Angkor Wat, etc.

Finally, the photos from Angkor Wat! And I'm sorry there are so many of them!

Outside of Angkor Wat.

Walking up to it.

Three Cambodian kids who trailed me for a while.

There were carvings like this along all the inside walls of the city.

The stairs are much steeper than they look!

Local kids performing inside the main square of Angkor Wat.

Then I went on to Phnom Bakang, which required a bit of a hike into the hills, but was deserted and beautiful.



My first sighting of the temple.

The stairs I climbed up to the top.

View from the top- you can see all the way to the lake, a few hour drive from town.

Then onto Angkor Thom, to see something I've dreamed about- Bayon.

The faces of the Buddha. (Or king Jayavarman II, possibly)

Surreal.

Then over to Baphuon, still in Angkor Thom. You can't actually get into the temple right now, which was disappointing because its one of the main Hindu temples.

Baphuon.

Then I headed to Ta Prohm, to see the ancient trees growing out of the temple in the jungle.

These roots were more than two times as big around as me.

Photos from First Two Days!

Here are the photos from the night I arrived and the picnic the next day. The temple was beautiful where we picniced, but just wait for the Angkor Wat photos.

At the airport in Bangkok, reading Siddhartha for the upteenth time, with my Thai snacks which I spent way too much money on, but enjoyed nonetheless.

Our tiny plan to Siem Reap- we took a bus out on the tarmac to it.

My first photo of Siem Reap, along the river close to my lodge.

First sighting of our picnic spot. (Not in the pond, obviously)





You can't really see, but there are huge pink and white lotuses blooming. Mental note to get a new camera. I think Bina took a good photo of them, I'll get it from her later.

Walking to the picnic spot.

Active minefield next to where we were hiking.

First sight of an ancient temple in Cambodia!

No tourist know about this temple, its about 1 1/2 hrs from town.

Bina!

Tree growing over the old stones.

Part of the temple complex, and one of the guys sitting on the pile of stones.

Part of the temple.

View from this ant infested ruin that I climbed and perched on.


Me right before I had the brilliant (or stupid) idea to climb the ruin.

View from the ledge I climbd. Is much further down than it looks here.

View of the pagoda from the ruin.

Inside the pagoda. There were little monk boys too.


Children at the picnic.

Another view from that ruin I climbed.

Some more of the temple complex.

The drive home was miraculous and shining.

Red sand road- this was the ONLY place it was smooth and not full of huge water-filled ruts.

A typical Khmer household.

Driving home.

The kittens that live outside my window.
I took a bazillion photos of them.