Siem Reap - Angkor Temples, Cambodia

On the way from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap we had a little stop on the side of the road. There were fruit stands, snack shops, a restaurant, and women selling fried spiders, although, some of the spiders seemed to be moving about.

Brian and I hired a tour guide, Leda, to take us around the Angkor temples for two days.

The Angkor temples are one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and it was a finalist for the New 7 Wonders of the World, but didn't make the cut. I don't remember the names of each and every temple we saw, but I will try to label the following pictures as best as I can.

On the first day we saw was Angkor Thom and Bayon:



Ta Prohm:

The buildings are engulfed in the trees because they weren't in use for about 700 years and the ground just built itself up around the temples. Then in 1914 the French came and excavated the site.

Angkor Wat:

The only apsara dancer relief showing her teeth in the whole temple.

In the evening we were taken to the top of a hill to see the sunset. There were so many people standing on this one point taking pictures, so Brian thought it would be funny to do a "Where's Jessica?" like a "Where's Waldo?" among the people...

On the second day we saw several smaller known temples. I unfortunately do not remember the names of these...

Brian liked these temples a lot because he was able to climb all over them.





Leda explained that during the dry season the people in the region cannot grow too much, so they extract palm juice from the palm trees and boil it until it becomes a sugar. They can then sell the sugar to make a little money.

At the end of the day we bid adieu to our amazing guide Leda.

That evening Brian got on a plane back to San Francisco and the next morning I was headed to Bangkok.