indiana jones and the temple of...

when i was a kid i loved the indiana jones movies. i figured there was nothing not to like about a guy in a leather hat exploring the world in search of priceless artifacts, encountering every adventure imaginable along the way. in the last two days, we seemed to have found a way to live his life (minus the girl with i love you written on her eyelids... which i am inclined to still search for later). first of all, apologies on the late post, but in cambodia there isn't really a place to type (and according to the lady that sits next to the non-working computers it's because it is sunday...). anyhow, this country has been about the wildest place i could have possibly imagined. to get here, we boarded a plane with propellers. yep. as if the small plane wasn't enough, we had a four hop landing... and that was just the start. the customs official wasn't convinced coy was, well, coy. and believe me, you don't want to argue with a cambodian customs official. once past him, we got in a cab and realized quickly that there is no city in siem reap; only jungle, and huts on the road that people live in (and sell cold water and coconuts). it's not the type of place you would want to take a midnight stroll through (not to mention our already hightened state as we watched every mosquito carefully). we managed to get a hotel which was good (and believe me, hotels are literally the only things here... they are set-up like compounds). seeing as how we had been up since 3:45am, we figured hiring a driver to take us into the fabled lost city of angkor wat for the afternoon would be a good idea. side note: for those of you reading that think angkor wat is just a temple in the jungle, you are sorely mistaken. picture a city the size of tucson, spread out through jungles and waterways; only vacant and a thousand years old, and you'll start to have a good sense for what this place is like. and it's not like you're at the louvre either: no roped off areas, no supervision, you are on your own to explore and do whatever you want (except wander into the untrodden jungle as there are king cobra's and landmines... though apparently "all cleaned up"). this place is the most unbelievable place we have ever seen. we've spent two days exploring ruins that are being consumed by jungles, are ornately decorated, and more picturesque than any camera can capture. we climbed lost staircases to lookouts that are so vertical you have to climb with your hands. we've seen huts and old complexes completley covered in vines and tree trunks that are bigger than you can picture. it's like luxor, but without tourists, in a jungle, and ten times as big. there is absolutely no way to show everyone this in a picture, but here are a few to pique the curious mind.