Angkor Wat Whut?!?!

This past weekend I took my first international trip since arriving in Vietnam. I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia, with my roommate to run in the Angkor Wat Half Marathon. Well, technically, it was the Half Marathon weekend, and I ran in the 10K because I couldn't imagine running 13.1 miles and then sitting on an airplane the next day to head back to Hanoi. My legs would have been stuck in a permanent sitting position!

Angkor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located northwest of the capital Phnom Penh. According to UNESCO, it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, and it contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th centuries. Despite its historical and worldly significance, the ruins at Angkor are not as well preserved as they should be. Years of tourists trekking right up to the temples and touching them has worn them down. Soon, you won't be able to get so close to them, so I'm pretty excited that I got to go when I did.

In addition to seeing the temples, my roommate, a couple of friends, and I enjoyed hanging out on Pub Street, dancing the night away to top 40 music (finally, no techno!), and getting multiple beauty treatments to ease our aches and pains away. One particular beauty treatment that I didn't decide to do until I was standing at the shop was a fish pedicure. In a fish pedicure, you put your feet in a huge tank of tiny fish and let them nibble away the dead skin from your feet. It sounds freakish and I really didn't plan on doing it, but I was suckered into it. After being freaked out for the first 10 minutes, I finally relaxed and let the fish do their thing. My feet felt amazing days later after walking around the temples, dancing, and running the race. I actually wanted to do it again before I went back to Hanoi! Check out a sample of the 200 pictures I took this weekend!

Huge street party the first night in Siem Reap.
We were with the band! I've always wanted to say that!

Fish pedicure! This is before I decided to do it.

My feet in with the fish! I hadn't unclenched my toes yet.

Dancing the night away.

Part of the entrance to Angkor Wat.

Me outside of one of the sections of Angkor Wat.

An etching at the Bayon temple.

Stone face at the Bayon temple.
It has about 200 faces throughout.

Tree growing on the Ta Prohm temple.
The movie Tomb Raider was filmed here.

Pub Street in Siem Reap.