Jungle Temples in Angkor Wat

After two weeks touring through the fast-paced, jam-packed countries of Thailand and Vietnam, we flew into Siem Reap, Cambodia for a slower-paced adventure into the wild to explore lost and found temples of years ago.
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Our first temple was Ta Prohm. This temple was a monastery built by Jayavarman VII as a residence for his mother. Ta Prohm has been controversially left to the destructive power of the jungle by French archaeologists to demonstrate the awesome power of nature. It has been largely consumed by the jungle and as you climb through the dilapidated stone structures you see many giant trees growing out of the top of the temple itself.

On to the town of Takeo to tour the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei built in dedication of the Shiva.

We rose early before the sun to make our way to the backside of the biggest religious temple in the world. We walked towards Angkor Wat as the sun was rising,  casting an orange glow on the crumbling structures. Being able to view this wonder of the world without the mass of tourists made us feel like we were the only ones viewing its glory.

Visiting the much smaller but just as impressive Angkor Thom where the Bayon Temple is located, ended up becoming a competition in face counting.