Angkor Wat

The classic view (unfortunately with some scaffolding).

Now that the excitement of Trivia Night is over, I’ll return my July travels. A full update on the Big Brother Mouse fundraiser is forthcoming, as soon as we’ve counted every last dollar and kip and officially put it toward a project.

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From one UNESCO World Heritage Site to another–after four days, my mom and I headed from Luang Prabang over to Siem Reap, Cambodia, for the main attraction.

Though Angkor Wat is the namesake and most famous of the temples, the Angkor complex contains over a thousand different temples scattered throughout the area, some more famous–like the “Tomb Raider” temple of Ta Prohm, and some much lesser-known. Although the Angkor Wat certainly had the expected “wow factor” of standing in front of any stunning, world-famous, icon, my personal favorites were Bayon (with the massive stone profiles), and Ta Preah (a huge labyrinthine building slowly being consumed by nature). The best part of some of the slightly less-trodden temples was that little was off-limits. Once we made it past the swarms of people trying to sell us bracelets/coconuts/flutes/keychains/postcards, it was as if a thousand year old playground awaited.

Though a cynical part of me expected the experience to be a bit over-hyped, since it’s so cliche, it was impossible not to be impressed by the Angkor temples. There’s little I could say about it that can’t be found in every guidebook, so I’ll just let my pictures–only a few of my favorites among the hundreds I took–do the talking.