The Temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom, Episode II

Who's ready to get stoned? Get it? Because the temples are made of...never mind. A few more pictures from my trip to Cambodia, and then I'll turn it back over to pictures of the prettiest little girl I know.

At each temple, the Cambodians had set up stalls selling souvenirs and drinks. At first it was a lot of fun to take a look at the different stuff they weren't selling at the night markets. The kids working the stands also had standard approaches to sucker me in. My favorite was the kids who recognized me as an American; here's how that went:

"Where you from?"

"USA"

"Capitol Washington D.C.! What state you from?"

"Murland"

"Capitol Annapolis!"

Now there are a lot of people from Murland that don't know that much, so of course I had to buy something from them (a rubbing of one of the temple carvings). Little did I know that every temple had kids pulling this trick. It was neat the first couple of times, but then it got reeeeeeeeal old. So old that I found myself making up states so that they wouldn't be able to seal the deal. Nobody knew the capital of Massatucky (Franksington).

The picture above doesn't capture how steep the stairs for this temple are, nor does it give an impression of how high it is. This bad boy is almost a straight shot up from the ground to the three structures at the top. As most of you know, I'm not the biggest fan of heights, but I figured since it'd be a long time until I found my way back to Cambodia I'd best climb on up.

Vertigo starting...now. No offense Mom, you never would have stood a chance on this one.

That's a picture of me looking down the FIRST flight of stairs. The Khmer might have been brilliant but they sure as hell didn't care a lick about the American with Disabilities Act. It was a tough climb physically, but well worth it. The structures at the top still functioned as active temples:

I was greeted by this Buddha...and another kid asking me what state I was from. I made it to the top, contemplated the likelihood that I would be able let go of my earthly desires and achieve nirvana, ate a CLIF Bar, and took some pictures.