SIEM REAP

First let me say my love affair with Angkor Wat began as a teenager. I loved exploring and I don't know where I saw bits of the restoration but what drew me was the idea of a "lost" city. I imagined hiking through the jungle only to find something so magnificent.

SIEM REAP

We fly off to Siem Reap today and I am stressed beyond belief. I am imaging some turboprop plane that have seats designed for Asian asses not the giant bubble of blackness designed in the USA and I know it is a full flight.

Well no worries, I got a seat to myself and I figured if we went down, I was at least…..comfortable.

We land perfectly in SR and head into the city and I get my first glimpses of Angkor Wat. WOW! It is amazing and it is surreal that my dream of seeing Angkor is coming true.

The first day we have lunch and head back to the Freedom Hotel for a swim. It is hot as balls outside. We head out for sunrise Angkor Wat tomorrow morning and must LEAVE at 4:15am.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

It is dark when we leave and we are dropped of in front of the entrance to Angkor Wat. Our guide Sukking takes us confidently through the beginnings of the temple in complete blackness. You can feel the greatness of Angkor all around you although you cannot see your hand in front of your face. He takes us out to a side temple, we settle in on the stairs. It is hard to say where we are in relation to the Angkor Wat temple and what is going to happen at sunrise, but you know it is going to be awesome. Its like someone lightly tickling the back of your neck that sends shivers down your spine.

Pretty much all of Cambodia is malaria free except where? the complex of Angkor Wat! I stopped taking my malaria pills because I did not like the way they made me feel, so I just covered head to toe and wore heavy duty mozzie repellent. We are there at sunrise when mozzies feed....YAY!

As the sky starts to lightening with the hugeness of the complex, the feeling is incredible.. You can see the spires started to come into focus. The sky changes from black to purple to lavender and orange. It blows my mind that an ancient civilization built this without anything modern. Is there a modern building that takes your breath away the way this does? The 7 wonders of the world are all centered around the Mediterranean because the Europeans never made it to Asia. Angkor Wat is definitely one of the wonders in this world.

He hang out there with our mouths open until the sun fully arrives and the hordes of people reveal themselves in the daylight.

We tuk-tuk it to the shopping area and head into a place that is like a covered market. I see fans everywhere and we duck into a place that sells all kinds of crafts and wares made by people maimed by landmines and the proceeds go to their care. We are shopping quickly and dodging the kids from the street. They are everywhere and the girl I told my name to seems to find me no matter where I am. These kids are absolutely brilliant, they ask where are you from and they seem to know everything about everyplace. The most amazing thing is I hear them ask people coming up behind me in their language, so if someone says they are from Germany, these kids break out the German. When i get sick of them and they ask where I am from, I seemed to have stumped them when I say ANARCTICA!

I love just walking the halls of Angkor Wat in silence, soaking in the greatness of the energy all around me. There are monks that liven up the landscape in their brightly colored robes and the nuns dressed in white.

We head out to Banteay Srei the pink temple of women and believe it or not I climb to the top of Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset on Angkor and to escape the kids and man is it steep. I forgo the climb at the temples of Angkor Wat because of the steepness. I watched people climb it so confidently only to get up there and get scared to come down. I'll pass thank you.

Another dream realised....