cambodian afternoons

Cambodian's know how to eat! Khmer food is sooo friggen delicioso.. our driver Koen (pronounced Khun) took us to this amazing restaurant where you can nap on the hammocks after you stuff your belly. The restaurant is just a collection of huts that sit on stilts lifting them from the swamp...each hut has four hammocks, one on each side. Everyone sits in the center while you eat! Its such a good idea.

another temple

i'm ashamed to forget the name of it. give me a break its been a few weeks...(dave if you remember the name can you remind me please?

this one was actually really unique because instead of the structure..they used to fill it with water and if i am not mistaken they would bathe themselves, some kind of purification ceremony.

Preah Khan

haven't blogged in awhile, im sorry. dave left and i was depressed for ten days (i'm kidding) i actually had no access to wireless until now.
anyway.
this one was my absolute favorite temple. it was built by jayavarman like many temples in Cambodia.

like ta prohm, this temple is almost destroyed by trees. its pretty abandoned, people don't really visit, but its wonderful and it was all of our favorites.

martine through my legs

Bateay Srey

Pink Temple!

This temple is made of red sandstone, which over the past few years has become a little pink...people speculate that women did the carvings at this temple because there is so much intricate detail and a woman's tiny fingers would have an easier time carving into the sandstone.

this actually has nothing to do with the temple other than we were at the entrance of it, but i like this chinesey picture of me.




you gotta check out all the inricate detail on this temple. it was so incredible and not that many people visit it.
see that small flying object? thats my sister.

and that is me and dave!

A Break from Travelling

Just a little video my sister and 3 of my cousins did in Manila a few days before we left.....I blogged a lot down below about my recent travels, so watch the video and scroll down...

Do you guys remember the Britney Spears Pepsi commercial. Asian version.



they're so cute.

Ta Prohm

Jayavarman VII (the guy who built Angkor Wat) built this temple for his mother...the most amazing thing about this temple is that unlike the other temples in Angkor Ta Prohm was not cleaned and restored. There is actually a small debate going on because the GIANT TREES and GIANT ROOTS have taken over the entire temple and are both supporting and destroying the temple. People think that in ten years, Ta Prohm will be completely destroyed. =(

More reason to visit!

Angkor Who? Angkor Thom!

i'm making lame jokes...just ignore me.

Angkor Thom is another temple in the city of Angkor (near Siem Reap). It was absolutely amazing. One of my favorites.

Angkor Who?

Siem Reap is a city north of Phnom Penh, and in Khmer language, it means Thailand conquered...this was a bazzillion years ago though. Siem Reap is no longer Thai territory. After the French came to Cambodia, Thailand had to let go of its conquered lands. In any case, Siem Reap is COVERED with temples...including ANGKOR WAT, which was just recently on the ballot for one of the new seven wonders of the world. Voting ends today (7-7-07) for the new wonders of the world and although I cheated and voted twice, Angkor Wat wasn't even close to being a finalist.

I actually studied about Angkor Wat a few years ago...i didn't remember much when we were there (sadly) but Angkor Wat is a temple representing Mount Meru where the gods live. The massive moat surrounding it is supposed to represent the oceans. There are tons of intricate bas reliefs that tell stories about Hinduism and Vishnu. It was incredible.

we went there at sunrise, which is supposed to be spectacular, but unfortunately our sunrise was not that impressive.


my maaam and sister resting in the temple



worlds steepest steps.



the temple is covered with apsara dancers who are these mythical female dancers that were born of the bubbles.

you can't hear it that well, but this hallway is called the hallway of echoes. When a person stands at a certain place in the hall and hits their chest it echoes and produces a really loud reverberating thump...check out the video.



we went to a few more temples that day, but i'll save the other temples for another day so as not to overload you.