Early morning in Siem Reap

Got into Siem Reap (Cambodia) last night and met up with Noah at the airport. It is good to have someone to travel with, especially since Noah has been here before. Our Hotel La Noria is very quaint, and comfortable.

This morning, we got up to see the sunrise at Bayon temple at around 4:20am. We arrived early at the temple at around 5am with another hour of night time left. At this point, we were the only ones there and the place was absolutely dark and secluded. Imagine, coming upon the ruins of an ancient temple in the dead of the night with no one else around. The fluttering of bats and other jungle noises kept pace in the background as we explored the empty temple grounds with a small flash light. It was absolutely an extraordinary experience.

Angkor Wat was the next stop, its sheer size was amazing. The amount of details that is carved on every brick shows the intense amount of effort that it took to construct something like this in the 8th century. At some of the other temples, the struggle between the forest growth and the ruins become more apparent. In certain cases, the bricks and roots are now holding each other up and keepign each other alive.

It was an action packed day today going from 4:20 in the morning to about 7:00 at night. I'm exhausted after trying to upload these pictures:

Next post will be probably form the sandy beaches of Koh Tao!!