Cambodia

Well, we did a lot more than just see the temples (or Wats) in Cambodia, but that is mostly what I am going to talk about. We went to Siem Reap and saw the temples (and ate some really good food) and then it was off to Battambang for a couple of days - did a countryside tour on motorbikes and had a bunch of fun. Ok, now that you know that here are the temples:

Angkor Wat: Yes, this is one of the 7 man made wonders of the world and after seeing it I can understand why. It is hard to explain about Angkor Wat because it is simply amazing. You walk through the front gate and look back at an architectural marvel. The three tiered pyramid is crowned by five towers that rise 65 meters into the air. On all of the inside walls that surround the lower levels of the Wat there are bas-reliefs (carvings) that depict differnt battles and periods of time. The detail in the carvings is simply amazing and I can't imagine how many years it took to do each one. We got to walk around the temple for as long as we wanted and, although some places were roped off (due to reconstruction or simply too dangerous), we got to explore much of what it had to offer. Our first view of Angkor Wat was at sunrise and it was amazing to see the different colors in the sky and the light first coming up over this masterpiece. One of the things I thought was most amazing was how it was built. The sand stone quarry was over 50km away from where the Wat is and all of the blocks (and there must be millions) were floated down the Siem Reap river and then transported to the building site. It is amazing what people can do when they set their minds to it (and have many workers to do all of the hard dirty work for them).

The surrounding buildings of the Wat are magnificent in their own rights and the vast yeards that surround the temple are also amazing. There is a pond, many trees, lots of manicured lawn, a library, an outer wall, a moat, and much much more. If you ever get the chance to see it I would say it is a must.

Bayon: This is probably my favorite temple simple because it was amazing to see all of the faces looking back at you . Supposedly there are 37 towers making up Bayon and there are 4 faces to each temple. There are also faces in other parts of the temple as well and no matter where you turn there are a pair of eyes on you. I don't know if anyone else agrees with me, but I think it is all the same person (Rob suggested it might be buddah, but I don't know - maybe it was a secret lover of the builder and this was his way of remembering her or him) with different expressions on their face. Anyway, the temple is amazing and I don't know how many faces there are, but it is crazy to see all of them. I heard it is better to see the temple in the afternoon because the light is better, but we saw it first thing in the morning and loved it because there were no crowds and the light was ok just the same. If you look really hard at the left tower you can see the face up at the top. Now, imagine about 1000 more looking at you at the same time. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

Ta Prohm: This temple was made famous by the movie Lara Croft Tomb Raider because of the tree that overgrows one of the walls. Look at the pic and then see if you can remember the scene in the movie. Anyway, it was a very cool temple because of the trees growing over some of the walls and passageways. It is hard to describe walking into the temple and seeing these massive trees that you know weigh tons growing over the stone walls of the temple. It just goes to show you that nature will have its way whether you want it to or not. The roots have done some damage to the temple, but it is amazing to see the walls still standing underneath all of the weight. If you can only see three temples while in the Siem Reap area (you should really spend more time on the temples because they are too cool) it should be the three I have mentioned.

As I said before, there are a ton of other temples that should be seen in Siem Reap, but that these are all I am going to talk about right now. Other things you should do while there are go to the Red Piano restaurant and order the Amok Fish (best around), enjoy some of the local places as well, get some yummy mangos in the market, go to the floating village (just to see the houses on the way there - it is amazing what people can live in) and just enjoy all that Siem Reap has to offer. If you can, take either the 6 hour bus ride or the 7.5 hour boat ride over to Battambang and see the countryside - it is amazing. Cambodia was great and I will have to go back to experience more, but that is all the time I had on this trip. Next, off to Thailand to do some rock climbing.