Cambodia: Temples and Siem Reap

Day 3 of the temples in Siem Reap:  Today we went to see the oldest of the temple areas--Rolous Temples.  Most of these were spread out and most in ruins all over the ground.  We were able to walk through them, but if this were in the US, liability would have closed them down years ago.  But since things are quite a bit more lax here you can pretty much do anything you want.

Most houses here in Cambodia are on stilts.  This is one we saw along the way to the temples

A grouping of houses and their common area

A view of the rice fields and a hill in the background

Another view of the farming areas, sprinkled with palm trees

One of the many small markets in this small village

A house in a village not on stilts.  This area was a little higher, thus not affected by the rainy season floods

Shelley holding up one of the giant elephant sculptures

A tree totally taking over the pillar of this temple

A boy playing with a knife as long as his arm...nice?!

My mom would never let me do this!?

A temple that we 'broke' in to as it was closed to visitors.  5 large pools surrounded this temple

Shelley standing by her always favorite lily pads!

A small house between two of the temples.  Probably housed people at some point

A seemingly infinite walkway within a broke down temple

You can see what time and mother nature has done to this and many of the temples

Some of the oldest temples in Cambodia

Shelley imitating the sculptures (too many temples at this point??)

More steps, again for an amazing view

I wasn't happy with the face Shelley made, so lets try again

Much better!!

Pushing down the temple, like Samson

Monks crawling in and out of their classroom

A temple by the Royal Palace in Siem Reap

On the grounds outside the Royal Palace

A view of our hotel and pool in Siem Reap

One thing I have not mentioned, was that at every stop, young kids and tons of adults would ask you incessantly to buy whatever it is they are selling.  You are surrounded by people at every turn when walking through the temples, when exiting the temples, before getting in the Tuk Tuk, when exiting the Tuk Tuk.  It does take away from the beauty of the area and becomes simply annoying.  You can try to ignore, but they are so persistent and by the third day we would begin talking with them.  At that point, you realize they only know the words they are chirping at you and nothing beyond that—similar to a parrot.  But playfully, we were able to make the kids laugh by trying to get them to buy from us.

Since overland visas to Thailand were limited to 15-days (the government is in bed with the monopoly airline—Bangkok Air—so, if you don’t fly in you only get 15 vs 30-day visa), so we simply enjoyed the remainder of our time in Siem Reap.  We were able to visit many of the shops that work is done by the underprivileged and enjoy the pool/books/each other for a couple more days.