Angkor Wat was Amazing

Now I've been in Siem Riep for about 5 days and have been to the temples 2 full days. A full day of temples makes you very tired so it is difficult to do two full days in a row, but there is so much to see. Angkor Wat is one temple but the whole area is over 50 temples. I decided to go to a bunch of smaller temples around Angkor Wat one day by tuk tuk with a friend, and another day on bicicle for the center big temples. Each temple is pretty different than the others so every one was interesting. I'll try to label all the temple pictures with what temple it is (and there are a lot, now 1/3 of my pictures are from 2 days of temples).

The first day I was there I just relaxed all day. I met a very nice french guy (his name is T-bo in english but its really spelled Thibault), who ended up being friends with John from Same Same in Phnom Penh. We hung out with a dutch guy all day and talked. T-bo and I made plans to go to see the smaller temples the next day by tuk tuk because he already saw all the big ones. It is very easy to spend all day at the Garden Village because you can choose your own music from a huge selection, get whatever food you want, check e-mail (if your ok with 30 min waits between pages), play games, and relax freely talking to cool people.

The next day T-bo and I met up in the morning and got a tuk tuk. The ride was fun and we saw a lot of cool temples. The best temple of the day and maybe my favorite of all was one we had to pay the tuk tuk extra to go to because it was off the normal tourist track.. I'll let the pictures do the talking for the temples because I could go on and on. In a lot of places its all about the carvings, just amazing and all over the place. And in other locations the size is so big but you can never really capture it on camera.

Prasat Kravan

Banteay Kdei

Srah Srang reserviour

Pre Rup

Banteay Samre (My favorite, I think)

riding between temples

East Mebon

Ta Som

Neak Pean

Preah Khan

Sunset over the outer Angkor Wat wall

After a full day of temples, I relaxed again for a full day. There is not a lot to say. I was with a group of 4 danish guys a lot, T-bo, and a Sweedish guy. T-bo and the Sweedish guy were going to Battambong the next day and then going to try to get a train to Phnom Pehn. I guess there is one shipping train every two days on the railway but no passanger trains and they want to ride on top of the shipping containers. I wonder how that has gone for them.

The next day I rented a bike in the morning and headed off for the big Angkor Wat. I met a Dutch guy when I was renting the bike and we traveled together to the temples. He was a cool guy and we had a good day together. Because I missed the main temples and he was only there for one day we both wanted to do exactly the same temples. These were bigger and more fantastic but I liked being in cool places where there weren't a lot of tourists. Angkor wat was not my favorite but Bayon in Angkor Thom was amazing. Anyway here are more pictures to do the talking for me.

Wedding Ceremony outside Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Ta Prom (the tomb raider one)

restoring the temple at Ta Prom

Ta Keo

Thameanon and Chao Say Thevada

riding between temples

Victory Gate of Angkor Thom

An active temple in Angkor Thom

random ruins inside the walls of Angkor Thom

Bayon in Angkor Thom

Sunset from Phnom Bakkheng

Yesterday I just relaxed again all day, recovering from the bike ride and temple walking which took a bit out of me. This time I hung out with a guy from London, a girl from Canada, and a New Zealand guy with a Czech girlfriend. I didn't do much again just watched football and talked, and looked into what I want to do in southern Laos. Later we all went out for some stall food at night.

Today I'm here and am planning to go to Kratie tomorrow, its a town on the Mekong between Phnom Pehn and the Laos boarder. Today is the last day of my visa so I will overstay it a few days so I can spend a few days in Kratie before I go to the boarder and the 4000 island group, which are a bunch of islands on the Mekong right on the boarder with Cambodia. These temples really have been amazing and the Garden Village guest house is great so all in all Siem Riep has been a wonderful experience and I'm ready to go to Laos!