Mission to Cambodia 2014
from Libby Franck, Nursing student

Today, we all woke up at 4 am in order to go see the sunrise at Angkor Watt, the famous temple. We all arrived just as the sun was coming up and were greeted with an incredible sunrise, something really worth getting up for. After the sunrise was over we ventured into the actual temple to look around at all of the beautiful architecture and layout of Angkor Watt. I was really amazed at the size of the temple and of the thought that must have gone into the layout prior to laying the first stone. After Angkor Watt, we went to a different series of temples, all similar yet very different than Angkor. I felt endlessly impressed and taken aback to the beauty and effort that was put forth while building these temples. I only wish that they had been preserved better by the people.

By the end of the second series of temples, everyone was exhausted, but were excited when we got to see and feed the local monkeys. After feeding them Lotus fruit and bananas, our group hopped on the tuk tuks and went on to the last temple series at Koh Ker. Though we were all extremely tired due to the early morning and overbearing heat, we were all very excited for this one because it was the ‘Tomb Raider’ temple, where Angelina Jolie filmed her Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. After seeing these magnificent temples we enjoyed a rainstorm on the tuk tuk ride back to the hotel. We then went to have Mexican for lunch before having a little downtime prior to going to see the elephants and take a ride to the top of the mountain on them to watch the sunset. We finished the night off with a traditional Khmer dinner and dance show. Tomorrow, we head to Battambang. I can’t wait to see what we do there!