Siem Reap Eye Candy

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Cambodia has been a surprisingly consistent top of our charts! After a sketchy first impression at the border crossing, once we checked in to our guest house and made a few friends there, life here these past five days has been a breeze. I love, love, love checking out the ruined temples at Angkor park. There are dozens - and I thought they would get old after awhile. But everyone is totally amazing, unique and well worth checking out of its' own accord. Bare with me on that one, as I have tons of pics of them!

We start traveling back to Bangkok tomorrow to catch our flight to Taiwan - the last leg of our journey before home sweet home! As of yesterday, I can officially say that I'll be coming home an aunt and just can't wait to meet the little guy! L & E, don't let him grow too much these next few weeks!

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Photos

Angkor Wat
The main temple of the Angkor ruins. It's undergoing some conservation construction right now.

Buddhist Monks
visiting the corridors of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat Tower
Angkor Wat originally had 12, but many have fallen down and/or been hit by lightning

Child Hawks
Cute yet pitiful children constantly hounded us to buy postcards, scarves, bottled water, bracelets, you name it. Their favorite line is, "Lady only $1!"

Traditional Dance
The temples are mostly made of sandstone that has been carved ALL OVER! My favorite figures to pick out are these traditional dancers.

Nature Reclaims
Some of these temples were used for the Angeline Jolie movie "Tomb Raider"

Temple Steps
Are irregular, long, and slippery. Reminds me of my Mexico days...

There's no place like home
Is it extremely hallucinatory that these pastoral scenes remind me of Kansas?

Floating Village
We visited a village built entirely on a lake. Here were their boats used to move from house to house, building to building

"Floating Houses"
Built on stilts to handle the fluctuating water levels of the lake

Gasoline
is sold in Johnnie Walker bottles everywhere here.

Stylin'
Picking up on the local style, J & I bought surgical masks to wear during dusty tuktuk rides

River of 1000 Lingas
The temples here were originally built Hindu, then later morphed into Buddhist. The Hindu item of worship is the Linga, representing creative power. In this river, 1,000 Lingas were sculpted into the sandstone to bless the water flowing into the city.

"Pink Temple"
This temple is known for a pink variety of sandstone that was used to build it. Incidentally, that variety is stronger and has better preserved the ornamental carvings.

Still Pink
Also, the "Pink Temple" was strikingly smaller, making those well preserved carvings very easy to see

Tractor Contraption
For the farmers in the family: these were also a common sight on the highway between temples.

Reminiscent of...
wheat! This temple has wild grasses growing all over its' rooftops.