But it was, we rose at 4.45, had breakfast in the moto dop, saw Angkor Wat as dawn crept over the temple complex, then headed straight to Ta Prohm.  There we were completely alone to wonder around the ethereal and beautiful jungle temple intertwined with the fig, banyan and kapok trees without which they would collapse

Dawn Rooney in her temple guide "Angkor" quotes a Mr. M. Mc. Donald who wrote:

"So the temple is held in a strangle hold of trees.  Stone and wood clasp each other in grim hostility, yet all is silent and still without any visible movement to indicate their struggle, as if they were wrestlers suddenly petrified, struck motionless in the middle of a fight. The rounds of this battle are not measured by minutes but by centuries"

"yet all is silent and still" and so it was at 6,15am on Thursday November 22nd 2007 for 20 perfect minutes 

Devas to the left and Asuras on the right flank the causeways over the moat which lead to the five entry gates and towers to Angkor Thom They represent positive and negative and hold the serpent Vasuki in a centuries long  tug-of-war

We had our second breakfast of the day sitting on a stone under the amazing faces of The Bayon at the heart of Angkor Thom

We had to share the enigmatic smiles of the 200 or so massive heads with hoards of very large tour groups.  They totally clogged up the area, with aggressive touts collecting the $1 per person per photo with the 'dancers'

 In 2016 an elephant named Sambo died a heat and exhaustion induced heart attack.  Her death resulted in an online petition to end elephant riding at the temple it received over 185,000 signatures.    The first two elephants departed the park in 2019 and it is hoped the rest will be gone by 2020.  It is time, I hope they are taken somewhere they can enjoy retirement

     Once again photographing the Bayon from a distance was proving a challenge.   It always seems to end up looking like a haphazard pile of old rocks