Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Temples, cathedrals, mosques, monuments, shrines...we've seen a lot over the last few months of traveling and we've learned that we enjoy them...but we also learned that we don't need to see them all. Angkor Wat was the one you can't miss in this category when you travel to Southeast Asia so this was pretty much our religious site grand finale for this trip.

It is the world's largest religious monument stretching 402 acres built by the Khmer Empire. Most were originally Hindu temples but later converted to Buddhist and some back and forth again by the ruling kings through history. Interestingly, India had a large influence in SE Asia, and particularly in Cambodia starting around the first century, which is evident in many of the carvings and details in the temples.

We woke up at 4am to see the sunrise at the temple and avoid the crowds. While the sunrise was beautiful, the crowds were still in full force and somewhat took away from the experience- but I suppose that's a bit hypocritical to say as a tourist. We did the short circuit tour with a guide who was a monk in his earlier life. It was a solid 10 hour day but many people spend multiple days there and still don't see it all. It was worth spending the extra money for a guide as he provided a lot of insight to the temples' religious history and into the modern day culture which we learned there is still tension between Cambodia and its neighbors Vietnam and Thailand who have abused the Cambodian people through history by taking their land and even seizing control of Angkor Wat at one point in time and still calling it a creation of their people.

The temples were all impressive and reminded us of some of the detailed carvings from India and the size and magnitude of Egypt. Over the last one thousand years since their creation they seemed to have held up well. Our favorite was the "Tomb Raider" temple which is overgrown with giant trees. The roots of the trees flow between the sandstone bricks and are slowly destroying the temple, but it makes for one of the coolest man-made/mothernature combinations you'll ever see.

After a long and very hot day in the stagnant Cambodian heat we recovered in our Hostel's pool. Siem Reap was an interesting city with a lot of tourists, backpackers, expats, and plenty of entertainment along Pub Street with clubs, karaoke bars, and mobile bars blaring YouTube music videos and pouring cocktails from their bicycle carts.

Although our visit to Cambodia was short we felt like we saw what we needed to and got to check another country off the list!Read more