Daniel and I split up from Ellis and Allison, left Vietnam and went to Siem Reap, Cambodia! There was a debate weather we were going to go or not because of the little bit of extra cost... but there was NO WAY I was flying all the way over to Southeast Asia and not seeing one of the man made wonders of the world!
After telling many people about going to Angkor Wat, I discovered that many people have never heard of it. Angkor Wat, meaning City of Temples was first a Hindu, then a Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. The temple was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th cwntury in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaivism tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
Both Daniel and I were so excited about going to Angkor Wat, even if it was only going to be 7 hours. We landed in Siem Reap that morning and got our visa and then rented a tuk tuk for the day. Only $25 for the whole day.. for him to take us around and wait for us at each temple and take us everywhere we needed and wanted to go! He was AMAZING and so kind! We of course tipped him well. Oh and riding around on a tuk tuk all day was awesome too. When we bought our tickets to Daniel said we were going to get a tuk tuk from the airport and say "Tuk Tuk, take me to Angkor Wat!". Guess what? That is EXACTLY what happened when we got there. :)
I took several hundred pictures of all the temples while I was there. I tried to capture it as best I could... but everything was so amazing, with such detail... I couldn't get it all. So... I'm just going to dump a lot of pictures. You get the idea.
We saw some monkey's on the side of the road. I love monkey's!
A Cambodian band.
In some of the temples, they had people meditating and burning incense. You could donate some money and take a stick on incense and shake it 3 times and put it in a dish and you make a wish. They they tied a string around your wrist and blessed you with good luck and long life. Daniel and I were thankful for that... we were going to need that blessing on our all night road trip through Thailand later that night.
What an amazing day. Daniel and I were so glad that we spent the little extra money to go. SO worth it!
3 comments:
WOW! These pictures are RAD. I can't imagine how amazing it was to actually BE there. Right on Tracy.
How awesome is THAT?! I love the picture where the monk (?) in orange is peering around the edge of the structure. Beautiful. Money and time well spent! You should look up the documentary "The River of Victory"- it is about a family living in Cambodia, trying to survive on what they recover from a garbage dump.
Jamie's favorite picture is mine also. It's perfect.
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