January 30, 2010 – Day 401 – Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat. Wow, what to say? It was spectacular, fascinating, beautiful, dusty, intriguing. It was also noisy and full of tourists and expensive. But it was worth those few irritations and (many) dollars to see such a historical jewel.

Inside the temples

Sounds cheesy but it really was great and you can only imagine how grand the ancient capital city must have been back in its hey-day. We visited what the tourist industry calls the “outer circuit” of temples via private tuk tuk arranged through our guest house. It cost a whopping $15 for the entire day, sunrise to sunset if we wanted, and we could stop and go as long and as often as we pleased. It was the driver only so we had the added bonus of not dealing with a yammering guide the entire day as well.

Our awesome Tuk Tuk

Our tuk tuk driver slept while we were visiting the temples and when we were ready to go, he would wake up just enough to drive us to the next one and resume his slumber again. There is really not much to say about Angkor Wat. It’s one of those things you really just have to see. Besides, too many fawning adjectives are not all that appealing to read. Especially when there are plenty of rad photos just below…

Temple detail

Tree covered entrance

Explorer Saben

Up the stairs

Lindsey in the temples

Selling fruit

Temple entrance