Day 23-Tomb Raider style at Angkor Wat

"Oh jesus, I don't want to wake up!" I complained, while throwing on some clothes at 4:30 in the morning.
We had decided to go to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat, which had sounded like a good idea the night before. But after arriving in Siem Reap and drinking $1 mojitos and martinis this idea sounded less than ideal.
Dressed in our comfortable clothes, we trudged downstairs and hopped in our tuk tuk on the 10 or 15 minute ride to the temple. York had worn just a t shirt, so we had to huddle into my hooded sweatshirt shivering in the back of the tuk tuk as we made our way to the big event.
We were shocked as we saw some hard core couples riding bicycles through the darkness in the cold air to get to the big sunrise. We were feeling like death, and we just had to sit in the back of a tuk tuk.
We arrived and York purchased our $20 one day passes which would allow us to go to all the temples around Ankor Wat. Most people buy a 2 or 3 day pass, but both of us figured that we could do a really quick tour and make the most of it. They shot our photos for our passes and when we got them we burst into laughter at how disgusting and disheveled we both looked.
We then made our way inside and found a nice spot along the perimeter to watch the sun rise behind the 8th wonder of the world. To be honest, I had no idea which temple we were exact because it was dark and there are so many. Also, our tuk tuk driver smiled alot, but spoke no english so we pretty much just had to guess where we were being taken to.

Every asian tourist was clicking like crazy on their expensive SLR cameras trying to capture the perfect shot of the sun rising behind the temple. I own a waterproof unbreakable camera (Olympus tough) so my photos were less than professional, leading me to frustration.

After the sun rose, we wandered inside the temple to check it out. Tons of people walked through with tour guides listening to the stories and the meanings of all the carvings that covered the walls, but we had opted to just start off on our own, so as we walked through the temple we just took lots of photos and admired the detailed carvings that adorned every corner.

Later, I watched a movie and learned that the temple itself is supposed to resemble a mountain range and that there are 5 peaks. Also, each peak is supposed to represent a closed lotus flower. The temple of Angkor Wat was made by a king in the 12th century because he made himself a God King and he was supposed to do this. Also, the actual temple of Angkor Wat is the largest religious building/structure in the world which makes it one of the 8th wonders of the world. The building itself isn't too huge but it is surrounded by water that is supposed to represent the ocean and it is enclosed with walls as well which help to account for it's size.

Anyway, after wandering through the temple we headed back to our hotel for the complimentary breakfast and to rest before going back to check out all the other temples later. The breakfast was wonderful, as we sat on a balcony overlooking the city. After breakfast, we wandered up to the top of the hotel and took a look at the pool. BIG MISTAKE! Within half an hour York had thrown my into the pool and I was completely soaking wet.
York napped while I showered the chlorine from the pool out of my hair. I had no idea what to wear and was feeling super cranky from no sleep, so tears were welling in my eyes as he barked at me to hurry up. Even though we had only been traveling together a short time, we were already comfortable enough to treat eachother like old friends that can fight with no consequences.

"Hurry up! You are selfish! The tuk tuk driver is waiting, "York yelled to me.

"You shut up! You are selfish! I am trying to get ready but you threw me in the pool! If you hadn't, I wouldn't have had to shower!" I retorted.

But after we had managed to reconcile and regroup, we got back in our tuk tuk and headed back to the temples. This one was Yorks favorite temple of the day, and I really enjoyed it too. "Tomb Raider Temple" is what he called it, because supposedly the Angelina Jolie movie is filmed there. I have seen the movie but can't seem to remember, so I need to watch it again.
This temple had huge trees that had grown over parts of it, causing it to look as though the trees had eaten parts of the temple. Long ago, the temples were abondoned and only in the 18th century were they rediscovered by French explorers, so many of the temples were completely destroyed by the trees that took root there.

This temple has parts that have been left with the trees and other parts that they have restored. It was really cool because it felt like we were really explorers searching through the rubble of ruins. We walked through the dark corners of the temples and climbed over the broken pieces, taking pictures of us posing like we were Indiana Jones.

After that, I was still feeling tired and I really need to use the bathroom and grab a coffee. York agreed, so we searched and searched but there were no bathrooms in sight. Finally we came to an exit where there were bathrooms and sellers selling food and souveniers.
"Is there a bathroom around here, "I asked to one of the ladies.

