Angkor Wat, temples and another adventure with Bo Bo

THE tourist attraction in Cambodia is Angkor Wat, a large buddhist and hindu temple.

A little history before we dive in:

Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious structure and is located on 402 acres of land in the ancient city of Angkor. Back in the 13th century when Angkor was in its prime, up to 1 million people lived in the city that is now protected by UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There are over 1 thousand temples scattered throughout Angkor and they are the only structures from that period still standing. All non-religious buildings were made of perishable materials, like wood, because the people of Angkor believed that only gods had a right to residencies made of stone. All temples were dedicated to one or multiple of the three Hindu gods, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

Our 3:30 a.m. alarm sounds as we roll out of bed and get ready for our sunrise trip to Angkor Wat. Unfortunately for us, we got the time wrong and were up and ready an hour before we had to be. Not a big deal though because we were still jet lagged. When our tuk-tuk driver arrived, we hopped in and made our way to the major historical site.

A quick 15 minute ride later and we were there.

It was pitch black outside and we couldn't see anything yet but we started our short walk towards the temple that was undoubtedly ahead of us, blanketed by the darkness.

As we got closer we began to see the outline of the ancient building. We crossed a long floating dock over the moat surrounding the temple and we were officially on the site of Angkor Wat. We explored a little of the long building in front of the main temple with flashlights from our phones before taking the stone pathway towards the main attraction.

We stopped at a smaller, secondary temple off to the side as we sat and watched the sun come up.

After there was enough light we made our way into Angkor Wat.

Greeted by the magnitude of stone, meaningful statues and intricate carvings we began exploring the site.

It is massive and you can’t help but wonder how they constructed the temple as you walk around it. On top of that, how sound it is and how it has withstood almost 900 years of elements.

We walked around every part of the temple for a couple hours. Even going up to the highest point (on a rather steep staircase) where we got the best view of the spanning complex.

We walked down and out of the temple, arrived back at our tuk-tuk and enjoyed the rest of the day temple-hopping.

In total I think we saw five temples. I would list the names of them but I can’t figure out which of the thousand we were at.

All of them were fun to explore and were unique in their own ways.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we stopped at the most anticipated temple of the trip (after Angkor Wat, of course), Ta Prohm.

A temple that has been enveloped in trees and their roots.

The trees were growing around the stone walls which was creating jaw-dropping scenery. We couldn’t get enough pictures of them and it turned out to be our favorite temple of the day.

Notable mentions from the day:

• We saw a lot of monkeys running around on the roof when we were leaving Angkor Wat and then again later while driving between temples. Our tuk-tuk driver pulled over on the road so we could watch the monkeys run and play around for a few minutes. Not everyday you get to be that close to monkeys.

• We met three Japanese people around our age at Angkor Wat and ran into them again later at another temple. We all took a picture together.

• While driving between temples we saw a wild peacock walking in the road. It was so cool to see. Our tuk-tuk driver even said that was a first for him.

• After visiting all of the temples, we checked our health apps and learned that we walked over 6 miles that day.

After a long day of exploring a hand-full of temples we finally made our way back to our hotel.

Considering we bought a three day pass to the Angkor area, two days later, we were back in the tuk-tuk to see even more temples. This time we started off with an hour-long ride deeper into Cambodia to see the “lady temple.” It got that nickname because the stones it is made out of appear pink.

Honestly, if you’ve seen one temple, you’ve kinda seen them all. They are definitely all fun to walk around but it can get a little redundant.

This is especially true when it is 90 degrees out and there's little to no shade.

Regardless, after seeing what “lady temple” had to offer, we explored two more temple sites before calling it quits for the day and heading back to Siem Reap.

Yup, we’re getting our money’s worth from our Angkor Wat pass… day three.

But this time we thought it would be fun to rent e-bikes and tour around ourselves.

We headed out, armed with our bikes, a map and a large bottle of water. The plan for the day was to visit Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm, our two favorites.

The 15-ish minute ride to Angkor Wat was a straight shot north from our hotel and in no time we were staring down the road at the structure.

We walked around a little, not going in this time because it was crazy hot out. We took some pictures and were on our way to find an air conditioned restaurant for lunch. Not an easy task. Nonetheless, we found one and stopped to eat.

Ta Prohm was right across the street from the restaurant so we walked around the temple again and took some pictures before taking off on a little e-bike adventure.

The bikes had tires built for off-roading and Bryce was eager to try them out. We found a few paths to rip around on, some dirt, roots and mud, some sand.

