The final day of my Southeast Asia adventure was a good one! We started by visiting the Angkor Archaeological Park in Cambodia. We were transported to the park in these open air “tuk tuk” vehicles – the cool breeze while driving felt good on this hot day:
We first toured Angkor Wat – the largest religious structure in the World. This temple was built in the 12th century, first a Hindu temple then later converted to a Buddhist one. The temple towered over the Cambodian countryside this day:
We took a closer look inside. The temple had three levels – we visited the first two. This staircase was a challenge to navigate to get up to the second level, and the third level was even steeper:
The stonework of the temple had many intricate carvings:
After visiting Angkor Wat my tour group played a fun “Amazing Race” type of game where we were given puzzles to solve in the Angkor temple complex:
Here my teammate Bill shows a picture puzzle we pieced together as part of the challenge, then we had to find the location of the picture somewhere in the temple complex. We could only ask the locals for help. It was a fun way to see more of the temple complex – different from a straight tour. The game had two challenges and took about an hour to complete.
The highlight of the day for me was the opportunity to ride an elephant! Here I am petting my large friend before my ride:
Me and one other rider sat in the basket behind the driver on our elephant for a 25 minute ride. Here’s a picture I took from atop the elephant of others in my tour group:
It was a great way to conclude my interesting eight day tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. I have a late night flight departing from Cambodia at 11:30 pm tonight. After two connections and 30+ hours of travel time I’ll be back in Colorado on Tuesday night. It’s not often that you get to ride an elephant and a 747 jet in the same day!
