The Ancient Temples of Siem Reap: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 of this post if you haven't already.

Next, Korun took us to Bayon Temple, sometimes known as the Temple of Smiles.

Soon we encountered the temple's famous smiling faces.

Then we went to Ta Prohm, the Temple of Trees. The whole place reminded me of the Forest Temple in every single Legend of Zelda game.

Lastly, we went to Banteay Kdei, the Temple of Chambers.

For a small tip, this guy acted as our brief tour guide, showing us around the temple.

One of the first things he showed us was this massive spider.

It was huge!

Then he showed us the smaller (yet equally frightening) female spider.

Opposite the temple was a large ancient pond.

Soon Korun took us home, just in time for an afternoon shower.

That was it for our time in Siem Reap, which was a pleasant introduction to Cambodia. Angkor Wat itself was actually a little disappointing, impressive in scale, but dull in design (at least to my eyes), but the other nearby temples more than made up for it with their fantastical motifs and blending of nature and stone.

Next we were bound for Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, where we would visit the Killing Fields and learn about one of Cambodia's (and the world's) greatest tragedies.