Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

2 of the 216 faces at the Bayon
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Angkor Wat……. the eighth ancient wonder of the world??!!! (or at minimum the most important and largest religious site in Southeast Asia). It also a Unesco World Heritage site.

Siem Reap is a nice little city town which draws loads of tourists that want to see this wonder along with the great ancient city, Angkor Thom and the Bayon (with all 216 smiling faces carved out of the stones) and the many other temples of the Khmer empire. We thoroughly enjoyed two gorgeous sunsets and one stunning sunrise at or near the temples. We also spent nearly one full day touring the various temples learning of the defeat of Siam (now Thailand) by the Khmers which is when the temples were built (between the 9^th and 13^th century). We also learned of the ancient civil war between the Hindus and Buddhists which unfortunately resulted in some damage to the temples as have the elements over time . The temples are really quite magnificent as there are so many carvings in the sandstone structures depicting life at the time.

On the road at 5:30 am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat!
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Outside of our visits to the temples (which was quite tiring in the steamy heat of the day!) we were also able to visit a local orphanage to learn about their daily life and we went to market to buy the food and made them all lunch. It was quite something as there were around 80 children.

A few good Khmer meals later – we were ending our time in Cambodia and moving on to Bangkok for our final group dinner.

Tidbit of the day: The derivative for the ancient city is from Angkor which in Khmer means “city” and Wat meaning (Buddhist) temple.

The gate into the ancient city
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Final notes on Cambodia:

· Costs were more expensive than any other Asian country (albeit still cheaper than at home). In many cases, this is due to the fact that much of the items have to be imported.

· Easy going, nice people – similar to Lao

· VERY hot weather – and this isn’t even summer

The massive Banyon trees overtaking the temples (where Tomb Raider was filmed)
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· Tragic history but hope for the future as tourism helps the economy and other countries assist in moving them forward.

· The government here is very corrupt which is really too bad. Most of the schools and charitable work isn’t sponsored by the government but from other countries. Many schools were built by other countries as well.

· Angelina Jolie is a hero here. They all love her and what she’s done for the country and the village that Maddox came from.