The sun rises in the east: Kampuchea-temples and people

Just got back from a round of golf (apologies to the non-golfers) was expensive but figured I had to play at least once on my vacation. Nick Faldo course 9(rated no. 3 new course in Asia, didn't realize they use women caddies (all dressed in pretty green outfits) mine was named Sari-didn't speak english that well but boy could she read putts. Beautiful course plenty of water but actually played pretty well for the first time this year. Had 4 pars and finished with a 46 on the back for 98. Now I can say I've played on 3 continents. Sorry no photos -worried I'd forget my camera.
Tried to write this last night but kept losing internet and no way to save this while I'm writing. I'll try again. I must have been disoriented last entry-thought it was Sunday.
So I'll go back to the start of our trip in Kampuchea -the name the Khmer people call their country-we know it as Cambodia. We arrived from Saigon on Thursday, checked into our beautiful hotel -Pavillon d'Orient- a boutique hotel outside the main town of Siem Reap.

As I mentioned in the last blog Siem Reap is not really representative of Kampuchea elsewhere although there are some similarities. It is mostly a tourist town with Khmer living among the tourists. We have a fantastic guide Riik who has had an eventful life. He was a child during the reign of the Khmer Rouge and lost and aunt and uncle. His parents were farmers so they were initially spared in the slaughter of professionals. Another uncle narrowly escaped death , he was digging his own grave and overpowered the teenager who was to shoot him. He hid in the jungle for two years. Our guide himself was denounced because he was found with the wrong uniform, because he had supporters in his village his life was spared but he was ostracized and sent to work and sleep in the fields. He witnessed the death of another boy by wolves and would run back to his parents house to sleep till early morning and then return. He studied hard and now is an english teacher as well as a guide and seems to have a "Zen" view of his existence. He is a superb guide , easy to understand who knows how to avoid the crowds here (not easy tremendous amount of asians) as well as have us at the sites at the right time to take photos (sun position).
So the first day we saw 3 temples and saw sunset at a fourth. We were supposed to take a balloon ride but the balloon was non functional so that took us to dinner and traditional Khmer dancing.

We were taken to the temples in a more or less chronologic order (the earlier temples first). The first few temples were built in the 9th century when the principle religion was Hinduism- the carvings and bas relief reflect this with temples devoted to Siva and Vishnu