Thailand and Cambodia with AK

These posts are probably going to feel a little bit out of order as I decided to make this website well after our trip was underway. so I'm pretty much put some highlights then and now I'm going back through to add more details about each of the locations that we spent so far. Our first day here in Siam Reap was full of checking in to our hostel and figuring out how we wanted to spend the next couple of days. We ended up hiring a tuk tuk driver through TripAdvisor and went to bed early as the first day of tours started early Sunday morning. We opted not to go with the traditional tour with guide as we had read many blogs and websites that suggested possibly a personal driver is the cheapest and best way to see the best sights and avoid the crowds. We didn't really know much about the temples before coming here and found out soon that most of these temples were built by Kings and some words built as early as the ninth century. Our driver is really good at sharing his personal experience with how these temples fit into their every day culture. Apparently this town was the capital city of the Khmer empire that spanned current-day Thailand Laos Cambodia and Vietnam. Not gonna lie it definitely took me back to the connection between the Incan empire of Latin America that spanned Colombia Ecuador and Peru and definitely had a similar feel but all of these temples were for Hindu Hindu gods or sacred places for Buddhists.
The latest temple being built in the 15th century. This first day was full of super exciting towers, grand staircases, and carvings but all had very independent themes that we saw a kind of carried through over the next couple of days. I don't know if it was just the first day excitement but I will say that the temples that we saw this someday were some of the coolest and most spectacular.
Day one temples-1/20 - Beng Mela, Preah Ko, Bakong (sunset)Read more