We woke up well before the crack of dawn to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat.
However fitting with our previous luck on sunrises, it was cloudy, so the sunrise was rather boring.
Angkor Wat looks most impressive from the outside, with the long bridge across the giant moat followed by the huge gate.
Way back in the corner there you can see the famous “five stone pineapples, fringed with flames”.
They are much easier to see from the temple on the hill across from it.
Inside around the bottom are tons of intricate carvings.
And hundreds more apsaras, which quite clearly have straight legs, straight hips, and feet shooting off in the wrong direction.
They also have no knees, but sometimes their legs have a weird curve in the thigh.
The top sanctuary was decorated with thousands of these lobsters.
Or maybe they are roosters?
Or maybe even some kind of weird flower?
A lot of the repeated carvings seem to have the sculptures playing a game of telephone, where they carve a symbol on one end and by the time they get across to the other it’s completely different.
The windows were barred which makes the view out not very good.
The carvings were very well preserved and on some of them you could still see traces of paint.
Or even gold leaf.
One panel showed lions in a conga line dancing on the shoulders of a line of soldiers.
Another showed a god riding a snake wearing a saddle.
But you do not need a saddle to ride a flying eagle-man. You just stand in the awkward dance position on his shoulders and it works great.
More dignified gods ride in chariots pulled by lions.
Underneath the water are crocodiles, fish, and lions with elephant trunks. Because where else would you look for an elehpant-nosed lion?
I think the guide book said this was a depiction of Hell, but it looks more like a circus. Maybe that’s the same thing.
Kerri attempted to replicate the awkward dance posture but is not nearly flexible enough. Also only men were allowed to do it.
But Matt wouldn’t even try.
And that was Angkor Wat.
I say those are roosters!