In many ways, Cambodia reminds me of Thailand. People there don't (seem to) have much, but if you smile at them they smile back. They seem genuinely happy to have visitors coming in (and spending U.S. dollars, which is pretty much the only currency they care about in that town). Getting into Cambodia requires $20 (plus a hefty $2 "fine" if you forget passport sized photos for the visa application, which I had forgotten to do...). $25 to exit the country, too.

The primary reason to fly to Siem Reap is to visit the nearby heritage site of Angkor ($20 USD per day unless one buys a multi-day pass... don't forget more passport sized photos!).

Angkor used to the capitol of a vast empire that apparently controlled most of Southeast Asia. Angkor itself is (or used to be) about the same size as New York City, so the various temples and monuments are spread out over a very wide area.

All the stairways leading up the various monuments and ruins are impossibly steep. This defies the Americans with Disabilities Act!

There are smaller temples like this one (Prasat Kravan), or larger ones like...

... the Banyon.

There are hundreds of huge carved faces in the stones pillars here.

Some of them in amazingly good condition. Even in profile.

And lots of smaller details if one looks closely enough.

I wonder what these writings say?

A couple of the temples had trees growing on top of and over the ruins, like this one at Ta Prohm.

If only we could just sit and interact (talk & listen) with people of other religions like this, I think there would be a lot more peace and understanding in the world.

There are vendor stalls set up near all of the sites. The shopkeepers will come out and scream "LOUD DRINK, sir!" or "postcards!!" at tourists.

Here one of them is yelling at me. Usually there were a lot more of them all calling out to me. My excuse was that any t-shirt they are selling would probably be too small for me. It seemed to work as an excuse, for the most part.

There are a lot of tourist cops around (supposedly), but sometimes they are hard to find.

Here's the real Angkor Wat... from inside the outer walls.

And these carvings can be found right inside the outer walls (in the entrance you first walk through). If you can visit one World Heritage site, I'd say this is the one.

How many Cambodians can fit onto a motorcycle? Click to find out.