After sunrise and the walk around Angkor Wat, our guide took us for breakfast. I knew breakfast was included with our tour, but I was expecting some croissants and drinks. They had a white tablecloth spread and really nice meal for us! We ate in this really nice outdoor pavilion. There was toast, yogurt, cereal, fruit and even an omelet station!
After breakfast, we hopped on our bikes and started riding. We rode a couple of kilometers to Angkor Thom, which means "Great City." This complex was built in the late 12th century by the Khmer King Jayavarman the 7th. Our guide called him "Jayavarman Seven." Not "the seventh". It would be like calling her "Queen Elizabeth Two." I don't know why I thought that was so funny!
Angkor Thom is a full city space, with lots of temples and structures included in it. It is surrounded by a large moat that I'll show a little further down. We rode near the perimeter walls and it was about 3k long on each side. A small temple near one of the corners of the city...
Here is the moat. It was more like a man-made lake. We saw many local children swimming it in and some small canoes and kayaks. It was really beautiful and swimming seemed like a great idea - even by 9am it was very hot and humid!
I know I keep lamenting the loss of my phone, but after the posts from this day, I will stop. I just feel compelled to describe some of the amazing photos I took and you aren't getting to see!! This was maybe one of the best. This is one of the side gates into Angkor Thom. You can see the great faces built into the top of the gate - which is the theme of the next post on Bayon Temple. You could walk or ride a small vehicle through this gate, so our guide (Art, I never said his name before now!) took photos for each of us riding our bikes through the gate. I looked so sporty and touristy and fun! I hope that thief is enjoying my great photos on his (stolen) phone somewhere. Jerk. That could have been my new profile picture.
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