Temples of Angkor

Siem Reap, like Hoi An, felt overrun by tourists in much of the town, and an older crowd than in many places. The popularity of Siem Reap is not surprising, as it is surrounded by incredible temples, Angkor Wat being the most iconic. Everyone has seen pictures of Angkor Wat. But there are quite a few other temples in the near vicinity.

We booked a tuk tuk (a motorbike with a bunch of extra seating on the back) to take us around and see the majority of them. 

Angkor was once the seat of the Khmer Empire, it's height being the 9th-15th centuries. 

We started our tour with sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was beautiful, though immensely crowded:

But I did really enjoy entering the temple in the dark and watching it slowly materialize around me. 

The temples were all quite interesting. There was one, Ta Keo, which was much less decorated and unfinished. It is uncertain why this is the case, with stories ranging from it being struck by lightning during construction (a bad omen) to it simply being too hard to carve the sandstone they'd chosen for this temple. 

Ta Prohm is a temple that has been partially reclaimed by the jungle. Much of the plantlife has been cleared from the ruin, but many stately trees were left growing atop the walls. 

Again, much of this was terribly crowded. But some of the less popular, but still quite stunning, temples actually had a bit of peace in them. They were a few moments where we were alone in these ruins.