Our first stop on the morning tour was Prasat Kravan. It doesn't look like much as you drive up - just a few crumbling towers with a tall one in the middle. This is one of the earlier temples in the Angkor area, though, dating back to the early 10th century. It is made of brick (vs. sandstone for later temples) and the central tower contains some amazing carvings that have been preserved well. The temple is small, so it's a quick visit - but definitely worth a stop. This carving is from the main tower, of Vishnou on Garuda.
Next up was another temple from the 10th century, Pre Rup. This temple is also built from brick, but is much more impressive than Kravan.
Pre Rup consists of several towers, and though many of the towers look a little precarious, you can still climb up the steps to the top level. From the top, you can catch a glimpse of Angkor Wat in the distance.
Pre Rup consists of several towers, and though many of the towers look a little precarious, you can still climb up the steps to the top level. From the top, you can catch a glimpse of Angkor Wat in the distance. 
Our next temple stop was at Banteay Kdei, one of the many temples built by Jayavarman VII in the 12th and 13th centuries. Unlike Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei is sprawling, and you walk in from one side and out the other. There is only one real level, but you wind through corridors. Our driver picked us up at the end and we continued. At this point, it was already starting to get quite warm outside, and it was only 9:30am!
Temple number 4 = Ta Keo. Ta Keo is curiously lacking any carvings or decoration. The king abruptly stopped construction right as that process was beginning. The story told by the guides is that lightning struck the top of the temple, which the King perceived as bad luck, so construction was halted. This is another towering temple - with incredibly steep steps. I can't even imagine climbing up these things in the rain. No gym needed here - the temples are your very own stairmaster. Here's what they look like from the top - while Viv climbs.
After Ta Keo, we drove a bit and stopped at Thommanom and Chau Saytevoda. These smallish temples are on opposite sides of the road, just outside the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom. Chau Saytevoda, in particular, is in a pretty bad state of ruin - pieces everywhere. It's an amazing process to reconstruct and restore the temples. They figure out the layout, then figure out where every stone fits into the structure. The stones are then numbered so that they can be put in the proper place - a giant three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.
Here's where it gets fun. We managed to get through these temples by about 10:35a or so, and we had contracted to have the guide and driver until 12p. There was one other temple that we thought would be a good one to see today before everyone else got here, but for a variety of reasons, it didn't happen. First, our guide told us that because we only booked the half day tour, the driver wasn't getting as much money, and because the next temple was a little farther away, he would not take us there. Eventually we got him to concede that we could ask the driver (amazing concept) and possibly pay him more money for the last visit - gas is expensive, after all. So we went back to the car and asked the driver if we could pay him a little more to take us out to see Neah Pean.
This time, we got a 'no' for a totally different reason. We could only see certain temples (there is a 'half-day tour' and 'full-day tour' described on the map... we took it as a suggested itinerary of sorts, but he made it sound like the hotel policy only allowed certain temples to be included in each. This makes some sense if you're traveling in groups and booking group tours. We really couldn't understand how hiring a driver and guide came with limitions on where you could go. Seriously.
Eventually, we got our guide to concede that this was silly, though he proclaimed it was hotel policy. At this point, he informed us that we no longer had time to go to the temple and still make it back to the hotel by noon. And if we showed up after noon, the hotel would charge us the full day rate. So instead, we made it back to the hotel at 11a. A solid hour before our paid for time was up. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled about that one. So we laid into the concierge manager for failing to disclose any of the so-called policies and restrictions to us and for generally being less than helpful. The conversation was somewhat painful, and I'm not sure if the problem was that he didn't understand us literally (because of language problems) or if he was just obtuse. It reminded me immensely of the minor problems we ran into in Vietnam - customer service folks in the hospitality business can serve up some truly lousy customer service. And I know that we're in SE Asia, and English is clearly not the main language. But if you're a western hotel chain operating a 5 star hotel, then I expect you to have a staff that speaks English. Sorry, that's just the way it is. After several minutes of attempting to explain the situation and or displeasure, we went to the pool to grab a snack and enjoy a good swim while we waited for our pals to get in.
Once everyone has arrived and settled in, we head into town to grab lunch at The Blue Pumpkin, a great cafe serving up both Western and Asian food, as well as smoothies, juices, and ice cream. We had some tasty treats and then we split up. Ashish and Amanda has a little trip planning to take care of for the next part of their journey, so they sought out an internet cafe, while Matt, Matt and Viv decided to get a tuk tuk and go check out Angkor Wat and get some pictures.
Angkor Wat is definitely impressive, but not immediately. I think this is because it is on such a large piece of land and the walls sort of go on forever. We were pretty excited when we pulled up, but like many of the temples the real appreciation comes once you have a sense for the scale and place of the entire compound - and this one is large. Check out the clouds, though. There wasn't really any sunset today, but we did avoid the rain.
We walked through and around the temple and got some good pictures. We also ran into a group of at least 30 monkeys hanging out in the back. Playful little dudes... one of them grabbed a tourist's hat and leapt up on the temple roof to deposit it.
For dinner, we cleaned up and went over to Meric in the Hôtel de la Paix. This place was super cool - great space, great decor, great vibe. The lounge was stunning, and the floating beds are a fantastic touch. The food is advertised (both in Luxe and around Siem Reap) as Modern Khmer, and we were excited to try it. Turns out, though, that the menu is basically high end hotel food, with a set menu option of Khmer food. None of us were feeling the the set menu, though, so we ended up with some very good international food. It was definitely good, but it was not what we were expecting so the meal disappointed a little.
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