Babymoon part 3: Cambodia

I am a little behind on the Babymoon posts, but that's because it is surprisingly time consuming when you travel 4 weekends in a row.  I didn't take into account the fact that we would be coming home, doing laundry, unpacking and repacking all within 3 days before the next trip.  Needless to say, I've been a little busy.


Anyway, 2 weekends ago we went to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  This was my favorite out of all our mini vacations.  The country was beautiful, everything was stupid cheap, and the people were amazing.  Cambodia is still recovering from a very recent war (ended in 1998) and the effects are readily apparent.  3-5 people die per day due to landmines that are left over from the wars.  (the city and tourist areas have been cleaned up and are perfectly safe, so we didn't have any problems.  Also, Trip says this number is less now, but it's what I remember most, so I'm going with it)  But even with all of this fresh pain, the people are some of the happiest, most positive people that I have ever met.  I was seriously impressed and obviously quite taken by their attitudes and examples.  It really makes our complaints seem so superficial and stupid.


But I digress.  The temples were beautiful and with the combination of ancient construction and modern worship going on, they were quite unique feeling as well.  We took almost 700 pictures, so it took some time for me to choose which ones to show.  Even with the narrowing down, this is going to turn into 2 posts.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and that they convey the awesome beauty that we experienced in Siem Reap!


The first temple we went to was Angkor Wat.  This is one of the main ones, and with good reason.

Angkor Wat from across the moat

Random guy who spoke to Trip in French for quite some time

The entrance to Angkor Wat

One of the many intricate carvings that decorated the temple

The Angkor Wat temple itself

Group picture.  I should mention that it was over 100 degrees F while we were there!

View from the center tower in the Angkor Wat temple

Pregnant women weren't allowed to climb up to the towers in the temple so I had to wait outside while everyone else went up.  I guess they thought the stairs were too treacherous.  Trip took a whole bunch of "stalker photos" of me while I was waiting...if we weren't already married, I'd find this slightly disturbing  :)

Trip's favorite stalker photo

Steve, Trip and I with the temple in the background.  You can see the towers pretty well from here

After Angkor Wat, we went out to the "Jungle Temple", officially called Ta Prohm.  This one has been used for filming a couple of movies, and we could see why.  It is certainly unique!

Part of the temple entrance

One of the carving's faces still peeking through the roots that are taking over

The cool part about this is that you can climb and walk just about anywhere in these ruins

The trees are taking over the temple bit by bit

This just looks so awesome

Trip taking pictures of the ruins while I take pictures of Trip on the ruins :)

This is a video of some mine victims playing traditional Cambodian music while we were leaving Ta Prohm.

Trip holding up a crumbling doorway...so strong! ;)

There was a small building in Ta Prohm called the "Echo Room" where the men would go for a ritual.  They would beat their chests and the sound would resonate in the stones.  Our guide, Di, told us that this symbolized the prayer in your heart calling out to God.  The echo didn't work with clapping or shouting, only with hitting your chest.  This video kind of shows it, but unfortunately the background noise obscures some of the echo.

We actually went to another temple after this, but since this post is already way too long, I will save that for part 2.  Thanks to those who made it all the way through!  I will try not to be so long winded in the next half  :)