i.heart.siem.reap.

Yesterday was buuuuusy. Got up around 7 and grabbed breakfast downstairs before heading out to see the temples. I'd reserved a tuk tuk driver the day before, but was kind of bummed to be doing it myself since i'd have to foot the entire $15 bill myself (for an entire day out and about!). When i went back to the room to put sunscreen on, i ran into one of my roommates who, it turned out, was also doing the temples. She's from korea and will be travleing for a total of 10 days or so- much like me. We decided to go together which made it much more enjoyable. She'd already seen two of the ones we saw (she bought the 3-day pass), so knew enough about them to share. We started at 9am and went to angkor wat first. This definitely has the most impressive appearance from the front, and though it was interesting inside, it was not my favorite. From there we went to angkor thom where we saw bayon, baphoun, phimeanakas, terrace of the elephants, and terrace of the leeper king. These were all impressive, but bayon moved up to my top pick. Then to others including ta keo, ta prohm, banteay kdei, and pre rup, before heading to phnom bakheng for sunset. My favorite was undoubtedly ta prohm, which some of you may recognize from that angeleina jolie movie, tob raider (i never saw it, but will have to now). This temple was not cleared out, and apparently looks like the rest of them did when they were discovered. There are trees, and not little ones either, growing from the tops of buildings with roots wrapped all around the stones. It was one of the few times i've felt speechless. Amazing.
We got back to the guesthouse around 7, and met my other new friend max (from montreal) for our trip to the night market. She and i had talked to some guy who had a "fish massage" the night before, and was raving about it. We decided to do the same. For $3, you get to stick your feet into a pool filled with little fish. They proceed to suck on your feet and eat the dead skin and dirt, making them much cleaner and smoother. This was the weirdest thing i've done. It was super ticklish at first, but quickly became strangely enjoyable. We were only supposed to have 15 mins, but we were in there for almost and hour (during which time we convinced countless others to join us!). After our massage, we walked through the night market, picking up a few items to bring back with us, before grabbing a late dinner at a street stand nearby. Tired.

(I'll be uploading pictures when i get back to hong kong. These computers clearly have viruses, and it was reported that someone uploaded his pictures only to have everything erased. Boo!)