After spending the previous day looking at the major sites of Angkor Wat we decided to venture a little deeper into the country, away from the main tourist attractions. With our loyal tuk tuk driver Mr. Ka to lead the way, we set off through back roads that were filled with locals bartering their craft, children riding bicycles home from school, and endless rice fields.
During our journey deeper into Cambodia we stopped at only one temple since we spent the previous two days viewing all the temples in and around Angkor Wat. This temple actually turned out to be one of my favorites though, it was a lot smaller than the rest but had some of the most detailed engravings. We spent quite a lot of time and had a lot of fun trying to "decipher" the murals. Unfortunately, we were stuck behind a lot of ropes and signs that wouldn't allow us a closer look because people like to touch.
After exploring the temple for a while I saw a sign that mentioned boat rides, so naturally, I headed straight for it. Although we didn't take a boat ride because it wasn't really the season for it, the lily fields were still quite amazing to see. After spending time out in the sun on some viewpoints overlooking the lily pads we decided to take a break and head to the restrooms, where I found this beauty hanging out just outside the building. This is the nephila pilipes or better known as the giant golden orb weaver, one of the largest spiders I've ever seen! The larger one is the female and the male is the little one crawling over her. I love spiders, sorry to anyone with arachnophobia though!
The scenery was truly breathtaking and I'm glad that we ventured out to see a little more of Cambodia.