Cambodian Caper

 That's a tough act to follow, but I'll do the best I can.  Here's a little something to get you started:

As Ian wrote, despite my lack of updates of late I've been a busy boy.  I've visited several spots around Korea that I'd like to inform you on, as well as taken my first trip to Japan.  I'll tell you about those in good time, but for now let me fill you in on the latest happenings.

For my winter vacation I went to Cambodia and Vietnam, along with my esteemed father and my brother Ian, who shared his Korean reflections in the last post.  I took so many pictures (two-thousand three-hundred and thirteen to be exact) that I decided to split the trip into two posts.  I spent only three days in Cambodia, but managed to snap nearly 1300 pictures.  What can I say, it's a photogenic country.  Here are just a few of them, first off from around Phnom Penh.

"Bus," plank seats towed by a motor bike.  All the school buses looked like this too.

Hottest pepper I've ever eaten, disguised as a flower.

This dude was almost as sick of playing as we were of listening to him.

Produce truck, also towed by motorbike.  Pretty much everything was towed by a motorbike.

A sad state of affairs, that such a sign would be necessary.  I appreciated seeing it on our hotel door, though.

Roadside refuel from a Johnnie Walker bottle.  Must be the high octane stuff.  This was taken the morning of our first day of exploration, after visiting the site where the above tree/ruin pictures were taken. We traveled via tuk-tuk (motorbike towed, of course) 50km from Siem Reap to a couple satellite locations.  While these aren't the sites the Angkor complex is known for, they are a couple of my favorites.  The first site we visited, Kbal Spean, is a riverbed carved at the decree of Khmer kings in the 11th and 12th century.

 Those knobs are known as "Lingas," which I would elaborate on but I might blush.  Google it.  The riverbed is carved with over 1000 of them, along with various animals, deities and demi-deities, and worn down altars.  The site is miraculously well preserved for being nearly a thousand years old and partially inundated.  I think what appealed to me so much about this site is that I've seen many ruins in many countries, but a ruin carved straight into a riverbed is novel and unique.

Can you find the cow in this picture?

The carvings were so profuse, you could accidentally stumble upon them if you weren't careful.

This was the caretaker of the site.  Instead of keeping us off the ruins, he took us over the ropes to show us hidden carvings and the best vantages for snapping photos.  He received a healthy tip, which I'm sure was his aim.  The humidity had us work up a fierce lather, so we hopped in a waterfall to cool off.

It was cold.

 Below is the next site we visited, Banteay Srei.  This site is even older than the riverbed, carved in the tenth century, and the only site not consecrated by a king.  It's known as the "Citadel of Women" because the intricacy and beauty of the carvings beggars belief that men's crude hands could be capable of such delicate work.  The buildings are diminutive compared with the temples at the Wat or the central citadel, but they are some of the most impressive.

 Nearly every surface, flat or otherwise, is carved with intricate reliefs.  It's an astounding sight and, if you're planning a visit, I would highly recommend spending the extra time and money to make the journey.

We rose early the next day for the perfunctory sunrise trip to Angkor Wat.  We rented three bikes and one short lock, which we didn't realize until we'd arrived at the Wat, so we had to devise our own locking method.

Now off to the acclaimed Angkor Wat, what it's all about.

I like how this picture came out.  The world's largest religious building still inspiring pilgrimages.

Here's my requisite picture of the Wat.  Unfortunately there was a massive green tarp right at the front of the building, and as it is I didn't find it that photogenic of a scene.  So after a few pictures, someone had the bright idea to cross the lake...

...and take some pictures of the masses taking pictures.  We're probably on loads of people's facebooks now.  This picture also helps to illustrate the sheer number of people there to watch the sunrise, jockeying for position and to get the best shots.  It was a challenge to get a picture, in or out of the Wat, sans stranger.  

The whole of the Wat's exterior wall is carved with extensive Bas Reliefs.  While not as intricate as the carvings at Banteay Srei, they were impressive for their expansiveness, as well as their ability to convey a story or history.

An army marching to battle.

Cool trees.

Low blow.

I must have a hundred pictures just like this.

Pops discovering bullet holes.  One thing consistent in all the sites, Cambodia and Vietnam, are the copious  bullet holes.

Steep, steep stairs.

Unedited. (Jaclyn says "#nofilter")

When we were leaving we ran into a wedding party having their photos taken, and the bridesmaids took a break to pick fruit from this tree.  After the Wat we biked to the center of the complex, to a place called Bayon.  It is... bizarre.  The whole place is decked out in gigantic stone faces.

There were also some reminders that what you're seeing, is largely reconstructed from piles of rubble.

Those are the main sites, but we actually visited several more.  The concentration of ancient temples and palaces is unparalleled anywhere on earth.  Here is a sampling of the remainder of my 1300 pictures.

Where to next?

Vietnam in a prop plane.