Outer circle of Angkor

I woke up because Alyssa and Jessica were both awake and trying to be quiet but that never works. I was sad to find out that it was only 7:45am. We lounged around for a while and then headed up to breakfast. It was a big buffet breakfast but strangely none of the food was kept warm. Even still, we were just happy to have unlimited coffee and the breakfast was served on the top floor of the hostel which had tons of windows to view the city. I was also put into a good mood by the fact that they were playing country music...so strange but very welcome! Alyssa had been in contact with two Sweedish guys we had met on the bus the night before (Olaf and Simen...yes, that is how his name is spelled) and they had invited us to join them for the day touring the outer circle of Angkor temples. We agreed since it was extremely convenient that they had already set everything up for us. They had managed to get an awesome six person tuk tuk complete with a stereo system that we could hook up to our iPod. As we cruised through the streets of Siem Reap, we were blasting 90's American music and all the locals were turning to see what the ruckus was about.

Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. Stretching over 400 km2, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. They include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations. There are two circles within Ankor Wat that are popular to tour, commonly known as the inner and outer circles. We decided since we had gotten a later start, that we would begin with the outer circle. The outer circle had some of the lesser known and less popular temples, mainly because they were smaller and not as preserved. There were tons of ruins to see and explore. It was no problem to touch things or walk around any of the temples in the outer circle which surprised me a little. We had a lot of fun putting our heads on all of the headless statues that can be found throughout the grounds. Our driver had mapped out exactly where we should go throughout the day and would drop us off at each temple and wait for us to finish walking around. It was amazing how intricate the carvings and details within the temples were. It was a shame that so much of them were destroyed over the years.

We stopped for lunch at one of the restaurant areas within the park. They all served the same sorts of dishes so it was really just a matter of choosing the right price. I tried some chicken curry which was absolutely delicious and had tons of vegetables in it.

We then continued our temple tour. There were so many of them that it would take forever to describe them all, but it was definitely a cool feeling to see these ancient temples. You could really get a sense for how different their lives and culture must have been. It was hard to get fully engrossed in the temples though as you were constantly being hassled by people selling things. I completely understand that they are just trying to make a living but sometimes I just want to look at a temple, not buy a scarf I have no use for.

We stayed to watch the sunset from the top of one of the temples which has a huge tourist draw, but unfortunately there were a ton of clouds and trees in the way so it didn't look like much. By the time we got back it was dark and we needed to shower and find some dinner. We headed to a restaurant that had gotten good reviews and since it was owned by an Australian, had some more Westernized dishes on the menu. Olaf and Simen met us there and we had a nice dinner. I even splurged for the Atlantic salmon because some basic fish just sounded so good. After dinner, we headed to pub street which is a lively section of town with tons of bars, restaurants and shops.

We walked around for a while browsing through stores. Jessica really wanted some of the hippie style pants that are all the rage in Southeast Asia, so she spent a lot of time pricing them from different venues. After a while, we decided to stop in this cute little bar we had spotted to get a drink. I was intrigued by the "Rose and Lemongrass martini" but when I ordered it, the waiter said I couldn't handle it. At first this made me laugh but then I believed him and so I ordered the "China White" instead which had jasmine tea syrup and lychee with gin and cinzano bianco. I do not normally like gin but the drink sounded unique so I thought I'd give it a shot. Simen ended up ordering the other martini so I got to try both. The rose martini was way to strong to drink and I hated the gin in the other one so I left my drink unfinished.

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