Fortunately, we had built in extra time in our itinerary, and we arrived on the morning flight. The Customs and Immigration people were really fierce and not very warm as we had expected of Cambodians.
Maybe we rubbed them up the wrong way when we did not know how to buy the Visa on Arrival which was US$40 for each person... except for me. I was free because of my Singapore Passport!
Monica: "The Boutique Cambo Hotel was great! We really like our connecting rooms. It's large, quiet and clean. The aircon is great! The beds are ok. Bathrooms are great. and our room has a nice walk out balcony.We spoke to Thara at the front desk and got him to arrange transport for us to the temples. So we ate a late (free) breakfast at the hotel and went off to see some temples.
We asked our van driver to take us out to the furthest temple, Bantaey Srey. 
On the way, we stopped at Pre Rup to explore it since it was along the way.
Right away, we knew the travel advisories about the heat were for real. Full sun, dry air. We drank as much water as we could guzzle each hour and created sweat rings on our shirt by the end of the day.
Still, being up close and personal with these limestone ruins is awesome. And with the complex set in old forest was magical. We knew that over time, the government was planning to build walk-ways for the tourists to reduce the amount of wear on the structures.
There was an identical temple, East Mebon off in the distance, but in worse shape than this one.
We were captivated by this boy's art and his story. So we supported him by buying a couple of pieces.
Monica: "Pre Rup is our first stop--late 10th century Hindu temple. It was so neat to start seeing temples. Aria bought some purple elephant pants and we bought 2 small paintings. Really beautiful carvings in this building."
Aria: " I enjoyed shopping and buying the pants. I enjoyed learning how to bargain. I enjoyed the amazing carvings from the temples. It is hard to believe that it is made of stone! It is amazing to see the blocks JUST STACKED! No mortar or cement filling! :)
The vendors smiled easily and were not pushy out here in the countryside.
Right away we noticed that the moped and trailer combo was ubiquitous on the streets.
This is an odd banana, tapioca and strawberry treat...
Bantaey Srey--this second temple featured a lot of pink sandstone, and was built on a much smaller, less intimidating scale
Monica: "Bantaey Srey is a late 10th century Hindu temple about 37Km from Siem Reap. I was really impressed with the intricate designs of the base relief on all of the buildings. So amazing to see all of these monuments."
The carvings were captivatingly beautiful.
I could not get over how the temple was set amidst huge forest trees.
Sacrificial altar.
These survivors of the war were playing music for a donation.
Sugarcane with lemon thirst quencher.
the noodles with mild curry gravy were familiar. The mouth puckering bitter herbs were not.
These snake and trolls guarded the bridge.
Entering Preah Khan. We were getting tired...
The spire in the temple center. Also called the temple of cells for the gradually shrinking doorways to cause you to stoop in reverence as you entered in one direction while the king strolled in from another in full regalia.
Day one complete and exhausted after seeing 3 temples, Uncle Heng treated us to an elegant dinner at Sugar Palm restaurant. A fusion Khmer restaurant he liked.
~ Shien
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