Culture Corner: Cambodia - Siam Reap & Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a place I've always dreamed of visiting, and when we decided to go to Thailand, making a side trip to the ancient wonder was a no-brainer.  Who knows when I will be in that part of the world again? Despite that I now wish to go back and spend more time in the Cambodia beyond, the side trip was worth it.  Angkor Wat is everything I hoped it would be.  I hope these pictures do the place some justice, as well as give a little peek at the surrounds.

Where other passengers were picked up by buses and taxis at the airport in Siam Reap, this trusty steed awaited us - and our mass of luggage. Here yours truly is showing his best side (back to the camera), holding Adam as he sleeps.

This is Angor Wat proper - the palace/temple that the entire Angor region is commonly referred to.  While the sprawling lawns detracted from the Indiana Jones jungle that the buildings were discovered covered in, the details surviving are more than enough to make up for setting.  An awe inspiring place...

Not quite sure what they're all holding (a snake?), but these guys line the bridge leading to the gate opening into Angkor Tom...

...which is one of the most iconic images of Angkor.  So many things giving pause.

Siam Reap had a bustling night market.  Here is the view from the restaurant where we stopped for a late meal.

The modern world - Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Statue of Liberty, etc. - will someday be the same... but different.

Another iconic image of Angor, this time from Preah Khan.

Still original...

Thieving, thieving little monkeys - and entirely unafraid of people.  This one stole my nephew's sticky rice.

Some real Cambodia - and a representative view to life in much of southeast Asia in the 21st century: scooters, huts, trash, dust, greenery, and children...

Perhaps sisters, or cousins?

Our ride out of Cambodia (joking)...