Cambodia

This was our favorite section of the Christmas trip. Cambodia is a beautiful country with a wonderful (and troubled) history. Our tour guide was great. He taught us a lot about the Khmer civilization and culture, cambodian religous beliefs and he really helped us understand recent regional political issues.

We arrived in Siem Reap on Christmas day. It was sunny and 90 degrees (not exactly a white Christmas). We only had a few days to see all the sights. It was busy, but fun.

We are standing inside the outerwall and in front of the main temple.

Lauren and Austin really enjoyed feeding and playing with the monkeys (there is a monkey in the tree above Austin. He had just given the monkey a banana).

We are standing in front of Angkor Thom and one of the many face sculptures.

The Ta Prohm temple (also called the "Jungle Temple") is overgrown with gigantic trees. Some of the trees are actually demolishing sections of the temple while others are holding it together.