Angkor Wattttt A Cool Temple!
After five days in Battambang, we sadly had to leave our new friends and head to our next destination: Siem Reap. We traveled for about four hours, then went to lunch, a traditional Cambodian meal, and got settled into our new hotel (which we loved!). When we got to the hotel, the first thing we saw was a refreshing pool. We then headed up to our dormitory style room. In the hotel, ten girls were in one room, four in another, and then the boys were all together. We had a couple hours of free time before heading out to the Angkor Panorama Museum. Most of us spent our free time swimming in the pool, relaxing in our room, and eating American snacks. At the museum, we first saw a large map of Cambodia and were able to see our travel route on a much larger scale. We continued on, observing a giant model of some of the major temples in Siem Reap.
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| Model of the temples. |
Next, we got to see a huge 3-D panorama painting of the temples' history. The painting was really interesting to look at because it was hard to distinguish between the painting and the props. We then got to watch a movie about the history of building Angkor Wat and all the work that was put into building the temple without modern technology.
After the museum, we went to dinner and enjoyed another Cambodian meal. The highlight of the dinner was meeting Seth, the cat who stole Cameron's backpack and used it as a temporary bed.
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| Seth laying on Cam's backpack. |
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| Seth Selfie |
After dinner we headed to the night market where we shopped for souvenirs, gifts, fish pedicures, and enjoyed the night life of Siem Reap. We also got to see some street food, including tarantula, scorpion, snake, crickets, and more.
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| Entrance to one of the streets in the Night Market |
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| street food |
The next morning, we left the hotel around 8:30 and drove to Angkor Thom. The bus dropped us off at the entrance and our group walked to Bayon. This temple is known for its many towers of Buddha faces. Some of us "kissed" the Buddha, taking a picture to make it look as if we were facing and kissing him. After having some time to explore the temple in small groups, we walked through the jungle to see what it would be like to stumble across the ruins ourselves.
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| Kiley kissing the Buddha |
The next temple we visited was Ta Prohm. Here, the trees had overgrown the temple, resulting in people calling them "monster trees." After Ta Prohm, we went to lunch and finally had familiar food: margherita pizza!
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| Group picture by the monster tree! |
After a much needed rest from the 95 degree weather and sweltering humidity, we headed back outside towards Angkor Wat. Once inside the temple grounds, we saw large galleries that depicted ancient Hindu epics. We then climbed to the top of the temple, having to go up really steep stairs.
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| Steep stairs leading to the top of Angkor Wat! |
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| Reflection pool outside of the temple |
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| Group walking into the temple |
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| Cesar, Ben, Emily, and Cameron outside of Angkor Wat |
After some more time in smaller groups, exploring the temple and smaller ones nearby, we headed back to the hotel where we had some downtime, spent either taking a dip in the pool or taking a cold shower. Next, we went to dinner at a buffet which included traditional Cambodian dance.
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| Students with dancers at dinner |
After dinner we went to the night market again, this time exploring the artisan district. We spent our time here shopping with a purpose and finding gifts for family. We had fun getting ice cream, bargaining for knock off Gucci belts, and getting $2 foot massages. We headed back to the hotel, getting ready for a full nights rest before another long, eventful day.
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| Taylor, Kiley, and Michaela getting fish pedicures |
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| Fish feeding! |
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