Siem Reap, Cambodia: Day 5

The next day we took a very harrowing journey to the temple of Boeng Mealea. We hired a car and the driver drove very fast with only three seat belts in the whole car. I didn't think we were going to survive the journey, but we did.

This temple was outside the city so there were fewer tourists but still plenty of them.  We liked this temple a lot because there were very few restrictions on places that we couldn't go so we were able to wander around as we liked.

Inside the temple complex from the top of one of the buildings looking down.

Michael navigating through the rubble.

One of the cleared passageways.

I'm still amazed by the detail of the carvings on every surface of the Angkor Wat temples.  This was found on one of the doorways leading into the temple.

Michael and Teddy found a root swing inside the temple.

One of the many tight spaces that we had to navigate in order to explore the temple.

Broken carvings everywhere.

Teddy enjoying playing hide-and-seek.

Michael and Teddy climbing through the temple.

A view into the inner part of the temple.  A movie company built the wooden walkways for the making of their film and left the structures behind so people could explore the temple.

Our guide with Teddy.  There were dozens of these women walking around the temple.  I called them, "the stupid people patrol," because they were there to make sure that the tourists didn't do anything stupid in the rubble of the temple.

Sitting on top of a wall.

Michael at the top of what was once a library, but now has a tree growing out of the top of it.

Having fun with our camera and one of the big root swings.

Monkey Michael!

Teddy climbing through the rubble.

Light streaming in from outside.

One of my favorite signs of the trip - a posting about how many land mines have been removed from the area around this temple and a note that the clearing is on-going.  We made sure to stick to the path.

After leaving the temple, we spotted something very strange on the back of a motorcycle.  Do you know what it is?

Hint: It tastes best when "pulled" and with BBQ sauce!

After visiting the temple, we went to an animal sanctuary to see some local animals that had been rescued.  We didn't take many pictures but we did get to see many animals.

Next, we visited Kbal Spean, which is also known as the "River of One Thousand Lingas."  A linga is actually a penis, so Michael sent me on my own to hike the 3K into the woods to see the penis river.  I was a little disappointed when I arrived because it didn't seem like there were one thousand, but it's always like a man to exaggerate (ha ha!)

The carvings were done into the rocks in the river.  I image that they were much more prominent a thousand years ago.  The box shape in the middle of the picture is actually a vagina.  

A few carvings and a few more lingas.

Look!  More lingas!