The breakfast at the hotel was great even though it took them a long time to prepare the food. It wasn't a buffet but had several different sets that you could order.
Our new friend met us at the hotel to introduce us to the new tuk tuk driver. He took really great care of us. I'm always amazed at the way people who barely know us go out of their way to help us.
The driver wasn't the best at helping us, but he did keep us safe and helped us decide what to see. He told us buying water inside the temple area was just as cheap as buying it in town. That wasn't exactly true, and he took us to a more expensive restaurant to eat lunch. But all in all he didn't do anything dishonest, and he didn't take advantage of us. That constitutes a good driver in my book.
We started off the morning at the Bayon Temple. There are faces in the towers, and there are 54 towers representing the 54 provinces of the Angkor Empire. We didn't start off our first day of touring very well. Right off the bat we got separated. I finally decided to go on to the next temple, and that's where I found Rusty. I at least knew where the tuk tuk driver was going to pick us up so I would have found Rusty eventually anyway.
One of our favorite temples was Ta Prohm. Some of you may recognize it from the Tomb Raider movie. That was a tidbit I read in the Lonely Planet guide and was one that all of the locals knew. The trees have been allowed to continue to grow and really shows how much deterioration had occurred. The problem is some of the trees have died and that caused further destruction. Now steps are being taken to preserve the temple protecting it from further destruction.
I had a feeling that this would be one of Rusty's favorites. He really likes the large trees.
People were getting blessings from this man for a donation of course. He had strips of cards that were held together by a keyring. The people did whatever they wanted to with them (shake them, pray over them, etc.) then they were to hold them over their head and slip a plastic market somewhere in the stack. Then the man would chant that blessing for them. One lady did it wrong; she didn't hold it over her head so she had to do it again.
This was probably the funniest highlight of the day. Rusty always likes to take a funny picture with either the mean looking giants, dragons, lions, etc. When Rusty posed for this one, a Japanese tourist just started laughing hysterically. He thought it was sooooo funny that he had the two women he was traveling with do the same thing after we finished. I still laugh when I think of how hard he laughed. :)
They've done a great job restoring the temples, and I can't imagine how hard it must be to put the puzzle back together because so many things have been destroyed. One guide told us that so many of the heads of statues are missing because they believe diamonds and other precious items were placed in them. As we were walking away from Angkor Wat, Rusty found these feet. I'm not sure why they were put there. 
This is our walk away from Angkor Wat. We were so disappointed we didn't get to go all the way to the top. There was a sign that said closed for the day.
We told the driver we wanted to watch the sunset. We hiked back quite a way to get to this particular temple that was supposed to have the best view. We knew we were in trouble because we were hiking back with hundreds of people. Can you see all of the people on top? We just took a few pictures of the temple and headed back down. There were other foreigners who were running up the trail to get up there in time to see the sunset. We wanted to tell them to stop, but they seemed so determined.
Rusty snapped this picture on the way down the mountain. It was a beautiful sunset, but the view was mostly hidden by trees all the way down the mountain. I found this hole and asked Rusty to take a picture.Our driver really wanted us to go see the cultural dance that night, but we were just too tired. We grabbed a quick bite at the hotel restaurant, picked up our laundry, showered, and went to bed. You would not believe how dirty you get from touring in the back of the tuk tuk. We were covered from head to toes with dirt. :( And loving it! :)
**Travel tips: Water is $1 for a large bottle inside of the temple grounds, and it's readily available. When you walk in the gate you will be bombarded by hawkers selling souvenirs and tour books. These books are probably copies since they're selling them so cheap. Inside the temple grounds they're even cheaper.
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