Part 2:Cambodia

We spent nearly an entire day traveling from Thailand to Cambodia -- with two hours at the border, going through the process to enter the country.

Once we finally arrived in Siem Reap, we ate a wonderful buffet dinner and enjoyed a traditional Cambodian dance performance.

The next day -- the last day of 2009 -- was spent touring the Angkor Wat complex. By tuk tuk taxi, we went from one temple/ruin to the next of what's left of an ancient city.

Group shot at the entrance of the first temple

Wandering the halls

"Jarlath, strike a pose." :)

That evening, we did the touristy thing and walked up a big hill (too small to be just a hill and not big enough to be a mountain, so I'm calling it a big hill) to watch the sunset. It felt like a pilgrimage since we were part of a sea of people all moving in the same direction, to the same destination -- a temple at the top.

Once at the temple, most people (including us) climbed the steep stairs to the top and sat down to watch the sunset. I don't think I've ever been among such a diverse group of people before; we were surrounded by tourists from all over the world and heard several different languages.

A Buddhist priest sitting in solitude

It was pretty neat to watch the sun sink below the horizon as we were perched on top of the ancient temple.

Later that night, we joined another huge crowd to bring in the new year.

Needless to say, Pub Street was crazy!! We could barely make our way through all the people (again, from all over the world) partying in the street.

p.s. The silk scarf I'm wearing in this photo is a souvenir from Thailand.

After only a few hours of sleep, we woke up at 5 a.m. to head out to Malaysia...

~To be continued~