For our full day in Siem Reap we made the most of it. We awoke shortly after 4am while it was still dark to head out to Angkor Wat, one of the many ruins of ancient temples that are found around the area and throughout the country. Angkor Wat is supposedly the largest above ground religious structure in the world. Its hard to describe the magnificence of sitting on the steps of the library ruins and watching the sun rise behind the massive temples. It is over 900 years old (many of the nearby temples are even older). One of the temples we visited (the one with all the trees growing over it) is where Tomb Raider was filmed. We spent the rest of the day touring this temple and several of the others around Siem Reap, each one being so unique from the rest. You almost find yourself waiting to trigger some ancient booby trap and begin dodging poisonous darts, snake pits, and giant rocks (at least that’s what I was imagining). We took more photos here than any other place by far. As we left for the day and were walking through the park/forest to catch the shuttle we were caught in a massive downpour. There was a very small, random, lonely looking structure of ruins hiding behind the trees which everyone ran into to take shelter until the rain let up. It was very surreal, but just added to the whole experience.
That night we had dinner at an awesome restaurant called The Temple, ate chicken amok (green curry) out of heart shaped coconuts, watched some Cambodian dancers perform some traditional Khmer dances (absolutely freaky how they can bend their fingers and toes back at will), and checked out the local Siem Reap nightlife. The whole place had a very laid back, safe, and friendly atmosphere. If you ever get to southeast Asia, definitely make it to Siem Reap!
No captions needed.......just enjoy!
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