Siem Reap, Cambodia

We have come to the end of our journey through South East Asia! It has been a fantastic journey. We have eaten a lot of anazing food, meet some really interesting people, and seen some incredibly beautiful places. It's crazy to think that tonight we depart for a whole new part of the world. We are flying to Christchuch, New Zealand via Melbourne, Australia where we will say goodbye to leisurely tuk tuk drives and guesthouses and say hello to campgrounds, tramps, and our very own rental car. As much as it is sad to leave this part of our journey, we are ready to take a more active role in our own maintenance. Aka I can't bear the thought of one more restaurant meal. Simple pasta cooked by ourselves on our little camper stove sounds like the height of luxury to me (although I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune shortly). 

Our final destination in SE Asia was Siem Reap. Our visit here was cut short a little by the dual influences that we never want to leave Koh Rong, ever, and I was a little too sick to travel. So we only had two days to explore Angkor Wat. A lot of the temples in Angkor Wat were built as Buddhist temples, then converted to Hinduism, and now have been converted back to Buddhism. I have to admit a lot of the cultural context when straight over my head as I tried to grapple with two religions that I know little about. Jasmine, with a four year Religious studies degree under her belt, fared a little better. But sometimes it feels that the more knowledge you have just makes you more aware of how little you actually understand. Although it was a very beautiful place, I'm glad that we only had two days to explore the complex. It was enough temple sightseeing for me (I apologize if that makes me seem terribly uncultured). 

On the first day, we hired a tuk tuk driver and our own personal guide to show us around. We visited the three most popular temples on this day 1) Ta Prohm 2) Bayon and 3) Angkor Wat. It was a really great day. Our guide was a ton of fun. On multiple occasions throughout trip, we've hired some really chatty guides. The conversation can sometimes be hard to follow as they rapidly switch between describing where we are, discussing whether or not they believe in ghosts, and mocking whatever foolish thing Jaz and I were doing at the time.

Ta Prohm, our first temple of the day, was lost in the jungle for about 500 years. It became overrun with trees sprouting out of the ruins. Now the trees roots wrap around the ruins looking like a mythical kraken with tentacles wrapped around a shipwreck. It was so cool! An awesome introduction to the complex.

The roots look like reaching tentacles.

Unfortunately, a lot of my shots were marred by the sheer volume of tourists so clambering around the temple with us. Please just look around the man with the tripod!

A tree smothering the temple.

If you look carefully in the gap, you can see a carved face peering back at you.

If you look carefully in the gap, you can see my face peering back at you.

This carving at Ta Prohm is really cool because you can actually see the alterations made to the temples when they were switched from Buddhism to Hinduism. This used to be a Buddha with his hands in his lap in meditation. It was recarved to be an Ascetic with his hands in a prayer position.

Two Apsaras. All the temples have many carved images of these celestial maidens or guardians.

Our guide was a photographer. So we actually got some great photos of the two of us. Unfortunately, he was alway dissatisfied with the poses Jasmine and I took. So we also, at his behest, got some shots of us looking incredibly awkward.

On the left is our go to, on the right we don't know what to do!

Our guide teaching Jaz how to take a photograph. If you think the photographs are better than the average, all credit goes to our guide!

This image is from the second temple we visited called Bayon. 

Carving of the Chinese army outside Bayon.

At Bayon.

More heads of Bayon.

This is the Naga, a seven headed snake who represents the seven colours of the rainbow. 

Angkor Wat! Angkor wat is most impressive in its vastness. It is the only temple that faces to the West. This makes people believe it was intended to be a tomb instead of a temple. 

A side entrance to Angkor (we were trying to escape the floods of other tourists).

On the second day, we couldn't justify hiring a guide again, so jasmine took over the role. We went to a few less popular sites and pretty much had them to ourselves. Without a guide to protect us, every entance and exit from a temple we were swarmed with people trying to sell us stuff calling out, "ladies! Coconut? Ladies! Cold drink? ladies!" One little girl followed us for about ten minutes, so Jasmine caved and bought something from her. Unfortunately, this meant all the other kids saw us as potential customers and it was hard to shake them all off. 

We saw our first monkeys! After finishing his mango, this guy started chomping down on a banana! Unfortunately, he turned his back to me with a scowl as he scarved down his second treat, so I didn't get a good shot.

At the terrace of the Leper King.

Partially restored Apsaras.

Escaping the heat in this temple that we pretty much had to ourselves.

Inside this temple, lots of small Cambodian children were relaxing and making fun of Barangs (blue eyed people with long noses aka Jaz and I). After a while, a great game of what looked to be hide-and-seek broke out.

This girl was hiding from her friends.

A ruined carving that we liked.

I like this photo because a) two of those children are wearing life jackets (granted huge ones) but I think this is the only evidence I've seen of any kind of safety equipment my whole time here. Second, although Angkor Wat was beautiful we got the sense that it would be spectacular during the rainy season. Everything would be green and lush. The complex is so huge that sometimes it feels you are more on national parkland than visiting temples. It's been put on both our bucket lists to come back here during the monsoons.