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Published: December 5th 2008
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Angkor Wat
Watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat. If I can drive home one point in this blog it would be that getting stuck in the middle of political riots is NOT FUN. In the very least it has been an interesting week or so.
First off though, Cambodia was GREAT! We loved the country. It had such an amazing feel to it. After Phnom Penh we headed off to Siem Reap. This was a cool smaller town that mostly consisted of markets, lots of restuarants and guest houses becuase the only reason people come here is to see Angkor Wat. We met another two people and the 4 of us found a great place to stay. The next day we all got up very early(5am), found a tuk tuk driver willing to take us all day around Angkor for a cheap price and headed off to get there for sunrise. The entrance fee was expensive but soooo well worth it. When we got to the main temple, Angkor Wat, I could see the peaks ever so slightly lit up becuase the sun was still down, and this amazing rush came over me. I was so excitied to be there. Watching the sun rise making this fantastic and huge
Angkor Wat
A great picture of Angkor Wat.... ancient temple light up was great! The four of us spent the whole day exploring and climbing over this ancient city. Angkor Wat is actually a huge area of many temples with Angkor Wat being one of the biggest. The first day we explored Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. The latter one being the place that Tomb Raider was filmed. So as you can imagine it was amazing. The jungle was eating up some of the temples making a picturesqe setting.
The next day we went back to explore the smaller temples. The whole area is the same size as modern day Los Angeles, so very large. We got another Tuk Tuk to take us who then drove us around to all the smaller temples. But even though they were the 'minor tenples' compared to the other major 3 they were all still mind blowing impressive as each one had its own uniqness and point to it. The detail in all of the stones were immaculate. It was an awesome couple days.
The next day we had plans to fly to Guatemala. Unfortunetly, due to the political riots in Bangkok our flights were all cancelled. We headed
Angkor Thom
Bayon Temple at Angkor Wat. This place had an abundant amount of incredibly massive face carvings. to the airport anyways to see what we could do but no one really knew how to help and said maybe the next day we might get a plane to take you to the army base south of Bangkok. So we were stuck. THe next couple of days consisted of calling all the airlines to try to figure something out of how to get out of Asia. Of course, we had a complicated flight plan to get us all the way to Central America which made it difficult becuase we were dealing with 3 seperate airlines. Finally, two days later, China airline rerouted us through Phnom Penh. So we took a bus back to the capital and flew out the next day to Tapei and then to LA. In LA I was blown away by the absolute rudness from United Airway and disrespect they had for their customers. We originally had a flight with them from LA to Guatemala City. After fighting with them for 5 hours!! we had to rebook another flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. They had no more flights to Guatemala. So we slept at the airport that night and took the 6 am flight to
Ta Phrom
The famous Tomb Raider tree. San Fransico to Mexico City to San Jose. So one bus ride, 5 flights and 3 days later we arrived in Costa Rica last night at 1 am. Not the country we wanted but at least we are in the same continent now. Even though our Central America plans got squashed we are still in a beautiful country and there is lots to see here, now we just have more time to explore it. So rather than seeing 4 countries we will get to see 2 of them in more depth. So not so bad! In San Jose today we looked through some books and maps and figured out what we want to see in Costa Rica. We are actually looking forward to being able to stay in one place longer than a couple days to just relax and really soak in the people, the surroundings and of course the sun. San Jose is a large city but not a whole lot to see nature wise so we are taking the bus out tommorow morning and heading for La Fortuna. A national park area that has a volcano, hot springs, white water rafting, zip lining, walking trails and cool wildlife.
Angkor
Another amazing spot in one of the overgrown temples at Angkor. We are excited to head there. It is getting late and we are both still very tired from the travels so we are going to try to post pictures at a later time. For now we just wanted to send a blog so our familes would know we made it safely. We do hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. It is weird being away from home during this time. We hope everyone is doing well. Buenos noche.
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Lor
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Thank Goodness
So Glad to hear you made it out of Cambodia and you are now on the right continent. Am very sorry to hear about missing Guatemala due to bad airline service, but you're right, you'll be able to enjoy Costa Rica and Nicaragua even more now! It's always nice to be able to slow down and take things in properly. Good luck and safe travels, hope you enjoy La Fortuna!! I can't wait to hear about it!!!