Cambodia 2013 – Angkor Complex & Phnom Penh

I was at one of the temples at Angkor – I think it was Pre-Rup – just around sunset when the complex closes and tourists have to leave for the day. This girl was trying to make one last sale of the day, offering these post cards and bracelets to me for $1USD.

In Phnom Penh this is the equivalent of a taxi. Here’s a driver taking a nap during the mid-day heat. Often tourists engage a tuk-tuk for the day, agreeing with the driver on a price and the number of and which sites he will drive them to that day.

This was taken at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. These are the photos of many of the Khmer Rouge’s prisoners, those who lived and died at the school-turned-torture house. This was a really rough site to visit.

Within the Angkor complex there are lots of Khmer selling arts and crafts, including this one, an oil painting of a temple.

This is sunrise at Angkor Wat; that is, the main temple site named Angkor Wat. This one site is often mistaken for representing the entire complex, but it is actually just one of MANY temple and building sites. The thing to do for tourists is to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, to get that Super Sunrise Shot. We came at the end of the rainy season so it was cloudy most of our days there. Not such a bad thing considering how hot Cambodia is.

My friend Eve and I rode the bus up north from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, and along the highway you could see people’s homes and shops.

PreRup temple has a pretty fantastic view from the top, overlooking the jungle, so tourists climb up and wait for sunset. We came on a cloudy day, so the view wasn’t as spectacular, but anthropologist that I am, I found the tourists just as mesmerizing in their behavior.