Temple Raider part 3 - The final stand
After a day off from temple raiding, and for Drew's sake from eating or moving at all, we were again ready to move. Norith, our driver from the first day picked us up and drove us to Beng Melea, a temple from the Angkor Wat period. It's located about 40km from Sierm Reap and it was not among the temples I had visited when I was in SR earlier. That being said, I think the large circle closer to the main temples was a lot more intereesting than this one.
It wasn't uninterresting, but it took some time getting there, and if we'd stayed to the ones closer we would've been able to see many more than just this one. As so many times before there were plenty of chinese tourists and they often take up quite a lot of space. They do however have their poses infront of everything which I find highly enjoyable.
Beng Melea did have some excellent places to pose, this being one that the others didn't dare to try, but it was (probably) safe enough.
Another semi-boring meal and then back on the road. Our driver tried, as he should, both to suggest other places and increase his sales, and prices increased quite steep just by going a few kilometers off the main track. We opted for Banteay Srey, a temple I'd seen four years ealirer, but which is one of the better preserved in Angkor.
It's largely built in red sandstone, and most of the decore and carvings are still observable. The temple is called "the jewel of Khmer art", and is with good reason a tourist favorite. But as it is a bit outside the main temples, it isn't completely packed anyway.
On our way back we experienced the first time we had to adapt to the rain, we went back to the hotel and instead of going out to get something to eat, we ate at the hotel. During more than 2 weeks, this and a 5 minute shower in Yangon were the only times we had to care about the rain. It did rain a few time more, but mostly while driving in to Mandalay and a few times during the night.
That's the great thing when going here just after the hot season has ended and just before the rainy season is up to max activity, there really isn't much rain to care about at all.
