Weigh Angkor

I like the Cambodian way of naming things. Tonle Sap apparently means Big River. Why would you want to call it anything different if that's unambiguous for you and everyone you care about?

In a similar way, Angkor Wat just means City Monastery (blame the local guide if that's wrong). It used to be surrounded by a city built of wood, but the Siamese army burned it down 8 or 9 centuries ago. At least twice.

The current name of the nearby city is called Siem Reap, which means Siamese Defeated. I suspect this name is later, because parts of Angkor Wat are blackened by the smoke of pre-Siem-Reap burning down.

The best bit for me was starting at 4:45am in the pitch black (my friends won't believe I said that), walking in with just enough light to see, arriving with a hint of purple in the sky and then photographing Angkor Wat for 45 minutes solid as the purples climbed to pinks and oranges and finally the burning orb of the new day stared over each higher tier of the building in turn, daring us to stare back at the irresistible new day.

Less (strictly) romantic was the fact that 350-500 other people were also trying to get into the exact spot that would yield the best photo, so cameras were held higher and higher to try to avoid getting each other in shot. Eventually I stopped shooting the temple and took aim at the thronging horde. If you get lemons....

Other temples followed - Angkor Wat is in a huge "park" area with many other temples. Next best was probably the "Tomb Raider" Jungle Temple. Fascinating and amazing to see tree roots tilting Walls and demolishing ceiling arches. I suppose it wasn't too busy - only a 15 minute wait for a gap in the stream of visitors each time one wants to photograph a scene instead of mainly the seers.

Wouldn't have missed it, though. A day to remember. And Vietnam tomorrow night, provided the letter of invitation successfully turns into a visa.