya!!) y llegamos a nuestra habitación, la que tenía ventilador de techo solamente. El calor…te lo encargo, unos 34 grados y la humedad peor, de 90%...o sea, …

After Tomb Raider Day, we felt like a change. So we decided to head down to Kampong Phluk - a typical river village with our favourite tuk tuk driver, Jet. Jet had a couple of other things he wanted to show us first though... some more Angkorian ruins.
We could hardly wait!

The two ruins in question were part of the Roluos Group: …

2nd day - Angkor Wat, Bayon, Baphuon Temple, Terrace of the Elephants, Ta Prohm
3rd day - Eastern Mebon, Banteay Srei, Neak Pean, Preah Khan
4th day - Bakong, Lolei, Preah Ko

**need to find others on day 3

So we took a night bus from Sihanoukville to Siem Riep. It has to be one of the worst journeys we have been on yet - mainly due to the fact that the road was very badly maintained and our driver wanted to get there as quickly as possible. At one stage we hit a pot hole so fast that both of us thought the bus was going to tip over. We were also held …

I originally wanted to visit the temples in chronological order of when they were built, but time and logistics limitations made this a bit impractical.

So the plan was to visit the temples away from the main Angkor Archaelogical Park area first, then work my way towards the major sites of Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat.

Roluos Group< …

Of all the wonderful places I've been lucky enough to visit, Angkor Wat will always remain close to my heart. It is difficult to explain why but the magic of Angkor is something you have to experience to truly understand. It was a trip of a lifetime in more ways than one. I remember reading an article on Angkor in the National Geographic years ago …

After a long hot boat ride lasting seven hours or so we arrived in Siem Reap. Well, 12km outside the town at the boat station at any rate. The last hour or two of the journey took us across the Tonle Sap lake which is the biggest inland lake in South-East Asia where we could barely make out any land in any direction. Ready to meet us was a tuk-tuk …

... no way we'd be done and back in Siem Reap by 11.30. The guy was dreaming big time! We were off to the The Rolous Group which includes Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei, and is the oldest site open to visitors. Preah Ko is almost falling down but it ...

... only 10 Bart (GBP 0.15) each, so we squeeze on board, hoping that we can change our flight time to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to something earlier than 3pm. At Bangkok Airways ticketing office we collect our (expensive) USD$120 tickets and find that there ...

... on the front of the Cambodia Lonely Planet 23rd - Another longish trip to start the day and this time to visit the Rolous group of ruins. These are the oldest of all the sites around Angkor dating back to the 9th century. Strangely these were brick ...

... to do. I asked for a discount, and he laughed and refused. So we all ignored his request This is the biggest of the Rolous group. A stepped pyramid of five levels. On the top is a central tower. At the bottom, are another eight towers in varying ...

... it to a monestary and has lived there ever since.   It has taken a bit of time to find the Cambodia that I knew in Siem Reap.  The city is awash with Chinese, Korean, and Japanese package tourists.  Where there was once 2 decent ...

... and Bantay Srei, which was almost an hour away from where the major sites were. On my third day, we checked out the Rolous Group and Angkor Wat, the largest religious building ever built in the world. Angkor Wat was literally a sight to behold. It was ...

... but it was beautiful and really good fun. Next the driver took us to 3 other temples, much smaller but a lot more intact. The Rolous Group which includes Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei, and is the oldest site open to visitors. After Lolei we went back to ...

... it out later. I guess we did just that. Although still quite annoyed, we made our way towards Siem Reap, and Phe stopped off at some of the Rolous Group temples along the way. We had planned to visit these temples anyway, but now, it was more of a ...

... ride, and thirteen hours of buses and rickshaws through connected potholes that they call roads. But, I made it! I'm safely in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I will update my website shortly with the details, but right now its 10:00 p.m. and I need a shower ...

... = site after Ta Prohm and Bayon which for now are 1st equal. Third equal along with Banteay Syrey. I suppose that I should not be fence sitting and make up my mind and order them …. BUT then I have more ruins tomorrow when I visit the Rolous ...