There is so much to say about the Angkor Wat temples that its difficult to know where to begin. We started out the first day looking at a smaller set of temples called Takeo, then went on to the main temple later that afternoon.

The temples are in a national park and are guarded by security at the entrance of each set of temples. You must be prepared to furnish your identification card to them upon request. The identification card is laminated and has your photo and the exact dates for which you are approved to visit.

While we visited Takeo we were joined by two young salesmen bearing gum and books. There are about a dozen kids selling tee-shirts, candy, sodas, books and souvenirs outside of the entrance for each temple.

It is sad that so many of the statues have been chopped out of the temples and that they are in a state of ruin. The Takeo temple did not have any shrines or monks in attendance, unlike most of the other temples at Angkor Wat. The insides of all of the temples smell like batshit and some tourists seem to feel free to litter and put out their cigarettes inside of some of the most sacred places here.

The stairways are quite narrow and you need to be very careful climbing and walking around the ruins. After about an hour of photos and yakking with the boys we left for the main temple.