Cambodia: Ankor Temple complex

At the end of our Vietnam trip we skipped over to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the Ankor temples.

Baksei Chamkrong, a small temple just outside the south wall of Ankor Thom.

Statues leading to the south gate of Ankor Thom.

Lots of traffic passing through the narrow gate.

Bayon Temple.

Big Buddha

70 meter long reclining Buddha on the west side of Baphuon.

Phimeanakas

Terrace of the Leper king.

Small temple in the Preah Pithu group

South Kleang.

One of the ten Prasats Suor Prat.

Thommanon, I think…

The next few are from Ta Prohm. The trees were amazing. They seem to preferentially grow on the ruins. This was my favorite temple.

The next few are from Ankor Wat.

On a separate day we hired a car to take us out to Banteay Srei, which is known for it’s intricate carvings.

Just before heading to the airport we took a ride in this helium balloon.

The balloon is tethered to the ground and run up and down by winch.

Our shadow.

Cambodia: Floating village

On one of our days in Cambodia we took a break from temples and went to visit a floating village. The village is on the banks of lake Tonle Sap. The thing is that this is a very large lake and it doubles in size between the dry and wet seasons. So the village is built on stilts and half the year it is “floating”. There are also some buildings that actually float. We visited in at a pretty dry time.

Line of tour boats like the one we took.

Houses.

Mobile convenience store.

School bus.

Kid begging tourists for money.

The boat driver’s two grandsons were on the boat and the elder one helped out a bit. His dad is also a boat driver and he also wants to drive  a boat. He was not too excited about school.

This lady paddled us through the sunken forest.

The village is mostly supported by fishing.

The village.

These are piles of dried shrimp pieces, one of the major products of the village.

This is the school. We were surprised that part of the tour was to visit the class and give them books and pencils. It was a nice thought, but felt weird and was quite disruptive to the class. It left us wondering how many times a day that happens.

Staged photo op.

The town was mostly full of kids. I’m sure the rest of the population was working, but it was striking.

Another village product is fish paste. These fish are dried and then ground.

I was also struck by all the garbage in the village. I guess when the village floods it all just goes away…