21 December 2015. The Roluos Temples and Phnom Bakheng at Sunset

Today I set off for three temples that are set apart from the main grouping. They are found down the busy Highway 6, about 12 kilometres towards Phnom Penh. Mr Neang and the tuk tuk bowled down the road, not in the least inhibited by sharing it with large trucks and fast cars.

The tuk tuk was looking more chipper today, having two nice mirrors, replacing the one with its glass missing.

The first temple we stopped at was Lolei. It is approached down a quiet track and seemed very laid back and free of tourist traffic.

This was also home to a monastery and a school and the teacher showed me around with pride. This seemed a very genuine school with a computer lab and library. Of course, I was asked for a donation but it did not seem like a tourist attraction.

The temple itself was in quite a state of disrepair and there was much scaffolding to make photographs difficult. It was a lovely cover with some well-preserved statues.

Next we went to the main temple of the trio - Bakong. You cross a lake to get to it.

and then start climbing through the levels to reach the shrine

Finally we stopped at Preah Ko.

We went on to Angkor Wat. I wanted to see it a last time - on this trip at least. I arrived at a moment when it was easy to climb to the upper level - no queue at all. At the top, I visited some shrines that I think I'd missed the first time.

I came across another in one of the long galleries. 

Outside, it was getting towards sunset and the photographers were already setting up in pole position and people were practising their poses.

Finally, I headed up to Phnom Bakheng for sunset. Here there was a queue to climb the steps of the temple and it looked touch and go whether it was worth joining it. However, the numbers coming down encouraged me and I got up to the top a few minutes before the sunset. It was nice but not life altering.