Tomb Raiders. Of the sweaty, non-Angelina variety.
You can get a tourist visa on site at the Cambodian/Thai border. This can be accomplished by a few steps, including walking through a shanty market in the blistering heat while a random guy has already taken off with your luggage in an ox cart, waiting in an outdoor stall area with various animals and people running around, paying $28US, waiting a while, and then wandering through very loose security (my customs agent was talking on his cell) to reclaim your luggage that has aged 20 years in the heat. A very interesting afternoon!
We arrived in Siem Riep, Cambodia, with our tour guide Kaesar - a tiny little Cambodian man with a hilarious lagh and a knack for telling long winded but quite comical stories. Our first night the entire group went out for a traditional Cambodia meal. Mars and I had fish amok, curry, and a few local Angkor beers, which cost a grand total of about $3 each. During our meal we were treated to some very beautiful apsara dancing. I was absolutely fascinated by how these girls moved their hands and feet. Their costumes were gorgeous as well.
The folliowing morning, we set off on day 1 of our two day temple tour. The ancient temples here are stunning and extremely diverse. They display a range of art/architecture styles and spanover 4 decades ofprolific building by each successive king. The first temple complex we visited was Angkor Thom. The Bayon temple here is known for its over 200 smiling faces of Bayon (an artistic depiction of a face that is part Buddah, part King). A great start. These temples were in great disrepair until they were re-discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On day 2, we awoke early (memories of Machu Picchu!) to see the sun rise over the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. Not only was that a fantastic site, but watching the throngs of tourists (mostly Asian - I'm not being racist just observing the facts) elbow each other to get the best photographic vantage point. I think we did a pretty good job. Angkor Wat is a massive temple complex, with a huge hand dug moat around it. It is one of the best preserved temples and the stone carvings inside tell the stories of Hindu creation (early kings were Hindu, later ones were Buddhist). Our fab tour guide, Li, was very knowledgable about each temple and took us through all of the stories, history, and temple uses. In the pictures below, Angkor Wat is the temple with the pointed peaks at the top. The dorway photo of Mars and the black and white photo are also of this temple. Next we visited my favourite temple by far, and not just because Angelia kicked ass there in the movie Tomb Raider. The "jungle temple" was discovered around the same time as many of the others, however it had become widly overgrown by the jungle, with many of the huge trees now responsible for holding up the temple walls. It was beautiful to see the stones mixed with nature and the temple had endless picturesque moments. Absolutely had a mystical feel there, again but for the Koreans wandering around en masse! It was a monumental travel experience to see these great structures and walk all around and in them (can you find me in the tree root??.
We arrived in Siem Riep, Cambodia, with our tour guide Kaesar - a tiny little Cambodian man with a hilarious lagh and a knack for telling long winded but quite comical stories. Our first night the entire group went out for a traditional Cambodia meal. Mars and I had fish amok, curry, and a few local Angkor beers, which cost a grand total of about $3 each. During our meal we were treated to some very beautiful apsara dancing. I was absolutely fascinated by how these girls moved their hands and feet. Their costumes were gorgeous as well.
The folliowing morning, we set off on day 1 of our two day temple tour. The ancient temples here are stunning and extremely diverse. They display a range of art/architecture styles and spanover 4 decades ofprolific building by each successive king. The first temple complex we visited was Angkor Thom. The Bayon temple here is known for its over 200 smiling faces of Bayon (an artistic depiction of a face that is part Buddah, part King). A great start. These temples were in great disrepair until they were re-discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On day 2, we awoke early (memories of Machu Picchu!) to see the sun rise over the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. Not only was that a fantastic site, but watching the throngs of tourists (mostly Asian - I'm not being racist just observing the facts) elbow each other to get the best photographic vantage point. I think we did a pretty good job. Angkor Wat is a massive temple complex, with a huge hand dug moat around it. It is one of the best preserved temples and the stone carvings inside tell the stories of Hindu creation (early kings were Hindu, later ones were Buddhist). Our fab tour guide, Li, was very knowledgable about each temple and took us through all of the stories, history, and temple uses. In the pictures below, Angkor Wat is the temple with the pointed peaks at the top. The dorway photo of Mars and the black and white photo are also of this temple. Next we visited my favourite temple by far, and not just because Angelia kicked ass there in the movie Tomb Raider. The "jungle temple" was discovered around the same time as many of the others, however it had become widly overgrown by the jungle, with many of the huge trees now responsible for holding up the temple walls. It was beautiful to see the stones mixed with nature and the temple had endless picturesque moments. Absolutely had a mystical feel there, again but for the Koreans wandering around en masse! It was a monumental travel experience to see these great structures and walk all around and in them (can you find me in the tree root??.
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