Leaving Bangkok and Pattaya, Corey, Kelly, and I headed east for the Cambodian border in search of a place that has captivated my imagination since watching Indiana Jones films as a child. This place is the ancient and mystical city of Angkor, and the capitol city of the once expansive Khmer Empire, which covered the present day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and parts of Vietnam and China.

Now the city lies close to Siem Reap, which is about a three hour ride over a horrible dirt road from the Thai border. We spent our first day experiencing the sights of Siem Reap, which is a city that still has all the poverty associated with Cambodia but is very much on the rise due to the surge of tourism over the past few years. Now, there are five star hotels and restaurants, but the town still retains its character and has not been overwhelmed with the American and European fast food chains and hotels.

After strolling around Siem Reap, we began our journey back in time by setting off to Angkor in the late afternoon to climb to the top of one of the temples, and watch the sunset over the vast jungle with temple spires just peaking through the thick growth and watching the graceful, Asian elephants ferry people up and down the small hill to the base of this massive temple. It was not till that moment that I realized enormity of this old city. I always thought only of the famous Angkor Wat temple, but it is only one of seemingly hundreds of temples and palaces, many of which have still not been reclaimed from the jungle.

We started the following morning by having breakfast with some Cambodian children at the base of the imperial palace while haggling over prices of Cambodian land mine t-shirts, and then spent the morning wandering in the rain through the labyrinth of barren rooms and hallways occasionally coming across a monk meditating in front of an ancient statue of Buddha while burning incense. As we wandered through these palaces and temples, it seemed so surreal that I could easily imagine stepping on a booby trap or falling into a previously unknown room or even walking around the corner and stumbling into some sort of sacrificial ceremony. Luckily, these people were and still are Buddhists, so I did not have to fear being thrown into a pot of boiling water, but our experience was only amplified by our next temple.

From the palaces and a few smaller temples in-between, we made our way to the Jungle Temple, which was the sight of Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom, and Laura Croft: Tomb Raider. This temple was magnificent because it seemed that it had actually grown out from the ground under the trees because it is covered with the roots of enormous trees, vines, and other growth of the jungle. Being there during the rain made it even more eerie as the trees swayed and the water seemed to disappear into unknown parts of the temple.

On our last day, we arose in the dark to make it to the most famous of the temples for sunrise, Angkor Wat. This temple, even being hundreds of years old, is still the largest religious complex in the world, and it did not disappoint. We sat and watched the sun rise behind the temple casting the temple's reflections and a myriad of colors on the small lake in front of the temple. Once the sun came up, we strolled through the temple's hallways, courtyards, and galleries admiring the ornate stone carvings and writings that cover nearly every inch of the temple, while knowing that every bit of this temple was made by hand with fairly primitive tools by thousands of people for many years.

The temples of Angkor was another sight like the Taj Mahal that did not only live up to my high expectations, but exceeded them in so many ways. It is amazing to think of how many temples I visited over three days and then realize that there are still many many more that have not been reclaimed from the jungle. Now, we have to return to Bangkok for Corey to fly out, but Kelly and I will continue on from there to the famous beaches and tropical islands in southern Thailand, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Till next time, cheers.