Yesterday we drove a little over an hour out of Siem Reap to see a smaller, less preserved temple, Beng Mealea. There's only one paved road out there and it was finished just a few years ago. We took a shortcut on an unpaved section that the buses can't go on that shaved off about 20 minutes of the trip. My rib didn't particularly like all that jostling but that's okay. Seeing the Cambodian countryside was really interesting and Sam gave us a good overview of what life is like for the people living around here.

Beng Mealea is one of the earlier temples that was discovered buried in the jungle but besides cutting back some of the  vegetation it's been largely left unrestored. In contrast, Angkor Wat was continually used and maintained by the locals so it's in pretty good shape.

It's hard to imagine coming across all those fallen blocks and figuring out how they might possibly fit together.

The second stop of the day was about a half hour back towards the city at a temple called Banteay Srei, which means "women's temple." It's so called because it's relatively small, beautiful and ornately carved. The rock is shaded a lovely pink and is unique to this temple. The carvings are particularly deep and incredibly well preserved, especially when you consider it's been sitting out in the jungle for over a thousand years.

We're done with temples and go see some artisans today. I'm really looking forward to the cocoon to scarf weaving studio.