angkor wat

at a certain point, one can only see so many temples before they begin to blend together and become somewhat boring, but the temples of angkor wat are absolutely mind-blowing. there's over 100 of them scattered around siem reap (in cambodia), in various sizes, ages and stages of destruction. i spent two days touring many of them holding onto the back of a motorbike as i bounced my way through dirt roads, countryside and utter pollution. the temples were build between the 9th and 13th centuries by the Khmer empire. it's unreal how huge and intricate these things are. absolutely unreal.

this adorable guy, who is younger than i am by 2 years, was my guide/motorbike driver. chamnan chhor is one knowledgable dude, with impecable driving skills to boot. if you ever come here, you should hire him for the day to cart you around and point out numerous details that you would overlook, such as the knee positions of the carvings indicating if the temple was built by a buddhist or hindu king. and the sexy underwear worn by the women carving goddesses. if you're lucky, he'll treat you to a bamboo stick filled with sticky rice, black beans and coconut milk, and he'll show you how to turn the stick into a spoon to scoop out the deliciousness.