Angkor Wat - not your average temple

Call us cynical or even negative if you will, but I like to think of ourselves as realists and to be real...we are OVER the temple thing. I am sure you are as well, looking at all the photos of one temple after another...Now, there are some people in this world who live for a temple or place of worship, and we do not judge these people. Some people spend their travelling careers visiting one temple to another taking more and more pictures of all the interesting colours and shapes and nooks and crannies and for some, that is just wonderful. However, Alex and I have reached a threshold here and rather than spread our lack of enthusiasm with others, we just avoid temples wherever possible, which has proven a bit difficult while visiting Siem Reap, where the main attraction is Angkor Wat, a sort of temple compound built in the early 12th century housing dozens of temple ruins for people to visit and explore. To give you an idea of the size, they sell 3 day and 1 week passes to this place. Basically, you pretty much have to go if you are in Cambodia...it features on the nation's flag from crying out loud. So after much discussion and a game of rock, paper scissors, we agreed to get the 3-day pass and just go for it with a very open mind and a desire to learn and explore. Now, we have seen a lot of temples people...thousands...but this place is like none other we have seen! Each temple has its own unique style and appearance (no doubt due to the fact that they were all built over a 4 century span of time) and the most fun is getting around the giant temple park from one site to the next. You can either go with a guided tour, hire a tuk tuk or car for the day, try to hoof it (though it is virtually impossible) or rent a push bike...we opted for the latter and what a fun filled 3 days we had. The park is open and clean and at times, reminded us of riding around Central Park or even Prospect Park with Wendy, minus the centuries old temple ruins of course! Each new temple we went to invited all sorts of discussions and ponderings around such topics as: 1) what makes your perfect temple, 2) where did they use the toilet in this place and 3) was that a monkey...please keep it away from me if it was. Alex and I spent a lot of time trying to choose which one was our favourite and why...I am sure you all can guess Alex's variables for her perfect temple. First of all, there has to be a myriad of steep and uneven steps to climb up and down that elevate the heart rate. Secondly, the temple must be sprawled out over at least 1 acre of land so that you have to really spend some quality time walking around...again for fitness purposes. She admitted that it would be nice to have some interesting aspects to look at while trekking around her perfect temple ensuring optimal heart rate such as stone figures etched into the wall, or Buddha statues or faces imprinted etc...I on the other hand enjoyed riding from temple to temple the best, though there were some amazing temples to behold. I loved the fact that the temple park is situated among millions of trees that remind me of the giant red wood trees and sequoias in California and in one temple, those trees had overgrown onto the temple stones themselves creating an amazing site and some interesting climbing opportunities. The pulsating sound of the screeching locusts hidden high above in the canopy of trees was a bit mind numbing, but it was lovely to spend so many consecutive days out in nature and the elements. Some temples were more geometric in shape and others had the face of Buddha built into the tops...some were low to the ground, while others were very tall and you could climb to the very top...health and safety are not paramount concerns here at Angkor Wat. So, we spent the last 3 days biking around the compound exploring the ruins and enjoying a lovely and leisurely bike ride throughout...honestly a 2 day pass is quite sufficient if you are riding around the park via bike or tuk tuk, but they don't sell such a pass...clever. So in summation of our 3 day temple trek, we have learned to be open-minded even when it comes to exploring new places, even ones we think we may have already seen and would not enjoy. Angkor Wat has taught us that and we will not soon forget it!