Temples, Temples and More Temples in Siem Reap

The first place we stopped on our third day in Siem Reap was the Elephant Terrace and the Leperosy of the King. The detail and sheer number of carvings were remarkable.

Next we started visiting temple after temple after temple until they all started to look alike. It reminded me of the ancient archeological tels in Israel. After awhile, it all became a blur.

At this temple, built with bricks in 800 something A.D. there were three large temples in front dedicated to Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. Behind those were three smaller temples dedicated to their wives. Sophia approached our tour guide and asked, "Why do the girl temples have to go in back?" The guide responded with, "Because men are stronger than women." Sophia was pissed. She gave him a dirty look and said, "That's not always true." Then she stormed off. It was hilarious in part because that is so Sophia! And also, because this tour guide had been very dismissive of me and only wanted to deal with Brian because he was a typical sexist Asian man. I was very pleased with my little tigress for speaking truth! Out of the mouth of babes, right?
Giselle thought it was hilarious to pretend to be a meditating Buddha in the doorways of all the temples. It was cute at first, but then after the 100th picture of her in this position, we were all over it.

I wish I could remember the different names of all of these temples, but like I said, they all seemed to melt together and most of the time I couldn't understand what our tour guide was trying to tell us through his thick accent. I got headaches every day from trying to concentrate on making out his English words.

My two good-looking boys.

The final temple we went to, we were supposed to stay there and watch the sunset. However, we got there far too early and had about an hour and a half to kill before the intended hour.

We explored for awhile, but finally resorted to our favorite vacation pasttime--my jungle island monster story. I sat on one of the corners of the temple and spun more of my ridiculous tale. Oakley was the only one missing because, as I previously mentioned, he didn't appreciate my literary skills. I entertained the kids for about 40 minutes until the sun began to set.

As we were leaving we noticed a group of young boy monks who were living at the monestary behind the ruins. Giselle decided to go up to meet them, but because they are not allowed to go near girls, they kept backing up. Giselle kept pursuing, until they were right on the edge of the temple wall and the stone temple steps. Then Giselle suddenly reached out and poked one of the boys. He gasped and fell down the stairs. Then they all ran away laughing. Priceless.