"You can use the jungle," she replied, as though peeing in the jungle was just a normal thing

Ok, I thought. I grew up in the country, so I am fine with peeing outside. I followed the lady into the jungle and she guarded the path from any people that might happen to come across the path.Only in Cambodia, I thought.

I had coffee and York and I bargained with some children selling bracelets and souveniers. There are so many children begging for food in Cambodia, but if they are selling things it is ok to give them money, but if they are just begging it isn't good to give them money because it only reinforces the behavior.

We continued on our journey to see the temples and our tuk tuk driver took us to one we hadn't heard about along the way. We thought it might be cool to check it out, but didn't think much of it. Once we got closer, I realized that it was going to be alot more exciting than I had anticipated.

The steps up the temple were so steep that you had to literally climb up them. We are both in good physical condition, but the endless stairs up this steep temple left us both dirty and drenched in sweat.

After that, we went and had lunch at a little restaurant in an area where there are literally 20-30 little shops all selling similar food for similar prices. We ate food and drank beer while kids came buy and sold us their goods.

A girl about 14 came buy selling books, and had some that looked interesting.

"If I can tell you the capital of Madagascar, will you buy a book, "she asked me.

I laughed at her eagerness, and told her that if she could tell me the capital of Washington (the state I am from), I would buy a book from her. Although she had no idea, I told her if she found out I would still buy a book from her. Off she went, searching for someone that could tell her.

York was on a mission to get special travel bracelets to give to his friends. He had many children swarmed around him bargaining for the best deals.

A little boy came up to us holding small golden figures of elephants, gods, and other things. He was cute and knew it! Additionally, this boy was incredibly smart and new exactly how to sell. He took all of his little trinkets out and put them in my hands and tried to offer me them for $2 for 1. The bargaining was endless with him, but his English was perfect, so it was fun to joke around with this cute kid even though he wouldn't drop his prices low enough.

The little girl came back but admitted she didn't know the capital of where I was from, but I agreed to give her another chance. I told her if she could guess within 3 guesses I would buy a book from her at her price.

"France,"she quickly answere"2 more chances," I said, thinking she would never get it.

"Germany," she said confidently.

Shit! I thought. I handed her the money and congratulated her on her success. We finished our meal and were heading back to our tuk tuk and the persistant seller boy was still trailing behind me. I offered him my deal once more, but he told me he couldn't afford to sell at such a low price because he has other associated costs that I wasn't considering (cost of product, petrol for driver, etc). Just as we almost got into the tuk tuk, he reluctantly came over and offered me the small gold souveniers for a decent price, although he pretended he was not making any money. We laughed at the little genius, who was brilliant at selling and watched as he walked away with my money.

It was getting late in the day and we were ready to go to the last temple to watch the sunset. The tuk tuk driver began telling York that he needed 5 more dollars to take us to sunset. This is what York loves to do, so I let him deal with the tuk tuk driver and settle a price. Alot of times in foreign countries, people will try to rip of the tourists, and usually no one makes to much of a fuss. York will NEVER allow himself to get ripped off without a battle.

I walked away and bought some Angkor beer in a bottle and let them handle the issue. Eventually, York and the driver agreed on a price and to sunset we went. We bought 2 more bottled Angkor beers and started on the 15 minute journey up the hill to the sunset viewing point.
A crowd was already gathered on the top of the temple ready to watch the sunset. The click of cameras and the chatter of foreign languages were all around us. We were trying to get pictures, but many people were in our way. We found humor in a few people, that didn't seem to notice they were blocking the view as they stood up and took photos for long periods of time in front of the group.

Luckily, we snapped our photos, drank our beers and escaped before the herd of people behind us could leave us stuck in a traffic jam of tourists. We hopped in our tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel before heading out to dinner.

That night we went to dinner and had Cambodian BBQ at a roadside restaurant. It was basically just meat that is cooked in front of you similar to Korean galbi or Korean BBQ and then served with veggies and sides. It was decent, but nothing wonderful.

The long day turned into a long night, and to the club next door to the restaurant we went. Drinking red bull and vodkas, which we drank too many of, we danced and made our way back to the hotel .