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End of an era

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Demons holding up the wall About thirty minutes earlier than promised, our friendly doorman called our room, ensuring we appreciated the predawn night. Stumbling downstairs, we found a helmeted tuktuk driver waiting to drive his modified motorcycle 60km north through the darkness to our last temple, Banteay Chamar. This stereotypically southeast Asian form of transportation consists of a motorcycle with some type of carriage welded to the back of the frame - usually with different colorful decorations painted or pinned on for good measure. After wind burning our eyes during our moped excursion in Laos, we came prepared, donning sunglasses a full ninety minutes before sunrise. Fortunately, we decided at the last minute to wear long sleeve shirts despite the blistering daytime sun. Even with the added layer of protection, we still ended up huddled together in the backseat against the wind generated as our tuktuk's motor strained away at 55+ km/hr. Tuktuk T
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Intestines v Temples

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Vines winning the battle against the Khymer Following our new pattern, we left the Koh Ker region at sunrise, having snacked on bananas and roadside steamed pork buns. Although the landscape was rather desolate, with a faint haze of smoke laying over the ground from burning cropland, the cool temperatures and pink sunrise light made for pleasant riding until we arrived at Beng Meala - the next major temple complex leading to Angor Wat. Initially, we had worried that the 50km required to arrive there would put us in the heart of tourist arrival from Siem Reap, however only a bored looking guard greeted our arrival and took our tickets. A paved walkway, lined by an undulating, two hundred meter long stone serpent, led to the outer gates of the temple, and gave the impression that this complex had been more intensively restored than Koh Ker.  The banisters are actually a very long snake However, arriving at the end of the walkway, we found the main gate blocked by fallen st
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