alliosn: Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Arriving at the newly renovated Taoyuan Airport at 5:30AM.

Ready to go with our passports, boarding tickets & comfy clothes/flip flops.

My breakfast of a blueberry bagel w/ cream cheese & grapefruit juice. I had actually been craving bagels & cream cheese this entire trip to Taiwan!! Super random craving or what?

More breakfast items.

Ready for lift off

Unimpressed Ketchup w/ our airplane food.

Flying over Vietnam for our transfer flight.

Never thought I'd have pho in Vietnam. Found this semi-overpriced but yummy bowl of pho upstairs at the Vietnam Airport during our layover.

Waiting, waiting

Rough landing in Cambodia caused the emergency mask to fly out in the row ahead of us. We should all start paying attention to that explanation video prior to flying because these contraptions are incredibly complicated!

First time at a small airport where we get off outside of the airport building.

We're rich! ...just kidding. We're holding 80,000 Cambodian riels, which equates to an underwhelming $20 US.

Christmas in Cambodia. Cute gingerbread house

Tea time at the 5-star Le Meridien Hotel immediately after arriving in Cambodia.

Bottom layer first-- assorted pastries and baked goods.

2nd layer- mini sandwiches and burgers. Too cute!

View of the room. Their beds are so huge they could fit at least 3-4 people on one!

Or maybe about 40-50 pooh bears.

View of the courtyard from the room.

On the tour bus for Day 1- the native goods the tour guide gave us to help us keep cool. A straw hat, cover-up scarves, and a mini scarf that you are supposed to dip in cool water and throw in the fridge the night before for the next day out in the hot, humid weather.

We're on a boat!

Native kids giving massages for tips, they definitely don't take no for an answer.

Visiting the Vietnamese neighborhood that resides on a river. Little motorboats continuously speed over to our tour boat for money or candy.

This is how they relocate--they pull their homes (suspended on the water) with little motorboats to wherever it is they want to move to.

Children showing you snakes for tips. Almost every other child here has a snake draped around their neck.

Crocodile pit.

Brave Uncle Joe. His mouth was less than an inch away from the snake's head!

Cute kid in super murky waters.

Part of Day 1's dinner. Traditional Cambodian cuisine- fried chicken wings with sweet and sour sauce.

At the Smile of Angkor Grand Epic Show. The best dance/light show in Cambodia which I sadly kept dozing off to after a super long first day.

Day 2: Breakfast. Made-to-order omelets

Also made-to-order chashu noodles! Very delicious.

Our very first temple visiting on our trip. Of many, many, many to come.

Our 3-day pass to visit all the temples of Angkor and a hand fan they passed out that ended up being very crucial to my survival in the super hot weather.

Talented street artists. Or temple-artists?

The walls of an ancient burial ground. The emperor/king decided it was too dark and dull inside so they carved holes all throughout the walls and inserted gems such as rubies, emeralds to brighten up the room. All of which were looted by the French, Vietnamese, or Thai--much similar to what happened with most of the other artifacts of Cambodia.

Hu$tler little girl. All the children selling things are well versed in at LEAST 4-5 languages!

Our tour guide's idea of a jumping picture ended up becoming a big thing in our tour group. Good jump bf

About to climb one of my favorite temples of the entire trip.

View from the top! Pretty amazing scenery... it still amazes me how the Cambodians were able to build this thousands of years ago.

Our course lunch back at Le Meridien. Our appetizer of pork ribs and crusted salmon.

Second course appetizer of chicken wings and egg rolls.

Steak curry in a crispy shell.

Coconut banana tapioca pudding with dried coconut on top.

Our post-lunch hike to yet another Angkor temple.

Cute local kid with cute slippers.

Fresh coconut juice!

Enjoying our cool refreshments on a hot afternoon.

This lake's water looked as if it consisted entirely of a congealed clay-ish material.

Posing in front of crazy looking tree roots.

More crazy looking tree roots.

Just thought I'd add this in to freak all of you guys out. Our second day's massage that included a cucumber cooling mask. I was curious to see what I looked like so I snapped this photo of myself and completely freaked myself out when I looked at it. Keep in mind we were laying on flat little mattresses in a very dimly lit room.

Day 3 breakfast.

Eating 50% more effectively than usual with an additional chopstick.

Sanskrit engravings at our first temple on day 3.

Lots of empty little door frames like this throughout all the temples in Angkor Wat.

Giant buddha temple.

This is exactly what you think it is. Actual skeleton remains from hundreds of years ago, stored in a glass case with the sliding door wide open!

Picture perfect scenery.

Our second-part hotel change to Sokha Angkor Resort.

Made-to-order egg noodle soup.

Tea-time before going on a 20-story high hike.

Adorning our recommended face masks for the dusty hike up on the dirt road. We totally fit into Asia perfectly now.

Made it to the top!

Standing at the edge we climbed up--on a near 60-70 degree angle incline staircase.

Sunset at the top.

Day 3 Chinese-inspired dinner. Green onion pancake.

Stone pot pork and vegetables.

Sizzling beef and onions.

Broiled fish with green onions and ginger.

Day 4- transportation via giant golf carts.

Our +1 for the day.

View from the rear of the giant golf cart.

Kissing statues or optical illusion?

Ketchup with the Smile of Angkor.

About to climb up this giant temple!

Just to depict exactly how steep the staircases were.

Talented girl from our tour climbing the rocks with an umbrella. I think I saw her without that umbrella only once or twice throughout the entire 5 days.

Our last temple of the trip--Little Angkor Wat.

More stairs @_@

Traditional Cambodian course dinner at Sokha Angkor Resort.

Breaded sweet and sour fish.

The festive courtyard/pool at Sokha Angkor Resort. So pretty!

Last night in Cambodia- amazing oil-pressed massages.

Our choice of massage oils.

Day 5 breakfast--half day left in Cambodia before heading to the airport.

My first time on a Tuk Tuk! It's a kind of local taxi where a motorcycle pulls a little cart for 2-4 people to go to their desired destinations. It's usually about 1000 riels per person, which comes out to $0.25US.