Cambodia

We continued our honeymoon in Cambodia exploring the temples of the Angkor Wat complex. Truly amazing. Although the site is famous for the Angkor Wat temple I found the most extraordinary temples to be Ta Prohm and Bayon . At Bayon I truly felt like I was walking amongst the Gods. At every angle there is a serene face glancing benignly towards you. Ta Prohm was incredible for it’s crumbling splendour. Huge trees growing out of the temple ruins with roots climbing over walls and floors, creating an environment that was part peaceful temple and part deepest jungle. It literally was straight out of a movie, they filmed scenes from Tomb Raider at Ta Prohm. Huot, our guide, told us that when they first found Ta Prohm the backpackers would camp amongst the ruins. The only noise disturbing the serene peace of the temples the endless chatter of mischevious monkeys who had made their homes amongst the walls of the temples. Just like in the Jungle Book! That would have been an incredible experience, although I believe we were very lucky to walk amongst the ruins the way that we did. It will not be long before that luxury is prevented in order to protect the temples from thieves and from general damage from tourists. Whilst exploring the Angkor Wat temple, we were climbing the stairs to the upper tier of the temple, which were extremely steep, and suddenly I had a mild panic attack half way up. I questioned what I was doing, could I be putting the baby in danger? I was so concerned that I immediately reversed back down the stairs, clinging on to the temple structure like a crab, fearing that I would fall and hurt the baby somehow! I then found a side up the temple that included a rope (provided to assist elderly American tourists) and used that to get up to where Ross and Huot were patiently waiting for me!