Yesterday we spent 7 hours at the Angkor temples and they were amazing!! Some call them the "8th wonder of the world" bc they were apparently runners up to be considered in the top 7. I doubt my descriptions and the images will even do the temples much justice, but use your imagination to picture a scene out of Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. They actually filmed Tomb Raider at two of the sites!
Our tuk-tuk driver picked us up from our hostel at 4:30am and we took a dark and breezy ride to the temples. Once we purchased our tickets, he dropped us off outside the most famous temple, "Angkor Wat" to see the infamous sunrise. We followed other tourists along the pitch black path and waited by the pond until the sun started to come up around 5:20. The reflection makes it look absolutely stunning! After watching the sunrise, we explored inside the temple which was also very enjoyable and even peaceful.
After our romantic sunrise (haha), we went to find our tuk-tuk driver...It took us about 20 minutes to get to him because we were swarmed with little kids trying to sell us stuff again! They are really persistant here. Remember, this is their job. It's sad to think they make a living scamming and selling to tourists every day. We read that 40% of the Cambodian population is under 15 years of age. I'll get to that later. So, the kids were surrounding us asking us to buy postcards, books, or bracelts. I actually wanted a couple postcards, but once you show interest in something, it is nearly impossible to walk away. I ended up buying 20 postcards for $5! Oops! I didn't feel too bad bc I wanted to give the kids some money, but by the end of the temples tour, I saw they were only $1. I am a sucker for the poor little kids, but I think a lot of us are. In the grand scheme of things, what is $5 to me anyway? After we each bought something (Nicole got a guide book), we still could not find our driver. There were so many! Finally he spotted us, and when we went to get in our tuk-tuk, there was a monkey inside! So cute. He got out and we were on our way to explore several other temples. Hopefully the pictures I upload will be able to show you just how magnificent they all are! They are just so impressive. Huge ancient ruins which are really fun for climbing and exploring. I felt like I was a kid again!
Picture Summary:
- Angkor Wat at sunrise. We had to get up at 4am in order to make it in time! Def worth it
- Me in my "I heart Cambodia" t-shirt posing outside the 2nd temple, one of my personal faves, where they filmed some of the movie Tomb Raider.
- Me on the super steep temple stairs! They were hard to climb down and there were 3 flights!
- Nicole & me at a temple that is engulfed by crazy trees! They are growing all around them. This is another Tomb Raider temple.
I will blog more later...I have been Skyping with Jeremy all morning which has taken priority today! :) :) :)
