Last day in Cambodia and of touring the temples. This was part of the bigger loop and we didn't have a tour guide today. Instead we just basked in beauty of the buildings and greenery. Going to and from Angkor Thom are these bridges and gates. Each side has angles and demons putting the giant 5 headed snake Naga.
I think this was my favorite temple, Preah Khan. It was beautiful and tucked in the jungle.
Ok, this is silly but I thought all the vines were funny. They looked just like trees until they started curving and bending around the real trees. Every time I saw one I couldn't help but think in my head "I forgot how to tree!".
Logan liked the shot on the right with the light coming in the window.
We walked through the temple and only had the other gate but because we had to turn back around we almost didn't go all the way through. But I'm so glad we did!! This was my favorite tree! I think it is now my favorite tree in the world!
This was the smallest temple we saw called Neak Pean. We had to walk through a bog and it was mostly a monument in the middle of the water.
The last temple we saw was called Pre Roup. It had the best elephant statues but it was SO HOT. It wasn't quite midday yet but by the time we climbed to the top we were both melting! There were no trees or cover around this one so no reprieve from the sun. Did I also mention it was hot? It was.
So many stairs!
There were no fences or gates. You could walk around where ever you wanted. If you walk off the edge it is all on you.
After, we went to a mini museum about the killing fields. I read the book called The Killing Fields in my Southeast Asia geography class. The Khmer Rouge Regime still haunts the people for the genocide where over a million people were killed between 1975-1979. I don't often feel very emotional about books but I vividly remember literally throwing the book across the room one night nearly in tears.
For lunch Logan got some green curry in a coconut and it was the best thing we ate there the whole time! I pretty much made him trade meals and ate it all up :)
We were flying out that evening so we went back to pack before going to the Angkor National Museum and having dinner over looking the Siem Reap river.
That night we started our flight home. At the airport this was my change I received back. They mostly use US dollars but their banks don't accept $2 bills and they also don't use coins so you get their bills instead. I guess thats why they were trying to get rid them as you left the airport.
Our last adventure. Our red eye connected through Shanghai, China. Our layover there was 10 hours! and you can't get into China without a visa in advance. When we got in at 4 in the morning we found out that there was another earlier flight but to change to it we had to exit out of customs and security to go to the ticket counter. To get out I guess we found a visa loophole because they gave us a 24 hour pass so we totally walked out of the airport into China! There wasn't much to see or do at 5 in the morning to we watched the sunrise and headed back into see if we could get that flight changed.
It took a lot of lines and waiting but we did get on the earlier flight for no extra charge. We even got the same seats. haha. It was great getting back through security having only 3 hours until our flight instead of 6 hours! The airport doesn't have internet or anything so I pretty much slept on a bench the whole time. The trip was so amazing and fun but I was quite happy to get back to my son three hours earlier.
