Banteay Kdei Temple

The previous post in this series is here..

After visiting the Tomb Raider Ta Prohm temple, we went to the Banteay Kdei temple.

When our driver mentioned we will go to “Bun Tea kadai” I thought in Tamil.. he was going to get us to a shop that sold bun and tea.. for breakfast.. the visions of fresh steaming pav and chai was floating in my head. When he stopped at the parking lot and declared we had arrived, only then it struck me. It was yet another temple and I had heard what I wanted to hear.

Our driver said it was a really large temple and we should walk from this gate all the way to the other gate. It was a long distance, no kidding! He would drive the car and pick us up from the other gate. No point in us walking all the way back. We liked the idea.

The temple kept going and going and going.. we counted at least 20 arches through which we walked past on one straight line. The lingas were gone. The buddhas beheaded. Yet again a reminder that we as a collective are idiots. When we finally saw the one active shrine with a new Buddha that people were praying to, we also said a prayer and walked out.

These temples must have been spectacular in their hey dey! How did a country with these riches become what it is today.. we can only wonder.

When we came out we asked our driver “next stop Angkor Wat?” . He said “No. We can see one more temple before we head to Angkor Wat temple”.. This is a different style.. so off we went..It was still pleasant and just before 9AM. We had been on the road since 4;30 but were holding up pretty good.. will pick up that temple in the next post..

Banteay Srei temple - a beauty that was ahead of the big temple by 50 years

The previous post in this series is here..

After our epic romantic lunch, we drove a short distance downhill to reach the Banteay Srei temple. This temple predates the Tanjore big temple by 50 years! It is a Hindu temple with a beautiful moat and carvings with separate shrines for most of the main deities. Sadly the French dismantled most of it and took it to France.. what is left is a fraction of the original temple and is still mind blowing. Humans don’t know how to leave a magnificent creation the way it is. Religiion, language, culture wars take a toll on beauty.

We walked around the temple. It was hot already. The restrooms here were really well maintained. The staff friendly but firm in enforcing people stay within the ropes. Was thinking “isn’t this a too little too late!”

Sarak of course was practicing photography the entire time. I should have spent more time teaching him how to use portrait mode better.. would have had more good pictures. In any case here are the photos..

after we had taken a portrait at every door frame and window frame we told our driver, all the pictures are starting to look the same. So we can finish this location and move. We did get to see the moon rise over the temple top when we went all the way to the back of the temple. It was beautiful!!

after the temple we drove past a market to our next stop. I got fresh roasted local cashews. They were amazing. San got jackfruit which she kept eating through the rest of the trip. I am very allergic to it so when she gets it already in a sealed pouch, I cannot complain. Just told her not to keep it in my suitcase and all will be well. Then she ate fresh palm cakes with jaggery and kept raving about it for the next two days. Apparently this is not something even the locals can make at home. They just buy it in bulk in the market.

The video highlights reel.. the interesting part is the way rice is harvested.. hopefully more desi kids see this so they know how rice gets to their plate the way it does!

Then we went towards our next stop. The sun was up and it was hot and humid. We had already seen 6 locations since 7AM. We were getting tired, but weren’t going to give up. So we tredged on..

Seen one ash buried city, you have seen them all - Pompeii

The previous post in this series is here..

After visiting Herculaneum, I drove in peak traffic to Pompeii. There are a lot of one way roads and once in Pompeii, there was no parking. Finally we found parking. When we got out, San and the kids were tired. It was a 100 F outside and Jr. said she was not feeling well. This was our healthy child ! Was it because of the two hour soak in the sea the previous evening? In any case, they decided to go find a place to eat and message me. Was given one hour from entry to exit in Pompeii. There were a few people in front of me in the line who did not share my sense of urgency and were blocking all lanes in hopes that one of them would get to the counter. The girls whose job it was to order the crowd to the limited ticket counters were useless and just sat there gossipping. Once I got my ticket, I just ran through the entire site. Clicked a few selfies on the way, and followed the crowd all the way to the amphitheater.

The rooms and roads of Pompeii give you the same impression as Herculaneum, but the homes seem not as lavish. Seems to be a larger crowded place. These are some unique things that caught my eye that were different from the previous site. The amphitheater at the end of the site that could house 10,000 people was just amazing as was the gymnasium courtyard. All of it gone in the blink of an eye, thanks to a volcano!

Only 360 pano shot I took in this place standing in the middle of the amphitheater.

A video highlights reel of my run through Pompeii.

When I started coming back, took a weird turn and ended up at a different exit.

I got lost in the end and saw no one for a minute and panicked.. finally two ladies who had a map told me there are multiple entrances to the place and the one where my family stayed back is most likely on the other end of the complex but was a straight 10 minute walk. That saved me..

It is better to do Herculaneum first than Pompeii. Glad I went there first and earlier in the morning. The place gets very hot. Maybe allot more time and do one site in the morning and the other in the evening?! In any case, the photos and videos here tell you the story!

Finally realized that my family had not given me their location because I had no data plan and was in airplane mode! Then found out that they had already finished lunch and were waiting for me at a nice place. They watched me eat a full pizza in record time and we started our walk back to the parking lot. It was a long drive in traffic back to our hotel in Sorrento. Came back to the room, showered again and went down to have some hot tea. Then had to take a power nap before leaving again on yet another adventure!

All said and done, do not miss visiting this site. Just allot more time, take an umbrella and a bottle of water and then roam around at a leisurely pace!