We began our third day in Cambodia with a boat ride down Siem Reap river to the Tonle Sap lake. This lake is interesting because the river that drains the lake, switches directions each year, and actually supplies the lake with water. Thus the lake swells and shrinks immensely every year. This allows plenty of wildlife to grow in the area, and it a UNESCO biosphere.
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| The fishing village entering into Tonle Sap lake |
Unfortunately, most of the wildlife we saw was the people living on the river. They lead very interesting lives as most homes, shops, and schools are make shift buildings floating on the river.
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| A typical village house. |
Most of the kids spend the day trying to get money or candy from the tourists like us who cruise down the river. One trick is to carry a snake around their shoulders. I don't know how exactly this is supposed to get money, but it must work or they wouldn't do it.
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| Sondra didn't even notice this future WWF wrestler sneak up on her. |
We don't give too much money to the kids because there are so many and we think it probably encourages the parents to employ their kids as beggars. Sondra had a great idea to give them our extra toothbrushes and toothpaste that the hotels gave us. With a little work we got them to brush their teeth pretty well.
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| Toothbrushin' |
After the lake, we were informed by our Tuk tuk driver that we still had many more temples to see. Apparently the job of a temple tourist is never done in Angkor.
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| The orange temple of Pre Rup |
The next couple tempos we saw were pretty far from the main Angkor sites, but spectacular nonetheless. One was so far from the sites that a Frenchman, Maurice Malraux, tried to steal a piece in the early 20th century and was caught red handed. He was later shipped back to France, where he became the head of cultural affairs. Ohh France.
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| We love this picture. Taken at the ladies temple, Benteay Srey. |
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| The entrance way to the palace of Preah Khan |
We are taken to our last temple, Bakong. We brought some beers so we could hang out at the top of the temple and watch the sunset. Waiting for the sunset gets a little boring. I start playing some games on my phone and end up getting some attention from some of the local kids.
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| A little Tick Photography in the ruins that we don't even remember the name to. That's how many ruins there are. |
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| They loved the Videogame |
As the sun sets behind Bakong, we say our goodbyes to Cambodia and Angkor. Tomorrow morning we head for the beaches of Thailand.
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| Sunset behind Bakong |
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