Shaun Yasaki

I can't emphasize enough how beautiful the Angkor Wat ruins are. It's a whole different experience from walking around the Coliseum or any European ruin. The Khmers are trying to find a balance between restoration and keeping the temples in their current state. I think I like what they're doing. While rebuilding some areas, the whole temple complex is still quite dilapidated and therein lies their charm. Most of the construction is to keep more areas from caving in. The Ankgor Wat temple itself is probably in the best shape and has the most tourists. The surrounding temples of Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm are crumbing and still overtaken by jungle trees but these were by far the most fun to explore. Plus, Tomb Raider was filmed in Angkor Thom.

Our hostel recommended us a guide named Chan for our day trip through the temples. He was great. For $15 he picked us up early and drove us to the temples in his tuk tuk. He would wait for us and then shuttle us to the next one. $10 is actually the going rate for such a service, but sometimes I hate to bargain for things like this. Chan had an uncanny ability to spot JoLyn and I from a distance. We would be heading back to find him and he'd

be waving at us from 75ft away. It turned into a game of trying to find him first. We only won once. Chan has a photo in the number two spot.

Listen to "Hello Seahorse!". They're Mexican but the music won't make you look for a sombrero. -Bestia