On the first day, I rented a bicycle for a few dollars and headed off in the general direction of the temples. After about 10 km of small road biking I somehow entered the park on a back road. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help as they check your ticket before entering each temple. I backtracked to the entrance gate, and met a group of people who ran into the same problem as me. We biked back to the temples, and made Angkor Wat our first stop.

Angkor Wat is a phenomenal structure. Before you can see the Wat you stare at the impressively large moat surrounding the symmetrical complex. Although I expected the towers to be twice as high, the place is still very impressive with inner layer after inner layer of intricate carvings and vast Bas reliefs. We went back to our bikes and set off for the Royal Center of Angkor after a solid haggling by the 10-year-old business gauntlet.

The scorching heat was tolerable, but it left us guzzling water, and wanting to get back on the bikes just to get some moving air. We wanted to see as many of the different temples as possible without getting overdose, which we commonly referred to as “templed-out.” We had just visited the Bayon which is distinct from the other ones thanks to its several meter high faces staring in the cardinal directions.

We wanted to visit Ta Prohm next, but made a very impromptu stop at a newer looking temple with a large Buddha statue. The monks told us it was only 20 years old. Off to the side we noticed a family sitting on a small stone balcony getting absolutely soaked by a monk as he chanted and threw bowl after bowl of water on them. A few of the younger monks were happy to entertain our questions about wha was happening. He explained the ritual was part of the Cambodian New Year. Once a year families come to the temple to be blessed for good luck in the coming year.

Then they asked us if we wanted to do it. After several hours of sweaty biking, the decision was simple, and 15 minutes later it was our turn to be soaked. We gave our cameras to the monks, and proceeded to get soaked by the eldest monk. It was refreshing, and hard to keep a straight face as the monk paparazzi took more pictures than I had the whole day. It was a great experience, and a refreshing change from the tourism machine in which we were immersed.

The following day, I decided to get a tuk-tuk with Sheri to see the other temples, including Ta Prohm which was the backdrop of Lara Croft Tombraider. The bizarre and exotic roots climbing through and around the ruins were absolutely stunning. Besides this highlight, I was starting to get templed out. After convening with the other we decided to visit two temples much farther away on the third day. One of these was created entirely by women, and is believed to be the origin of Khmer culture. The other is carved into the banks of a small stream with a waterfall.

The first temple we visited was sadly, packed with tourist buses, and hard to find a quiet place to stare at the beautiful carvings. They said women built it because there’s no way a man could give such attention to detail to each piece. A bit jilted by the temple, we had higher hopes for the waterfall temple.

The waterfall temple had a much more promising start, as there were only a few tuk-tuks in the parking lot. We hiked for about 20 minutes up the hillside and found ourselves at a small stream with some carvings and linga carved into the surrounding stone. The trickle of water was disappointing, and there were no building to be found. Thankfully, the waterfall was perfect. We promptly jumped in the water to cool off and relax. Although it was the dry season, there was enough water to give you a good back massage, butterflies flickered around the sun spots on the rocks, and small fish swam around the trash free pools. It was a good end to the temple sight-seeing. I was happy to find a few things off the beaten path here, and it really helped make this a great experience.