Our visit to the Angkor Wat Archeological Park begins this morning after a nice breakfast. We meet our guide, Rey, and head out to our first stop, Angkor Thom. The Archeological Park is a large area containing numerous temple ruins, most of them at least 1000 years old. They are in various states of reconstruction, a UNESCO project. The French, who ruled Cambodia for many years, did some of the early reconstruction, beginning in the early 1900s. They stopped when World War II broke out, and then again when the Cambodian civil war broke out in the 70s-80’s. After the civil war ended, UNESCO came in and began the slow process reconstruction process.

In some of the temples, large bricks were taken down from walls, numbered, and set on the ground, waiting to be fit together like a huge jig saw puzzle. The job is such a huge undertaking.

We spent the morning with our guide wandering through several temples. We returned to the hotel to rest before going back out to watch the sunset from a mountain (hill), overlooking the area. We had to arrive over 2 hours early to guarantee we would make it to the top. They only allow 300 people up top, and the lines can get long, according to our guide.

Elephant ride

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e65ve7x1bokcafb/15.6.22.Elephant.m4v?dl=0

We were excited to find out we could ride an elephant to the top (anything to avoid climbing another hill). The view was nice, but there were clouds on the horizon, blocking some of the potential for a glorious sunset. We did get some great colors, nevertheless

As we walked down the hill afterward, a piercing sound kept cutting through. It sounded like a belt sander, or electric saw. The guide told us it was cicadas. These were like no cicadas we’ve ever heard. I’ve posted a short video below. There’s nothing to see, but you’ll hear what I’m talking about.

Cicadas

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7qqjd1mulozlwyv/15.6.22.Cicadas.m4v?dl=0