Angkor What?

In the words of our famous love Karl Pilkington;

Angkor Wat; one of the alleged Great Wonders of the World...as always, if you Google different lists, some will say it's a man-made Wonder of the World, other say it's the 7th Wonder, some say it's not. I'm not totally sure, but all I can say is that it heads straight to the top of CG's list of wonderful things she's seen whilst traveling. Annie and I actually ventured back to Angkor Wat a couple of days later after we had originally visited it, to see the sunrise. Unfortunately the clouds were overcast and it was raining, but we still got up at 5am to see it, and that's what counts.

We had an absolute cutie of a tour guide, who enjoyed telling us in harsh whispers around corners of crumbling stone about the current political system in Cambodia, his personal opinions on the current government and the state of the country. He was quite intelligent, and relished in the opportunity to discuss politics and public policy on our two Western countries, comparatively. Seems Cambodians are hesitant to speak ill of the current party let alone discuss it with foreigners. T'was mighty interesting. At times during the day (it was terribly hot and we were rather hungover) I resorted to sitting around Angkor Wat, lounging about on the stones, ect and he learnt my name pretty quickly, and 'Hurry up Caty!' became a common phrase throughout the day. We stopped for lunch, lounging in hammocks and sipping juice, before our tuk tuk took us around the many a temples to follow.

It was a super day, hiking through forests to explore the ancient ruins of temples, learning the history and taking more minutes to reflect on life and religion. As always, the photos don't quite do it justice, but they sure as hell try.

I would 100% recommend the temples of Siem Reap - they are like nothing else you find in the world. The history, the parts visibly destroyed by the Khmer Rouge and the slow transformation in religion; from being predominantly Hindu to moving to Buddhism, the temple dedicated to worshiping Vishnu. Absolutely fascinating, and let me tell you; there's way more to Angkor Wat than crumbling stones, hollowed out hallways and hipster photos.

Destroyed by the Khmer Rouge

Sacrificial