Angkor: boyhood dreams

I'm not sure where the idea came from or how it became a frequent fantasy of mine. But when I was a boy (ok - younger boy) playing "army" in the woods or hunting or whatever, I had this expectation that I would come across an abandoned ancient tomb or temple. Maybe it was Tarzan cartoons or some war movie I watched. Mabye it was a book I read. Maybe it is every boys' fantasy to find such a place.

Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples reveals just such an image. Angkor Wat proper is right in the middle of a moat, and has so many visitors that it didn't feel like it was in the jungle at all (except for the heat, humidity, mosquitoes, ants, etc). However, a couple of the places that we went to had trees growing right out of the temples and were surrounded by thick forest. In one temple (Ta Prohm), a tree's roots are growing right through some figures carved into a wall. If you know where to look, you can see the Buddha's face peering out from the roots. We were fortunate enough to be there towards the end of the day, and a bored tourist policeman walked us to some of the more magnificent views as well as past a few barriers and showed us some of the restricted areas.

Bayon was one of my favorites, despite the heavy tourist traffic. There are so many different areas, that you can get away on your own from time to time and really feel like you have the place to yourself. This really contributed to my feelings of being a boy again. If Erin hadn't been there, I think would have snuck around the corners to try and "shoot" Paul (a fellow we met at our guesthouse, who along with his girlfriend, Monica, are traveling from Denver - pictured below. more on them later).