Still on the same day, two more temples were scheduled. First, over to Neak Pean, again 12th century, built by Jayavarman VII. The central temple sat at an axis of a lotus pattern of eight pools and resembled a coiled serpent. (Enclosed “Nagas” — snakes — encircled the temple.) My highlight was the statue of a horse facing the temple saving drowning sailors. Neak Pean also served as a hospital at that time and the waters were thought to have healing properties.

The spouts in each of the four pool faced east, west, north and south and were really interesting as well as photogenic, especially the elephant spout. During the wet season, water runs out the spouts into the surrounding pools.

Neak Pean Temple elephant spout, Cambodia

Neak Pean Temple sign in Cambodia 

my favorite horse rescueing drowning sailors at Neak Pean Temple, Cambodia 

The last temple of the day was Pre Rup and the most disappointing. It is known as the “Sunset Temple” and hundreds of tourists had already climbed…View image… up to watch the sunset from the top. Why? It wasn’t as if the view showed the sun setting over Angkor Wat or some other stupendous view. It didn’t. It wasn’t as if the setting sun lit up Pre Rup in some mysterious way. It didn’t. Skip it. I don’t care what anyone else says.

tourists on top of Pre Rup (the sunset temple), Cambodia 

hanging around waiting for Pre Rup sunset in Cambodia
Back to the Angkorland Hotel and out for dinner. One of the nice things about Siem Riep is you can practically live in the same pair of shorts from early morning until late at night (if your deodorant didn’t quit on you). It does cool off at night though and if you are eating outside, you may want to bring a light jacket along. I never did.

a little unusual food being served in Siem Riep, Cambodia
Dinner at the Red Piano, supposedly an Angelina hangout while making “Tomb Raider.” Angelina or Brangelina….the Red Piano had very good food. I just loved and enjoyed Siem Riep. The incredible ambiance at night with streets filled with restaurants, shops, sellers and, of course, massage parlors. Quite a few restaurants are on two or three levels. Sit on the upper level and watch all the goings on. When you’ve had enough, browse through the many shops, grab one of the thousands of tuk-tuks and go back to the hotel, absolutely exhausted. (Take a look at the sign in the Angkorland Hotel elevator. I can understand no guns. I can understand no drugs. The “no grenade” part was what scared the pants off me. Are they trying to tell us that people actually walk into hotels carrying grenades?)

No guns, grenades or drugs allowed in the Angkorland Hotel
The Angkorland Hotel is beautiful, very nice and in the “moderate” range but if you really want to spend some serious money, stay at the Meridian, Sofitel, Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor (our hotel in 1999 and not as expensive as it is now), La Residence d’Angkor, Angkor Palace Resort and Spa, Hotel de la Paix — any one of these will set you back $300-$1,600/night. Moderate runs between $70-300 a night. Want to keep going lower? Unlimited amounts of hotels and guesthouses. For example, the Dead Fish Tower Inn (no joke) has mid-range and backpacker friendly accommodations for $5-20 a night including breakfast. Something for everyone.

Do you think $2.00 for a large Angkor Beer is a lot? Almost all bars and restaurants have “happy hours.” Knock yourself out with large beers for 75 cents and you can eat easily for less than $3.00 a meal. Glasses of French, South African and Australian wine, $1.75-2.50 a glass…and…it’s good wine. We thought our trip to Laos last year had the most rock-bottom prices in Southeast Asia. Wrong…Cambodia is just as cheap. Go now, folks…it can’t possibly last much longer.