At one point Bryce just kept going deeper and deeper on a path in the jungle that was not much wider than the bike tires. I was kind of worried about what kinds of animals (or people) were in there. Not to mention, I kept forgetting I was on an e-bike and would pedal like normal then be jerked forward at a speed I didn’t want to go at. I wasn’t loving it. Plus we kept taking turns and I was worried we would get lost in a random jungle in Cambodia.

Could you imagine the headline?

But not to worry, we made it out and it was kind of fun. Bryce was having the time of his life and if it was up to him he would have done that all day long.

We rode around for a while, Bryce recorded some clips on his go-pro and we called it a day. Had to make sure we got back before the bikes ran out of battery.

I almost forgot to write about our second day with Bo Bo at the floating village!

Full disclosure… his name is Boon Boon but we forgot and were referring to him as Bo Bo on the blog. I couldn’t go on with that secret. But also, we’re going to continue to call him Bo Bo because at this point, it feels right.

Bo Bo picked us up at our hotel and told us what he had planned for our day.

We started at a monastery not too far away. Monks live at the monastery and Bo Bo told us that additionally, when people are too old to work they come to the monastery and work there, where it is much less labor intensive.

He mentioned how there are no programs in place that allow people of retirement age to stop working like there are in America.

The property is littered with (cute) stray dogs that get fed often by the monks and others. When we were asking about the dogs Bo Bo took this as an opportunity to tell us that he had eaten dog before. Then asked if we wanted to try some. We politely declined.

Bo Bo showed us the cemetery on the site. I found this interesting because as you may guess, it is not like the cemeteries in the United States. In the Buddhist religion the dead are cremated and put in a stupa. It is not one stupa per person, it is one per family. A family is laid to rest together.

Right behind the cemetery was a large man-made pond filled with catfish. Huge catfish. Mostly black but some were white too.

We aren’t entirely sure if there was a significance in the catfish being there and the internet doesn’t seem to know the answer either.

Next stop: local food market where we were going to try some popular cuisine.

On the way to the market Bo Bo pulled over on the side of the road in front of a specific bush/tree. He picked off a piece for all of us and told us to eat it. We did and it was surprisingly good, it tasted a little sour. Bo Bo said it makes a great soup.

A few yards away he stopped again at a table on the side of the road and bought us a bag of lotus seeds. It is a little larger than a Pistachio and has the texture of a pea. There is a waxy covering on it that has to be peeled away before you can eat the seed inside. They don't taste like much but they were good and it was fun to try something local and new.

Bo Bo must have thought it was time to step the snacks up a notch because the local food market went from zero to 100.

We pulled up to a strip of food stands and started looking at what they had to offer.

Bo Bo had to tell us what we were looking at, after getting a kick out of us trying to guess.

On the menu: snails, some sort of whole grilled mouse (but there was a bit of a language barrier with that one), snail kebabs, snake and crab claws. Keep in mind that none of the meat on the sides of the road is refrigerated or seemingly maintained in any way.

Bo Bo asked if we wanted anything and we giggled and said no thank you.

He led us across the street to another stand. This one was offering what can only be described as a pancake of whole shrimp. Bo Bo bought one then broke off a piece for Bryce and I to share.

I don’t like seafood, especially when the eyes and everything else are still there so I had a minuscule bite and poor Bryce had the rest. He was a good sport about it but he said it made him feel sick.

We washed it down with lotus seeds.

Last stop: the floating village.

The structures in the floating village are largely created on a bamboo base. During the wet season, as the water rises and floods in, the houses are able to float as high as they have to. It prevents a lot of loss as the houses would otherwise be submerged in very deep water.

The floating village we saw had houses, markets and even a police station. We watched as people got around in their longboats and kids ran around and played games with their flip flops up on the land.

Bo Bo told us the people living on the water have a hole in their ground that they use as a toilet and then joked about how the fish love it.

This made Bryce wonder about the shrimp he just ate.

As I write this from Siem Reap, Cambodia, we are supposed to be in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Vietnam recently changed their rules for visas and unfortunately we found out too late.

Our original flight to Vietnam took off 4 days ago without us and we are in Cambodia until tomorrow. Luckily for us, our visas got granted yesterday so we can *officially* leave tomorrow. We can no longer see Ho Chi Minh which is sad but we are trying not to dwell on it too much.

On the bright side, we get to eat more of our favorite tacos here at Chubby Gonzo's and have gotten to explore more of Cambodia!