Day Thirteen: Khmer New Year Part Two

So, here's a picture of how my day started out:



After a rough night (yes, I'm still sick) and an early start at 4:30a.m., this view of the sunrise from the mighty depths of Angkor Wat was definitely worth the trouble.

Luckily I wasn't alone for this adventure. My new friend, A, who is a resident doctor from Australia, was my traveling buddy, and together we had a wonderful touristy morning.

Following the sunrise at Angkor Wat, we took a tuk tuk (basically a small carriage hooked up to the back of a motorcycle) out to visit Banteay Srey--a fairly well-known temple that sits on the fringe of the Angkor temple complex. Its name in Khmer roughly translates to "Citadel of Women," and it's easy to see why. Most of the arches and doors are low-hanging and narrow, and the entire temple is decorated with carvings so intricate that it's commonly thought that none but a woman's hand could have done them.

Here's a picture of me in one of the narrow doorways:



And below is an example of all the gorgeous carvings on the walls. They are definitely the best preserved of any of the temples I've seen:



On the way back from Banteay Srey, A had the wonderful idea to stop at a local butterfly garden that was located on the road back to town. It was an incredible experience. The garden was part of a NGO striving to find eco-friendly ways of improving the livelihood of the poor villagers in the area. Apparently the founder had a big heart for butterflies, which were systematically being destroyed by the villagers' logging habits. Since then, the organization has used grant money to train the villagers to create and maintain a wonderful butterfly garden that both preserves local butterflies while providing a way to earn income from tourists. All I can say is that I wish I had a better camera so I could do justice to how beautiful the butterflies were.

This is me getting friendly with the catepillars:



And here's where they keep all the pupae, providing them a safe place to emerge from their cocoons and transform into butterflies:



Last but not least, here's the final product:



After the butterfly gardens, we went back to the city. Wish I could say I did something else productive after this, but I pretty much passed out when I returned back to my room and slept away the rest of the day.

Hopefully Day 3 of Khmer New Year brings something more exciting...