ANGKOR, CAMBODIA

We were too lazy to get up and watch the sunrise over the ruins of Angkor Wat, and to this day I regret it when I see other people's surreal photos of it! So get your lazy butts out of bed and go see it! We rolled outta bed around 8:30am, had breakfast, and then rented a tuk-tuk & driver for $30 for the full day (right til sunset!), and headed to the ruins, only a short drive from our hotel. It cost $40US for the both of us for a 1 day pass. First stop ... Angkor Wat itself! Unfortunately the south side was covered in green scaffolding, so I made this photo black & white so you cant see it as much

Inside the ruins . . .

Dancing shiva carvings . . .

Then we took our tuk-tuk to the ruins of Bayon. There are bicycles for rent, but DONT do it! It was +44C with no breeze at all! I drank 4L of water and only peed once the entire day! It was the hottest, most sweatiest day of my life! The ruins are far apart, so dont waste your energy biking around, save it for exploring the ruins! Heat stroke is no joke! We passed through the Angkor Thom gate lined with Buddhas to get there.

Every possible surface had the carving of a Buddha face!

Next up, Ta Prohm! These ruins are still in their original state ... completely over-taken by Strangler Figs. Scenes from Laura Croft Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie were filmed here. Unfortunately platforms have been built and ropes have been hung to make walkways to keep tourists off the ruins. It makes the place quite tacky. But if you can look passed that, its stunning!


We paid our driver a little extra to take us to Banteay Srei. Waste of time really. All the postcards show these beautiful pink ruins reflecting on a pond. Well the pond was mostly dried up, and the water that was there was covered in algae, so there was no reflection. The ruins were pink sandstone which was different than the other ruins which are made of black lavastone. But they are very small in comparison to the other ruins ... and waaaaay outta the way. I dont recommend wasting your time driving out there. Not even gonna post a pic thats how unimpressed I was. But heres a photo of our filthy filthy feet after a long, hot & sweaty day of exploring!