Angkor Wat

The entire reason for us going to Cambodia was to see Angkor Wat, a series of temples (around 40 I think) ranging in size from small to huge. And I have to say, everything we endured on the way to and from Cambodia was completely worth it. Angkor Wat is simply amazing. We left for the temples around 5:15AM so that we could catch the sunrise over the main temple. Unfortunately, I was not able to get any good pictures of the sunrise itself, but I got some really great shots of all the temples we went to.

The amount of people who were there before sunrise was staggering. But despite the all the people who came to visit, the place didn't lose its authenticity. And by that I mean that it didn't feel like some inane gimmick whose sole purpose was to draw in money. The temples were very tranquil, very surreal. I did my best to capture this in some of my pictures, but I still don't think anything but one's own eyes will ever do it justice.

Pictures
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We hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day. He picked us up in the morning and chauffeured us around to all the temples. He was a really nice guy named Tana, and he charged a reasonable rate. He was very friendly and very professional, always exactly where he said he was going to be and always on time. We spent a little less than 20 dollars per person for a full day of him taking us around to places as well as a ride to the airport the next day.

Our flight left around 5PM so we had some time to kill. We walked around Siem Reap for awhile, and lounged by our hotel's pool for a couple hours. I was in the pool while the girls were off doing god knows what when I heard the two kids who were also in the pool talking French. I was intrigued because they were very dark skinned and almost looked Mexican, and French people very rarely appear this way. So I started talking to them and it turns out that they were actually half Canadian, half Cambodian. Their mother was a Cambodian woman who fled the country during the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. She fled to Canada, ended up in Quebec, learned French and married a Quebecois man. They were visiting the woman's family, and it was her first time back in her home country in almost 30 years. She didn't speak any English, but she was obviously a very nice woman and clearly had very mixed emotions about being back. To use her exact words: "Je me sens perdu" - I feel lost. I was very happy to have met them.

Pictures of Siem Reap
(This album is half Siem Reap, half Phuket. Pay attention to comments for which is which.)