Angkor Who? Angkor Wat?

So, the main attraction here in Siem Reap, Cambodia is the famed Angkor Wat, and for the nominal price of only 80 bucks, you too can purchase a 3-day ticket to be used in 7 days. I managed to lose mine in just a smidge over 1 day but we'll get to that later.

Determined to see Angkor in it's best possible light we rose at a brutal hour of 4:00 A.M., and dragged our groggy booties into the back of, you ready for this Daddy-O, "yet another" tuk-tuk for the chilly ride out to Angkor.

Once we arrived, we sat on a muddy mound of grass in near pitch-blackness sipping overpriced coffee and waiting for the light show.

Ta da! Ooooooh. Ahhhhh.



Angkor is the 8th wonder of the world (how do I know this? Because the friendly folks at Lonely Planet say so, and if you've ever used the popular publication, then you know the writers never, ever, ever, exaggerate, mislead or just outright lie). Anyway, the problem with world wonders is that other people are aware of them too; consequently, we had to share our awe with a thousand or two others. Still quite a striking sight as the sun gradually illuminated the stone.



















The thought of Angkor conjures images of mystery, peace, solitude - a sanctuary and perfect place to meditate as you gaze quietly upon the ancient stone towers of yore...

"Pardon me, excuse me, sorry I stepped on your arm..." meditation interrupted.
"Lady! Sir! Want to buy a coke, want to buy a statue, want to buy a book, want to buy some water, want to buy a scarf, want to buy some post cards, want to buy a T-shirt, want to..."




Despite the lack of solitude, we still were impressed by the hugeness of it all. I'm sure we're not the first people to wonder what this place looked like in it's hay-day.
















Here we are taking ourselves pretty seriously.




























We bought some black and white film for the special occasion.













Ty taking another Glamor Shot.













After hiking around Angkor, it's nice to have a chuckle in the bathroom.

These posters are to keep tourists from misusing the toilet or the little hose one is supposed to use to wash one's butt.








This temple is outside of Angkor Wat and was probably our favorite temple - it is called Bayan. This is just the front gate.

The thing that differentiated Bayan from the other temples are the magnificent faces carved into the stone.











































As you may have guessed from past blogs, Ty has a little bit of a problem with heights. This proved an excellent place to challenge it.











Really? Could we get another handrail please?

















...or a guardrail.













She doesn't look it here, but she was actually kind of nervous.











Our other fav (can you have two favs?) was the "Tomb Raider Temple," Ta Prohm. This one looks almost just like it did when it was first re-discovered in the late 1800's by a French explorer.

What's crazy is that some of the oldest temples date back to the late 900's. They were later abandoned and forgotten for almost a thousand years! In that time, trees overgrew the temple leaving some pretty magnificent sights.









We sometimes find bizarre, cute, or just plain odd patterns which emerge upon reviewing our pictures at the end of the day.

At the end of this day we found our first photo with the "one-hand-on-the-hip-one-hand-on-the-tree" theme.












And this is the second.








































This is a slight variation of the hip pic; we call this pose "one-hand on-the-thigh-other-one-on-the-tree." Slightly more casual but equally incredible.































Dang. That's one helluva root. We elected not to include the hand on the hip version of this photo (which, of course, was also available in our reserve pics).































My rendition of the traditional Cambodian Aspara dancers.
















And Ty's.












If you're bored of looking at pictures of tree-roots growing on top of stone, then don't ask to see our end of the trip slide show. Reviewing some two-hundred pictures of pretty much "same same but different" and then hand selecting a few for the blog was a real treat. For some reason they all looked one-of-a-kind at the time I took them.







Inside the temples, there are several of these bands composed of landmine victims. They play for donations and sell their CDs. They are quite talented. Also, you can hear their music throughout the temples which adds a neat ambiance to the experience.







Okay, so kind of a non-sequitur but what are these two dragonflies doing (yes, I know they are mating, so maybe the more appropriate question is how are these dragonflies doing)? No, seriously, click on it, look at it big and then explain it to me.








Maybe we're desperate for material here and maybe we're worried about inducing temple-picture fatigue or maybe a combination, but we felt compelled to include this picture of our dirty feet.

Remember I said that you "can actually taste Cambodia." This is what you taste.





Siem Reap is the poorest city in one of the top 20 poorest countries in the world. Remember the riverside where the tourist dollars go in Phnom Penh? This is where they go in Siem Reap.












Some of the hotels on this street go for $2,000+ a night.










On the other side of the road, you can see where the tourist dollars don't go.

Today, one of the street-children asked Ty for the chicken drumstick she was eating. Ty put it in his dirty little hand and he immediately went to work gnawing off the few remaining bites.

He then quickly finished off the last sip of the soda I was drinking. They are genuinely starving.



We feel lucky to be able to buy a drink at our whim.

And faces don't lie. I was thoroughly impressed by this giant coconut and it's natural abundance of electrolytes.

Ty apparently, did not have enough of this vitamin rich gift from nature and maybe as a result, she became ill following our first day at the temples.




On our 2nd Angkor outing, Ty had developed some type of full-blown cold / sinus infection type stuff. She soldiered through anyway and we visited Banteay Srei, a beautifully well-preserved Angkor era temple some 30 kilometers away.

We were impressed by the intricate carvings in the red stone at this place.






I found these carvings seriously incredible.
















The surrounding area of the main Banteay Srei temple is a treat for the eyes as well.
























This one looked like a post card to me.

















Even though Demian said this one suits me well, I'm in the process of looking for a new Krama (woven scarf) as this one is getting a lot of exposure.


Just after this picture was taken, the tuk-tuk driver convinced us to pay an extra five bucks to go visit a mountain another 15 k away. Apparently, there was to be a waterfall, great views, hiking, and even an animal sanctuary there...



but we will never know because at the gate (after parting with the dough of course) I found that I had lost Ty's 40 dollar ticket after just one day and one morning of a three day pass.

To be fair, you weren't feeling well anyway, right honey? Maybe this was just my way of providing you with some well-needed rest, right honey? Right?

This is the outside of the temple where we would have watched the sunset had I not intentionally misplaced the ticket for the benefit of Ty's health.


We got back to the hotel and Ty slept. And slept.

I sipped an Angkor beer and watched the sunset all by my lonesome, not from Pre Rup Temple, but from our guesthouse window. Well, win some lose some I guess. To be fair, we were getting a bit templed-out anyhoo. We bid Siem Reap a satisfied farewell.





Okay, so I know the last blogs have not been particularly funny or light, but Cambodia is not always funny or light and we wanted to share our experiences as we've interpreted them so far. That said, we recently had quite the experience during our trip out to see some rare dolphins up in the NE region. We can all laugh a little on our next blog (mainly at my expense)! Thanks for reading about our adventure! Dolphin story to come...

All the best for now,

Nicholas and Ty-Ty