Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat
Originally uploaded by teign_cambodia.

Rising ridiculously early, we set off in Tuk-Tuks to catch the sunrise over the famous temple of Angkor Wat. For many, it was a great shame, as there was quite a bit of cloud cover, and instead of a decent sunrise we only saw a gradual lightening of the sky.

However, it got better after that. The temples we looked around were truly magnificant, with stunning architecture and fascinating reliefs on the walls. Angkor Wat itself was amazing. Quite a few team members felt ill during the day, as it was a very warm day and we did lots of walking.

Some team members (Phil, CJ, Steve and Matt) ended up praying with a couple of Buddhist monks, and many bamboo flutes were bought for the orphans we will be helping next week.

By the end of the day, we were all feeling quite tired and hot. As we left each temple, we were attacked by the many vendors (most of whom are women and children) who try to make a sale by shoving products under people's noses and shouting thinks like "one dollar!". In the end, they became irritating in their persistence, even when we said "no".

More than once, one of us replied to a vendor "I don't want one."

The reply usually seemed to be: "No, you want two."

Five people stayed to see the sunset over Angkor Wat, while most decided that it would not be worth it, and came back to the guesthouse. Which brings us up to where we are now.

As we are leaving Siem Reap for the orphanage tomorrow, this could well be our last post for a very long time. So bye for now!

- Danny, CJ, and Shev.