Cambodia Part 2: Grand Tour

On our second day in Cambodia, we explored most of the temples on the "Grand Tour" ("Small Tour temples are here). But before doing so, we went back first thing in the morning to the Bayon Temple to cross off a bucket list item of mine: to ride an elephant!

We rode the elephant around the Bayon, the temple with the faces everywhere. Even though it was a quick short ride, we had a lot of fun!

I thought the elephants looked so cool up close...they are just such big animals!

(I bet you can't spy me in this picture, I blend in pretty well;)

After the elephant ride, we headed over to explore Preah Khan.

My favorite thing about this temple is all of the different colors that are on the walls. I loved the pinks and yellows. It's caused by moss growing on it over time, the sun, etc. It looks really pretty and colorful everywhere you walk!

Rumor has it that if you rub this rock that's found inside the temple then you will get pregnant... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it worked on me ;) 

This temple also had a ton of rubble and stone piles everywhere. You wouldn't want to be standing nearby when another one of those stones falls!

Our guide told Dallin to jump up on that pile of rubble. I wasn't sure how safe that was, and I still can't get over the fact that you can walk anywhere you want here. We didn't see any signs telling us not to enter, you really can explore wherever you want.

Inside of the temple, we spotted this nun in one of the alleys and it was so fitting to the scene. Of course, Dallin wanted another blessing and she gave him one along with this good luck bracelet. Hopefully Dallin is extra lucky now!

Is that the cutest face or what?

This temple also had lot's of trees growing on top of it, so crazy how that happens.

Around the temples, there are so many people selling cute elephant pants and skirts. And everyone wears them around the temples. I feel into peer pressure and bought a pink elephant skirt for $5!

Then, we headed over to Neak Pean. This temple was just this statue and the only one that was completely blocked off with a fence. We couldn't walk anywhere near it.

This was my favorite Cambodian meal of all, though I don't know the name of the place we ate at! We ordered their two most popular curries, and wow they were delicious. The curry was so sweet, with no spice at all, it was the best.

After lunch, we went to Banteay Samre. This temple was a bit farther out, and took about a 20 minute tuk tuk ride to get there. The best part was driving through the town on the way there and seeing the local life in action. We saw so many homes and people as we drove there.

This was a really interesting temple, I loved exploring this one. We even saw the cutest baby kittens running around here! 

I think this family found a kitten and was playing with it!

On the way back, we visited East Mebon (I really hope I'm getting these temple names right, there were so many that now I'm questioning myself on whether these are even the right names ah!). It was very different than the other temples that we saw. 

As we were walking through the temple, I spotted this cute brother taking care of his little baby sister in the temple. I asked if I could take their picture, and he angled his sister towards the camera. I was dying because they are soo cute!

There were tons of stairs to get to the top of this one, and I definitely considered them to be my work out for the day :)

I wasn't able to snap my camera fast enough, but there were 4 people on this bike. We were so impressed they could all fit! I loved trying (though mostly unsuccessfully) to capture local life.

(This is part #2 for Cambodia. You can find part #1 here and part #3 here!).