here, there, everywhere

One of my favorite temples at Angkor Wat; it was a good two hour motorcycle ride away from Siem Reap over pebbly red dirt roads, and you get to climb over and through the ruins a lot more than at most other temples. I couldn't walk after spending four hours rattling up there and back from Siem Reap but it was so worth it.

My new favorite sales pitch, from a girl who looked about eight or nine who trailed me out of the temple: "Excuse me, where are you from? The capital of the United States is Washington D.C. - which state do you live in? The capital of New York state is Albany. There are fifty states in the USA including Hawaii, which is a bunch of islands far away. Your first president was George Washington but your president now is George Bush. Nobody likes him. Wanna buy some postcards?"

There are monkeys ambling unconcernedly down the red dust roads leading to Angkor Wat and the surrounding temple complexes; Angkor Wat actually refers to a far vaster network of ancient temples and ruins that sprawl around the eponymous temple, so two days of early-morning exploration hasn't even begun to scratch the surface, and its possible to visit the temples by any combination of elephant, hot-air balloon, tour bus or bike/cyclo/moto. I opted for a motorcycle with a friendly, English-speaking driver, though the allure of this faded somewhat after spending several hours rattling down rocky, dusty, unpaved roads to more distant ruins (when I got back to my hotel and took a blessedly cold shower, the water ran red with dust that had caked on my face and arms.)

At any rate, here are a few photos from the first day (I found an internet cafe that accepts my USB card!); as always, more to follow.




The smiling faces of the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom.



One of my favorite places so far - Ta Prom, a ruined temple reclaimed by the jungle.



Angkor Wat resident.