Angkor 
3 and a half days at Angkor and I can see why people stay longer. The largest religious site in the world truly is a wonder. I'm no ancient Khmer history buff, but the architecture and intricacy of the work was incredible. The major hot spots were flooded with tourists, but if you went early enough, which we did, you could still get some private moments to marvel in the splendor. We did a sunrise, sunset, and midday trip to Angkor Wat itself (above), checked out bas reliefs and read along in guide books. Educational, touristy, and rewarding. All that and a bag of chips.
Sunrise at Bayon was one of the highlights. The tour groups all start at Angkor Wat leaving Bayon nearly empty. We wandered around and inside looking at face after face. Strange, beautiful, mysterious, diggable!
Ta Prohm is one of the more famous examples of how a massive civilization completely abandoned its most sacred location, leaving the forrest to do as it pleased with it. The Khmers dominated southeast asia a thousand years ago, only to lose it all and be completely dominated by their neighbors on all sides. All of angkor was eventually abandoned to the forrest where it lay dormant until tourism came to save it. At the current rate of growth, and with a Korean company possibly getting contracts to operate much of its goings on, some are predicting 'Angkor Disney'. Get here as soon as you can.
Four of the 10,000 or so kids thats tried to sell me something at the temples. Most were good natured and quite a few had a fairly insane grasp of conversational english, and in some cases knew phrases in 7 languages. They were also eager to show you that they knew the population and capital of the US as well as the capitals of a handful of the states. Most claimed to go to school half the day, but all learned the languages and facts on the job. Many that I spoke to wanted to go to university and become teachers, but only a few of them could even afford the extra cash it takes to pay the teachers at the high schools. As resourceful as these kids are, Cambodia would be in much better shape for the future if they could only get this generation a legitimate education. Sad for all parties involved.
Early mornings, long days and late nights. Our driver and eventual drinking buddy took every opportunity to nap. I took every opportunity to give him a hard time about it. He then took every oppoortunity to drive with no hands on the wheel, facing us with a big smile, eliciting justifiable concern. It was a thing we had.
Taking a break from duties as 'serious tourist concerned with history' to eat a 900 year old fish. Would have been better with a little honey glaze.
3 and a half days at Angkor and I can see why people stay longer. The largest religious site in the world truly is a wonder. I'm no ancient Khmer history buff, but the architecture and intricacy of the work was incredible. The major hot spots were flooded with tourists, but if you went early enough, which we did, you could still get some private moments to marvel in the splendor. We did a sunrise, sunset, and midday trip to Angkor Wat itself (above), checked out bas reliefs and read along in guide books. Educational, touristy, and rewarding. All that and a bag of chips.
Sunrise at Bayon was one of the highlights. The tour groups all start at Angkor Wat leaving Bayon nearly empty. We wandered around and inside looking at face after face. Strange, beautiful, mysterious, diggable!
Ta Prohm is one of the more famous examples of how a massive civilization completely abandoned its most sacred location, leaving the forrest to do as it pleased with it. The Khmers dominated southeast asia a thousand years ago, only to lose it all and be completely dominated by their neighbors on all sides. All of angkor was eventually abandoned to the forrest where it lay dormant until tourism came to save it. At the current rate of growth, and with a Korean company possibly getting contracts to operate much of its goings on, some are predicting 'Angkor Disney'. Get here as soon as you can.
Four of the 10,000 or so kids thats tried to sell me something at the temples. Most were good natured and quite a few had a fairly insane grasp of conversational english, and in some cases knew phrases in 7 languages. They were also eager to show you that they knew the population and capital of the US as well as the capitals of a handful of the states. Most claimed to go to school half the day, but all learned the languages and facts on the job. Many that I spoke to wanted to go to university and become teachers, but only a few of them could even afford the extra cash it takes to pay the teachers at the high schools. As resourceful as these kids are, Cambodia would be in much better shape for the future if they could only get this generation a legitimate education. Sad for all parties involved.
Early mornings, long days and late nights. Our driver and eventual drinking buddy took every opportunity to nap. I took every opportunity to give him a hard time about it. He then took every oppoortunity to drive with no hands on the wheel, facing us with a big smile, eliciting justifiable concern. It was a thing we had.
Taking a break from duties as 'serious tourist concerned with history' to eat a 900 year old fish. Would have been better with a little honey glaze.
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