So I'll admit, this post will be predominantly pictures. It's not just due to my laziness but also many of these pictures speak for themselves I guess. I had the amazing opportunity last week to visit Siem Riep and experience for myself one of the Seven Wonders of the World. So naturally I'd love to share pictures with you from this excursion.
Admittedly though, I really have real concrete knowledge of the history of Angkor Wat. All I know is in the 12th or 13th century the Angkorian Empire dominated all of what is now Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and I think Vietnam. Siem Riep is littered with temples and stone structures all from that period. The purpose of Angkor Wat is up for debate; some think that it was a religious structure and others view it a former military stronghold of sorts.
I haven't been to too many tourist places since I've been in Cambodia, but this defintely takes the cake for being most touristy. It seriously felt like I was at the Cambodian version of Disneyland with all the different tourists, shops, restaurants, and van/tuk tuk rides out to different temples.
So I think I'll just split up each section with pictures from different temples. And I'll throw in some commentary now and then.
Here is the infamous Angkor Wat!
The entrance to the Angkor Wat plaza.
So this used to be a library. We think.
The cloudy weather made Angkor Wat seem more mysterious to me. I loved it.
Every stone structure was convered in incredibly ornate designs and carvings.
A huge wall was covered in a war scene between humans and monkey people. Predicting the Planet of the Apes perhaps?
The Apsara, or angels.
My attempt at a selfie at the top of Angkor Wat. Success.
On to some random temple! It was covered in moss so Imma call it the Moss Temple. Deal wit it.
We decided we wanted to meet Angelina Jolie so we visited Ta Prohm, one of the temples around Angkor Wat where a few scenes were filmed in the first Tomb Raider movie. It was raining while we were there, but it just made it all the more adventurous. We did Angie proud I think.
Even the Angkorians knew about dinosaurs. Coincidence??
What made this temple so cool was the complete takeover of plants and tree roots. Vines and roots broke through rocks, wrapped around pillars, and well, the picture pretty much shows you.
The next day we visited the Banteay Srei, or Women's Temple. The stone used to be red but is now a light red/pink color and the stone carvings were exceptionally ornate.
Apparently they needed flowers on their altars.
The money guardians. Yus.
This next temple was one of my favorites. I have no idea what it was called, again, but it gave us a fantastic view and.. I dunno... I was just such a cool temple. I should win a prize for how articulate and deep that last sentence was.
I died inside a bit when I saw that.
Absolutely gorgeous.
I decided to pose with the temple lion guardian thingy.
If you want your mind effectively blown, come to this next temple. It's called the Bayoan Temple. It's one of those places where you show up and end up dragging your jaw across the ground the whole time you're there. Not only does it make one cut up and dirty mouth and chin, but it makes great memories too.
We all freaked out when we pulled up in our van and saw this.
See?
Here's the reason for the freak out. The whole temple is made up of these giant head. They're EVERYWHERE. Kinda cool yet creepy at the same time.
I cannot begin to fathom how long and how many people it took to build and carve all these.
I had to participate in at least ONE tourist cliche. Let's get real here.
Yet another unknown named temple, but it was cool anyways.
Stairs. I hate 'em.
But the views are always worth it.
So. Many. Bricks.
I totally didn't mean to get Dan in this picture but I love that he is; it really shows how massive the tree is. So cool.
Onto the temples of the Elephant and Leper King!
Oh hey there elephants.
I couldn't decide if these people were all supposed to be lepers or not. It's up to interpretaion I guess.
And then South Gate. I feel like it's an entrance/exit or the ancient Ankorian temple plaza or something. Don't quote me on that though.
Heh.
So there you have it; a brief picture tour of a small fraction of the epicness that is Angkor Wat and all the small temples surrounding it. I have a bunch more pictures so if you wanna see them, feel free to hit me up sometime.
Another thing I loved about Siem Riep was the amazing night life us interns got to experience! First off, check out my saweet hotel room.
Pretty nice eh? I got this room all to myself. That means I got my own fruit basket daily, bedtime stories (printed on a piece of paper and tied neatly in a scroll), and bedtime snacks. They even turned down my bed for me. Oh, and the pool was bomb. If you're ever in Siem Riep, stay at the Gloria Angkor Hotel. It's pretty great.
We also got to explore the tourist central called Pub Street that's filled with restaurants, street vendors, and markets. It even has massage places where you can get a half hour back, neck, or foot massage for only $2. I'll take that. But hands down the most memorable part of Pub Street was when we all paid a dollar to have small fish "massage" our feet for fifteen minutes. We all sat around a huge tank and stuck our feet in the water so all these fish could swarm our feet and nibble off the dead skin. I'm sure the extremely loud, laughing, or even crying group of white Americans was quite the sight to see as we did it. It was hilarious. Ill get some pictures of it soon. I promise.
Lastly, Dan, Zoya, Kelsey, and I got to go visit a mosque located in the middle of the town. I've never been to one, and of course the first one I'd go to is one in Southeast Asia, but it was a really fun experience learning briefly at such a fascinating religion. I hope to go back one day.
Well that's all for now folks! I only have one more post to do before I come home! I can't believe it's almost time to leave!
Until next time.
