For a long time Cambodia for me was a country that very easily could have been cut from the SE Asia portion of the trip. I was keen on Thailand and Vietnam for sure. As "beach countries" they are right in my wheelhouse. But for the longest time I really had trouble with whether Cambodia was worth any of our (now dwindling it feels) time.
A few things changed that. Chloe became a big advocate of coming here cause she wanted to do a border crossing via a bus. We realized that we could obtain our Vietnam visas in Cambodia fairly easily (we hope). And in doing some reading I discovered Angkor Wat, and especially after being able to see Machu Picchu, making the time to see it now became a priority.
It did not disappoint. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story (be warned - we are experimenting with b/w photos):
First glimpse of the gate to the temple. Yep - this is just the gate.
Chloe hiding out
Heading to the local library
Lots of super cool hallways
Bird's eve view
A headless Budha. Heads are taken by treasure hunters, but are now being returned by other countries
Chloe at the back door
This is the temple used to film Lara Croft Tomb Raider. That's me in the bottom right looking for anything Angelina may have left behind. And yes, I downloaded the movie right after we visited so we could check it out.
Just because monkey's are funny
Chloe getting grilled by security to prove she is 10 (and thus free)
More cool hallways, this time in the Bayon Temple
Temple has 54 pillars, each with 4 budha faces
Me going nose-to-nose with one of the faces
Heather having escaped the crowds
Our transportation for the day
Cause you can never have enough monkey pictures!
omg - I think we have the same photo album! So many great memories.
ReplyDeleteVery cool pictures Paul(and family)! I was there 2 weeks before you arrived in Angkor wat (I went to SE for vacation over the holidays). It's pretty amazing isn't it? Did you see the sunrise?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're having a great time.
--Carol Tse