On the second day we wanted to visit some of the more overgrown temples, east of where we had been the day previous. Our driver took us past Angkor Wat, down the main road through Angkor Thom, then proceeded east through the Victory Gate. We drove over the Siem Reap River and saw several small chapels and temples along the way. Finally we arrived at Ta Prohm and parked the car near the food stalls and souvenir shops.

As usual, the minute we arrived we were bombarded by women and children hawking souvenirs, drinks, postcards and t-shirts. Only this time, they were extremely frantic, as if their life depended on selling one bottle of water to us. Unfortunately we had forgotten to bring our own water that morning, so we had no choice but to face the music. As soon as they saw that we were actually going to buy something, they became increasingly competitive with one another, screaming "I saw you first!" "No, I saw you first!" We bought a bottle of water for US$1.00, knowing full well that it would have only been 5 cents in Thailand.

We passed through the stone entrance and proceeded down the long dirt road leading to Ta Prohm (mid 12th to early 13th century). This quiet, sprawling monastic complex is only partially cleared of jungle overgrowth. The massive buildings are matched in scale by the huge trees growing over, through, and on top of them. One particularly large tree growing on top of a building served as the focal point for an entire busload of Japanese tourists. Each person stood next to the tree as his or her friend took their picture in precisely the same spot as the previous person. One by one, they each had the exact same picture taken. It was all very funny to watch; Mike and I prefer to take photos of the sites, rather than of ourselves posing next to something. We watched for a while, then sought out a quieter area.

Our guide book said that French archeologists intentionally restored only parts of the temple, but we're pretty sure they were just being lazy. Typical French, you know. The jungle atmosphere is quite nice, and we enjoyed meandering through the compound at our own pace. At one point we were passing through a rather short doorway, and as I followed Mike through I whacked my forehead on the top of the doorframe. Imagine that! In a place full of short doorways, it's the 5'2" girl who knocks her head instead of the 6'1" guy! Go figure. So for the remainder of the day I was blessed with a beautiful dent at the top of my forehead, followed by an equally stunning goose egg bump. For the second part of the day we visited the nearby Banteay Kdei (late 12th to early 13th century). This was a sprawling, largely unrestored, monastic complex in much the same style as Ta Prohm.

By the afternoon we were exhausted. We decided that we had seen plenty of the beautiful temple ruins, and the pushy vendors and beggars were really starting to wear us down. Furthermore the blatant corruption, obvious illegal activity, and lack of customer service were really driving us mad. We decided to forego our third day of temple exploration and leave the country immediately. That night, we got on a plane to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Saigon). What a relief to be out of Siem Reap!