After the beach we headed to Siem Reap to check out Angkor Wat, something I've wanted to do since I was a kid.  While there we went to a restaurant that Angelina Jolie helped create called the Red Piano.  It was a gorgeous place with excellent food, if you ever head to Siem Reap it is worth checking out. 

While visiting the city we passed a local hospital.  Cambodia has very poor health care, and covering the large lawn of the hospital were tons of people awaiting health care for an outbreak of Hemoratic Dengue fever that had occurred.  Pretty much I wore heavy bug spray after that.  I'm not really sure if it is just the fact that a lot of Cambodia is kind of jungly or if it is because it is a third world nation that they have diseases like that there.  Generally Cambodia needs help with their health care system, so I was really blessed to not get sick while I was there.

The streets of Siem Reap

The first night we got there we went to see the sunset high upon a hill.  I have always wanted to visit Angkor Wat since I was in Jr. high or high school when I went through my long phase of wanting to be an archeologist.  I had read about it in National Geographic and Reader's Digest, and it is really an amazing place.  Everything was built between the 8th and 12th Century AD, and all right there in the middle of the jungle.  It was home to at least a million people during the time which it was a city.  It is is quite spread out over a great distance, and takes a bit of a ride in a tuk tuk to get to each place.  

Brad and I in a doorway

The following morning we left at 5 am to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat.

At the back of the temple where there were a lot less people were some rather large monkeys.  While we were all watching the monkeys play across from us, I was standing six inches away from a pillar on a small platform of steps where there wasn't any room for me to move, when we suddenly head some shuffling.  I turned my head but didn't seen anyone.  However, then I looked up into the face of a huge monkey as it was maneuvering down the pillar directly behind me.   I let out a little shriek as the monkey climbed down beside me, ran between my legs and down the stairs to where the other monkeys were playing and the tourists were stupidly feeding them. 

I never realized monkeys had such long feet.

I personally love the hairdo.

I really want to know why the monkeys appear to be holding clubs that look like baseball bats...

they had all these horses all over that they were occasionally using to pull carts, but the horses were just allowed to run around all over free wherever they wanted. 

Nice backside brad.

Then it was off to the Bayon temples in the park:

There were twelve of these identical outbuildings spread across a clearing were supposedly used to "settle legal disputes and matters of criminal justice.  The belligerent parties were kept in the towers for a few days.,  The one to emerge in ill health was declared the loser, guilty by divine decree".  Some justice system.

Off to Preah Khan.  This place used to be a Hindu monastery, but then the Buddhists took over and lobbed all the heads off things (at least I think so) and defaced the images.  Then when the Hindus took control again they did the same thing to the Buddhist images.   This place was really cool because It was really extensive, falling apart, and had TONS of nooks and crannies to explore.  I really felt like Indiana Jones here :)  Heidi and I had a lot of fun exploring all over.

An amazing tree.  I love this photo I took :)

The roots of the above tree.

The next place we went to was one of my favorites with all of these ancient trees that were hundreds of years old that are literally taking over the ruins.

Seth among the rubble

one very small doorway :)

Sigh.  Totally worth going, in fact, this was a place I would have no problems returning to.