Two Tons of Fun!

January 1st, 2013
by Brooke Priddy

We started out the morning on a visit to Angkor Thom, the ancient capital city of Cambodia.  "Angkor" simply means city, and although Angkor Wat is the most famous ancient structure, there are dozens of ruins around the country. Inside the ancient city, we visited Bankong Temple and Baphuon Temple, both of which were built in the 12th century. The temples were beautiful with shrines, images of Buddha, and many carvings. As you walked through the shrines you were given incense and would say a prayer, and receive a braided bracelet. The most exciting part of the morning started when we were driving into the temple area. As we passed through the entrance we saw a sign advertising elephant rides. When the group saw the signs we freaked out, and begged for a chance to ride the elephants. We quickly toured the temple, and rushed over to the elephants. We paid our money and waited for enough elephants to return from earlier trips. As we prepared to go on the elephants we were so excited, and took so many pictures. The first group to go was Blake, Noah, and Matt. They climbed up to the platform and stepped into the chair on the elephant, and began their journey around the circumference of the temple. Rachel and CeMaia were next, and then Brigid and me.  Dana and Mr. Kosegarten followed and Dr. Romeyn and Mr. Riffee brought up the rear with the camera and video camera.  The elephant drivers would put their feet on the back of the elephant's ear to lead them in the right direction. As all the groups turned the last corner we were sorry that our time was up, but happy that we had got the experience to ride elephants. Matt had a chance to feed a pineapple to his elephant and we all touched the elephant's snout.  It was an amazing experience and all of were so excited that we rode them.   In keeping with the elephant theme, after we visited the famous elephant terrace and saw many depictions of elephants in the stone walls.  We learned that thousands of elephants were used in the construction of the temples, and they had to drag sandstone from a quarry many miles away.