Angkor What? - June 15

It was a very early morning. We met our driver at 5 am for the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the symbol of Cambodia, it's everywhere, from their national flag, to their Angkor beer. Angkor Wat was absolutely stunning, the entire gigantic temple is covered in delicate carvings, bas reliefs telling famous Khmer stories.




We next went to Angkor Thom, which was the last capital of the Khmer empire. Khmer is to SE Asia what the Romans were to Europe, they went everywhere, conquered, built big stuff, and then got sacked. These statues guard the bridge into Angkor Thom.






Bayon is a temple within Angkor Thom, it is famous for all of the smiling faces. Very eerie, but strangely beautiful, it seems that no matter where you stand there are at least 8 faces looking at you.









We finished out the day by going to Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is a temple where they didn't remove all the jungle, so that visitors can understand the state at which these temples are found in. This was also the site where scenes from the movie Tomb Raider were filmed. It was strange to see such large trees encasing parts of these temples.



One of the things that is perhaps the most sad is the extreme poverty that faces so many. At least when you go to Mexico and tell a kid to quite selling gum and get back in school, you know that there is a chance. But here there is no public education system, we are struggling with seeing so many very young children in so much need.